Ada and her Guardians are standing guard, watching the prisoner carefully. They bow to me as I turn away from the assassin.
“Has he talked yet?”
Ada grimaces. “Yes, but nothing that would help us. He’s babbling about mates and bonds, but none of it makes sense. I think he might not be quite right in the head.”
The man perks up when he hears Ada’s voice. Apparently, the barrier between us and his cell is not soundproof.
“Don’t resist the mating call,” he suddenly shouts, his eyes crazed as he stares at Ada, before sinking back into his previous position.
“See what I mean?” Ada sighs in frustration. “Nothing we’ve tried so far has worked. The healer says he’s okay physically, but clearly his mind isn’t. If only we knew if he’s always like that or if it’s caused by something.” She lowers his voice. “I almost feel sorry for him.”
To be honest, so do I. I know he tried to kill me, but right now, he looks like a broken man, rocking back and forth as if he’s in pain. He’s nothing like the dark figure I remember seeing in my room before I passed out. If they’re one and the same, he’s changed a lot.
“Did the poison have a lasting effect on him?” I ask, thinking that may be the cause of his deterioration.
“Theodore says no. But then, it’s not the first time he’s been wrong.”
When she sees my questioning glance, she blushes. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this...”
I sigh. “Out with it, Ada.”
“He predicted that you would die as soon as you were born. He didn’t believe that the child of Beira and a simple Guardian would be able to survive.”
I laugh. “Well, I proved him wrong in that regard.”
She smiles in relief. She probably expected a different response from me, but it’s not like I see the healer as infallible. When my magic was locked, he didn’t find a cure for that. And when my mother was almost killed by the Summer King’s assassin, it was me who saved her, not him. I wonder why Crispin isn’t the Royal Physician, I’m sure he’s a lot more skilled than Theodore. But then I think of Crispin’s trauma and know why. He’s not reliable. But he will be. Now that he’s started fighting his inner demons, everything will get better for him. I hope.
“What’s the next step with him?” I ask Ada, pointing at the prisoner.
“Her Majesty is going to talk to him later today. Maybe she will be able to get something out of him. Arc tried and failed - which means this guy is either completely crazed or has some very strong mental barriers. I bet on the former - I mean, look at him. Does he look very strong to you?”
She blushes slightly. “I mean mentally. Physically, he’s quite strong.”
Ada is doing a lot of blushing today. That’s not like her. Her three Guardians seems to have noticed that as well. One of them – I can never keep them apart - is glaring at the prisoner as if he’s competition. I’m glad my guys aren’t as jealous... or if they are, they’re not as obvious about it.
“Princess?”
A maid comes running down the corridor.
“Yes?”
“You’re late for the dress fitting, ma’am.” She’s completely out of breath. She must take dress fittings seriously.
“I didn’t know I had one.”
“It’s for the ball tonight, your Highness.”
“I didn’t know about that one either.”
The girl looks as if she’s about to faint.
Ada winks at me. “You better go before the seamstress herself comes looking for you. I hear she’s quite formidable.”
On days like these I wish I was just a simple Guardian like Ada. Not that she’s simple, she’s the deputy Master of Arms after all, but for festivities all she has to do is put on her dress uniform. She doesn’t have to worry about dresses and itchy fabrics and chest-squeezing corsets.
Chapter Twelve
Two hours of being prodded, measured and tortured, the seamstress finally shuffles off, leaving me alone with four rather amused Guardians.
“I’m still amazed how you let yourself be treated like that,” Frost observes with a wide grin. “If she’d come close to me with those giant needles, I’d have thrown her to the other side of the room.”
I grimace. “I don’t think it would make a good impression if the heiress to the throne started throwing people around. People might actually tell my mother.” I shiver. As nice as Beira is to me in private, as cold she is in public. I’ve tried to stay in her good books and so far, it’s worked. Mostly. In fact, she approved of Arc and my plans to contact my parents.
Tomorrow’s the day. Today, I will have to endure yet another ball, thrown in the honour of some random God. My mother is pulling all the stops to get the other Gods on her side, and if that means throwing one ball after the next, so be it. I’ve not met many Gods yet, in fact, only one, I think. And he was a complete disappointment.
We covered the Egyptian God Ra back at school and I always imagined him as a radiant, imposing figure. Nope, he definitely wasn’t imposing. He was a shy hunchback with a surprised expression whenever he was addressed, as if he wasn’t used to being talked to. I gave up pretty quickly and let my mother deal with him.
But tonight, rumour has it – aka the seamstress told me – that Loki might be among the guests. I wonder if he looks anything like he does in the films. And maybe his brother, Thor, will be there as well… Now that would make attending the ball worth it.
“Who of us are ye thinking of?”
I stare at Arc in confusion.
“Ye’ve got that swooning look. Like ye want to nibble on one of us.”
I blush. I hope they’ll never find out that I was thinking about Thor and Loki. Not that I’d ever do something with them… but just because I have four amazing Guardians by my side doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate the rest of the male population from afar.
“You, of course,” I tease him and give him a quick peck on the cheek. “I was wondering what you’re hiding beneath your kilt.”
He’s wearing one of those again today, a dark green one. Arc lifts it suggestively.
“I could show ya. Or ya could go on yer knees and take a peek.”
I laugh. “I wish, but I think there’s a Council meeting that we’re already running late to.”
Arc sighs. “Aye, I ken but I thought I could distract ya.”
“It almost worked. But let’s pretend to be responsible and not keep Beira waiting.”
“We can always blame that monster of a seamstress,” Frost suggests. “If she could, she would have kept you here for ages to use you as her personal pin cushion.”
Yeah, that’s what it felt like. I’m pretty sure she drew blood with some of her needles. Let’s hope tonight’s dress won’t be too uncomfortable and extravagant. I’d be totally happy with a simple dress, but that’s wishful thinking.
Most of the Council is already in attendance by the time we make it into the brightly lit chamber. Some of them are already wearing suits and dresses in preparation for the festivities. Poor Algonquin is looking just as uncomfortable in his suit as I usually am in my ball gowns.
The only ones missing are Theodore and Zephyr.
“Let’s begin,” my mother announces as soon as we’re seated. Our Master of the Wings had an unfortunate accident, but Theodore is tending to him now.”
She snaps her fingers and a map appears in the middle of the large table, showing the entire Winter Realm. It’s so big that the Royal Palace is only a small dot close to the Northern border. The Gates are marked by glowing red symbols, while the villages and towns are shimmering blue dots.
“We’ve had reports of Summer spies being sighted here, here and here.”
Golden flames flicker into existence on the map. The pattern is clear: they’ve been spotted close to the Gates.
“If Angus is going to try and attack one of our Gates again like he’s done in the past, he’s going to be sorely disappointed. Master Gwain has increased the bord
er guards tenfold and the Gates are better protected than they ever have. He won’t be able to enter the Realm that way. But it leaves the question how he managed to get the Summer soldiers into my domain. We never found out how he did it last time, but Colan heard two of them mention a mage.”
My heart beats faster at the mention of my father. He was mortally wounded by Summer soldiers when they attacked one of the Gates.
“I stand by my opinion that no mage should be able to transport someone from one Realm to another without the use of the Gates,” Gwain says in his deep voice. “He must have misheard or the Summer soldiers were aware of him listening and fed him some wrong information.”
“Or they believed that it was a mage when in fact it was not.” Storm surprises me by speaking up. Usually he’s quiet in these meetings. “It can’t have been Angus himself, he can’t breach the Winter Realm just like our Queen wouldn’t be able to enter the Summer Realm. Correct me if I’m wrong.”
“You’re quite right,” Beira says with a smile. “After the last war, we put that precaution in place. Only other Gods would be able to accomplish such a feat, but none of the Gods allied with Angus are strong enough. Unless he has new allies that I don’t know about.”
It’s strange to hear my mother say that she doesn’t know something. In my mind, she’s almost omniscient, aware of everything that happens in her Realm and beyond. Her not being able to solve this mystery scares me a little.
“How many Gods would be strong enough?” I ask, feeling a little stupid that I don’t know them all by heart.
“Seven, maybe eight,” Gwain replies. “But none of them are on Angus’ side.”
“For now, we have to keep the Gates secure and increase the patrols. Spread the message that any Summer spy captures must not be killed but sent here for questioning.”
Gwain bows his head. “I’m sorry, your Majesty. My officers have been rebuked for not searching them better when they caught them.”
“What happened?” Magnus, the treasurer, asks and I’m grateful that he does. It saves me from having to show my ignorance.
“They took poison while they were being transported to the capital,” Gwain explains.
“That seems to become quite a trend. It was the same with the dragon assassin. Has anyone been able to find out if it was the same kind of poison?”
“Sadly, Theodore wasn’t able to tell. The symptoms were similar though.”
“Which brings us to the prisoner.” My mother turns to Ada. “Has there been any progress in getting him to talk?”
“None, your Majesty. He seems out of it most of the time, and when he’s lucid, all he talks about are mating bonds and that they brought him to the Palace. It’s as if he doesn’t know why he did it or can’t remember it. Threats have absolutely no effect, nor have punishments. I’m at my wit’s end, to be honest.”
“I will pay him a visit before the ball,” Beira promises. She’s told me in confidence that she’s worried the raw power of her mind might kill him. And together with her anger that he managed to assassinate me, the chances are that he might not survive an encounter with the Winter Queen. That’s why so far, she’s let others deal with the interrogation, but it looks like she no longer has a choice. They’ve been getting nowhere. It’s time for Beira to meet the strange dragon assassin.
“I was hoping that Zephyr might be able to tell us if the Dragon Ambassador has replied yet, but that will have to wait until he’s healed. Algonquin, have you found out more about the poison?”
“Yes, your Majesty,” the librarian responds in his quiet, raspy voice. I pity him whenever he has to speak up. He’s got the air of someone who would rather spend his time with books than people.
“It’s a plant that’s not native to either the Dragon Realm nor the Winter Realm.”
“The Summer Realm, then?” Gwain asks. “It would make sense that they’re working with Angus.”
“I’m afraid it’s more complicated than that. As far as I’m aware, it can only be found in the Demon Realm.”
There are gasps across the room.
“But the demons are not allied with anyone.” Ada frowns, vocalising what’s on everybody’s mind. “They have never shown any interest in the Gods or us Guardians. The only dealing we have with them is preventing them from doing too many raids on the humans.”
I wonder if Chesca would have a different opinion on that. From what she said, some Guardians saw it as a rite of passage to travel to the Demon Realm and kill as many demons as possible. Aodh had been different from those Guardians though, trying to bring demons to change their ways. He’d only killed them if he didn’t have a choice. Some demons loved travelling to Earth to kill humans, and Guardians were responsible for bringing them to justice. Ada made it sound clinical; ‘preventing’ was just a fancy word for killing.
But my Guardians and I are probably the only people in this room who had actually talked to a demon. And eaten her food. I shudder as I think back to the disgusting scones she had served me. I wonder where she is now. Still on Earth in their little cottage? Or back among her own kind, now that she no longer has Aodh to keep her in check.
“That complicates things. And you’re sure that plant doesn’t grow anywhere else?” my mother asks Algonquin, who looks like he wants to be anywhere but in this room.
“If it does, it’s not mentioned in any book on herbology we have in the Royal Library. I’ve gone through them all with the help of my assistants, and the two times we found it described in detail, it was always in relation to the Demon Realm.”
“Could someone simply have imported it from there?” Ada asks, once again speaking what’s on my mind. She’s young for a Guardian and the least experienced in this room.
“Nobody trades with demons,” Gwain responds with disdain. “And I can’t imagine anyone travelling there just to pluck a herb. There are other effective poisons out there; it doesn’t make sense for anyone to go through all that trouble unless they actually lived there.”
“It’s rather curious that Wyn was given black dragon venom and not this demon plant,” my mother whispers almost to herself.
A bell rings through the Palace, the sign that visitors have started to arrive.
Beira sighs. “Let’s reconvene tomorrow. Tamara, please tell the Lord Chamberlain to look after my guests while I go and see the prisoner.”
She gets up from her throne-like chair and everybody follows suit. She sweeps out of the room, her dress transforming from simple blue silk into something a lot more regal. I wish I could do that. Instead, I will have to go back to my quarters and get dressed the normal way. Hopefully with just my maids, not that terrible seamstress.
My Guardians are looking splendid in their suits… well, all except for Arc. He’s wearing a kilt again, but with his white shirt and polished boots he’s still almost elegant. Almost.
“Why are you looking like a cupcake?”
Crispin points at my dress without even trying to hide his laugh. I throw a ball of fire at him but he easily extinguishes it with a fountain of water before it reaches him.
“I do not look like a cupcake,” I say with emphasis. Although he’s right. He’s absolutely right. It’s the most hideous dress I’ve ever worn. It’s fluffy pink skirt is too wide to let me walk unhindered through doors and the white ruffles around my chest hide my figure in the most unflattering way. It could work as fancy dress, but it’s not something I want to wear in public.
“Are ye going to take it off?”
“You bet.”
I’m already on the way to my wardrobe to look for something less… big. I choose a dark blue dress with a neckline decorated with sparkling crystals. It’s comparatively comfy.
Suddenly, Storm is hugging me from behind.
“Do you need help getting out of this dress?” he whispers, already working on the buttons on my back. The seamstress didn’t even add a zip, making him fumble with a long row of buttons instead. I’m going to kill her, slowly a
nd with pleasure. While making her wear this cupcake abomination.
With every button he opens, he kisses the naked skin he exposes, slowly working his way down my back. I can’t help but moan. When he’s reached the end, just above my bum, he slides the dress down my shoulders. I’m not wearing a bra underneath, so I’m naked in front of him, my lace panties the only piece of clothing covering me from their views.
I know the other three are watching even before Storm turns me around. My nipples are hard and erect, aching to be touched. But Storm has other plans. He goes down on his knees and gently kisses me just below my belly button, before working his way down until he reaches my panties. He doesn’t stop though, continuing on. The lace is so thin that it almost feels as if he’s kissing my bare skin.
I feel myself getting wet and instinctively spread my legs to give him better access. He takes it as an invitation to push the panties to one side and run his tongue over my swollen flesh. He holds my thighs as he enters me with his tongue, making me moan loudly.
I notice I’ve closed my eyes and open them only to see my other three Guardians watch me with desire. Arc has slipped a hand below his kilt and is stroking himself. Now I know what he wears beneath his kilt – nothing. They don’t move closer, though, letting Storm be the one to bring me close to ecstasy.
He flicks his tongue over my bud before entering me with it, sucking hard and swallowing my wetness. I put my hands on his head, both to guide him to my sweet spot and to steady myself. I’m a mess, moaning and quivering, and then screaming when he makes me come.
Satisfied, he gets up and takes me into his arms, holding me tight as the last waves of the orgasm still run through me. Exhausted, I lean against his chest. It would be so nice to lie down on my bed now, with all four of my Guardians, having some more fun…
But that’s when someone knocks on the door and I know that it’s time to go.
With a sigh of regret, I step back.
“I need to clean myself up,” I say hoarsely, starting to move towards the bathroom, but Storm grips my wrist and stops me.
Winter Heiress Page 12