by Jill Myles
Chapter Four
Charlotte rubbed her arms as she paced the halls of the castle, surrounded by the glassy gleam of ice. Her mind was whirling with everything she’d learned from Kai, and it was too much to take in.
The snow queen was as bad as she’d feared. When she’d seen the ice covering Kai’s groin, she’d had a niggle of doubt in her mind that things were bad, but after talking to him? She found out that things were very, very bad, much worse than she’d hoped.
The Queen had been a sadist, and she’d been using Kai for her own pleasure. God, he must hate her. The only person in this icy fortress other than her, and he’d been abused by her. That made her stomach turn. Not only was she stuck on the wrong end of this fairy tale, but she was in the body of a torturer. Suddenly this entire thing had taken an ugly turn.
She gave a self-pitying sniff. She didn’t want to be the bad guy.
This was a nightmare. To think that she’d been moderately excited to be the snow queen! To have cool ice powers and a beautiful castle to live in? She didn’t want any of this anymore. She wanted to be the heroine. The good guy. Not the one that was enchanting the sexy hero so she could abuse him.
Charlotte…
She froze. Looked around. “Is someone there?”
You know who I am…
The voice didn’t sound familiar. With another glance around, Charlotte continued down the hall…and then paused.
She was standing atop the room with the mirror in it.
That creepy, creepy mirror that oozed bad magic.
I can help you…
Swallowing the nervous knot in her throat, she called out, “Um, no thanks! I’m good.”
Are you truly? The eerie voice laughed and mocked her. You seem unsatisfied to me. Perhaps I can help…
“I’m pretty sure I don’t want your help,” Charlotte said, stepping out of the hall and adding another layer of ice.
She’d never come down this hall again, if she could help it. She shuddered. Just what was in that mirror, she didn’t know, but she didn’t like it.
Not one bit.
~~ * * * ~~
When Charlotte returned to her room later, she found Kai asleep in her bed, wrapped in the polar bear skins. She was a bit thrown at the sight, then realized that the ice door to his cell was too heavy for normal humans to lift. With a small sigh, she headed to the wall, dragged out enough ice to form an icy couch, and laid down. She pillowed her head on her arm to sleep, wishing she could curl up next to him. He looked so deliciously comfy in her bed, so at ease.
But one touch of her skin would burn him, and she couldn’t allow that. Charlotte sighed and closed her eyes, determined to sleep in her new spot. As she drifted off, though, she wondered…
How had the snow queen touched Kai before without hurting him? He’d been covered in ice, but not burned, and he’d admitted they had sex. So what was the key she was missing?
~~ * * * ~~
Charlotte avoided Kai that morning. She slipped out through the bedroom walls as soon as she awoke and headed out to do her daily reinforcements on the ice castle battlements. Time was ticking away, and she had to be ready when the heroine showed up to save Kai. The irony of things? Charlotte didn’t want to keep him either — she was being forced to by the workings of the fairy tale. The fairy tale in which she should have been the heroine, damn it. Not the bad guy. Irritation made her magic surge, and the wall she was working on sprouted fierce spikes.
“Hard at work, I see?” The cheerful voice interrupted Charlotte’s thoughts.
She whirled, surprised to see the small, rotund form of her fairy godmother, Muffin, dressed in a crocheted beach cover up, and a floral one-piece swimsuit, and flip-flops. A wide brimmed yellow hat perched atop her head.
The sight of her startled the heck out of Charlotte. “Oh!” The magic at her fingertips surged and the icy spikes she’d just created shattered into bits.
Muffin raised her eyebrow at Charlotte from over a pair of enormous, oversized sunglasses. “Premature magic ejaculation?”
“Um. Not really? You just surprised me.” Though now she was blushing. She shook out her hands, her fingertips re-frosting. “It’s so incredibly nice to see you, though!”
“It is?” Muffin blinked in surprise, then gave Charlotte a pleased look. “I don’t often get that. Normally I get a ‘where the hell have you been, you old bat?’ I have to admit I like this much, much better! You’re my new favorite.”
Charlotte wiped her sweating – okay, more like frosting – brow. “I’m glad I’m someone’s favorite, at least.”
“Oh dear. That was a sad panda tone of voice if I ever heard one.” Muffin pulled a wand out of her oversized beach bag. She waved it at the snow and a bright pink inflated pool lounger appeared. She plopped into it and wiggled, the entire thing squeaking loudly. “Now, tell me all about it, sweetie.”
A second inflatable chair appeared next to Muffin’s. After a moment of hesitation, Charlotte sat down. “I…I’m just struggling, is all.”
“Really? You look like you’re doing pretty well to me.” Muffin waved a hand at the icy walls of the castle. “I see we’ve figured out the snow queen powers and we’re redecorating in a very angry sort of motif. It’s not my usual thing but I can dig it.”
Big, fat tears started to well from Charlotte’s eyes. “But I don’t want to be the snow queen. I was supposed to be the heroine.”
Muffin twirled a finger in the air. “Be positive, my dear. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!”
“I can’t make lemonade,” Charlotte said in a sad voice. “Just lemon popsicles.”
The fairy godmother chuckled. “Good one!”
Charlotte gave her a woebegone look.
“Now, now,” Muffin said, reaching over to pat Charlotte’s knee. She frowned when her hand stuck to Charlotte’s frosty skin, ripped her fingers away, and then blew on the red welts the touch left behind. “I forgot about that. What I was going to tell you, my dear, is that you’re still in the fairy tale. Things can always get better. As long as you are here, you have a chance to take charge and make changes.”
“But I’m the bad guy! Everyone hates me!”
“No, you’re the snow queen. You have to do the snow queen stuff. No one says you have to be all bad.” She shrugged. “I can’t change it. That nitwit intern of mine messed it up, but what’s done is done, my dear. Everyone only gets one fairy tale assignment per lifetime. I can’t change things. The only thing I can do is check up on you and see how things are going, and maybe offer a little advice here and there.”
Charlotte gave a sniff, and then wiped her cheeks. She was being silly. Of course, Muffin was right. At least she had a second chance. “I’m sorry. It’s just rough and I’m lonely.”
“What about that delicious young man that’s been hanging around?”
“Kai?”
“Is he the naked, hot one? Yeah, him.” Muffin flicked her fingers. “Go tell him you’re lonely. He’ll fix that fast, if I’m any judge of these sorts of things.”
Charlotte felt her cheeks grow hot. She remembered the hot look in Kai’s eyes. There are ways… “I don’t know that he’s offering…friendship, exactly.”
Muffin gave a ladylike snort. “That’s not what we called it back in my day, either.”
How embarrassing. “You know he doesn’t really want me, Muffin.”
“Of course he doesn’t,” the fairy godmother said, her expression one of patience. “He thinks you’re the snow queen. If he’s offering you something, it’s because he’s trying to gain some leverage.”
Charlotte crossed her arms over her icicled chest, a bit annoyed at Muffin’s words. “Well, that was blunt.”
Muffin straightened her oversized sunglasses. “Trust this old lady, my dear. I’ve been around the block a few times. Take what that boy’s offering, if you’re bored. No one’s going to judge, least of all not me. Just don’t expect more from him than a warm body and a few pre
tty words.”
It was the truth, of course. Charlotte wasn’t stupid. Kai had changed directions on her so suddenly that she’d almost had whiplash. The man who’d tackled her and tried to escape her suddenly offering her sex? Of course it was a plot of some kind.
And of course she was a doofus to even consider it. Just a little.
No one’s going to judge, least of all, me.
Muffin was right, Charlotte realized. There was no one to judge her, except maybe Kai. If he wanted to use her, couldn’t she use him back? Just a little? Take a bit of comfort from whatever he had to offer her, and run with that?
As long as she knew he was using her, and she used him back, what was the harm? She wanted companionship. She was utterly lonely and miserable as the snow queen, and working on the walls only burned through so many hours of the day. What would it hurt to spend more time with Kai and entertain him in his thoughts of escape? It wasn’t like she was going to NOT let him free at the end of the month.
Charlotte considered this. As long as both parties got what they wanted, what was the harm?
~~ * * * ~~
That night, she decided to test Kai. After a dinner of flavored cubes (and his soup), she gave him a cheery smile. “Want to go for a walk?”
“A…walk?” He gave her a skeptical look, as if expecting a trap.
“Yes, you know, that thing where you put one foot in front of the other?” She mimed feet with her hands. “And you move around? It’s quite thrilling, I assure you.”
He snorted. “I know what a walk is.”
“Oh, good. Then I don’t have to explain more of the logistics to you.” She teased, brightening. There was none of the bubbling resentment in Kai today, and it made her feel a little better. “Come on, then.”
“Where are we going?”
“Just around the castle.” She’d been working in the courtyard for hours that day, reinforcing the icy lattice of the walls and trying to figure out if she could somehow make a moat. The problem with a moat, of course, was that it kept freezing over. Still, this place was horribly defended and if she didn’t want to lose her head when Kai’s girlfriend came calling? She had to do something. So she made the walls thicker and steeper, and they were no longer as pretty but a good deal safer.
It took a lot out of her, though. Every day, she worked for hours in the courtyard, until she was exhausted and her ice powers were puttering out in spurts instead of a steady stream. Work was work, but it was also lonely, and as she’d slaved under the icy sunlight, she’d wished that Kai would be able to join her in the courtyard for company.
So…she was going to test him. They’d take a nice walk around the courtyard, she’d pretend to be distracted, and she’d see if he’d bolt. If he didn’t, he could come with her while she worked, and she’d have company and conversation.
If he did…well, then Muffin was wrong and she could never trust Kai.
Gathering her skirts in a crackle of ice, Charlotte headed out of her chambers and through one of the nearby walls. It melted backward as she passed through, and she held the wall open for a few seconds longer to allow Kai to pass through. It was effortless for her now, though she could see from the expression on Kai’s face that it was still impressive to him. Chamber after chamber, they passed through, until they descended the icy stairs that led to the front courtyard.
The sun was sinking into the horizon, the skies purple and orange, and the courtyard before her glittered with ice and snow. It was rather pretty if you liked the cold, Charlotte had to admit. There had been an orchard here, once, and the trees rustled and tinkled with the breeze, completely iced over. In the distance, there were rose bushes that were nothing but icy tangles, and a frozen over maze that the former occupant of her body had created. Charlotte hadn’t bothered with the maze, since she could just melt the walls with a thought. It sort of made the whole ‘maze’ thing lose its appeal.
“Well,” Charlotte said lightly. “Shall we walk?”
She looked over at Kai and was surprised by the expression on his face. His tan had paled, and there was a look of wonderment and some other emotion she couldn’t describe. His eyes gleamed. He looked…upset?
“Oh no. What’s wrong?” She reached out to touch his arm, but pulled back before her skin touched his. Damn ice queen business. “Is it all the ice? Because I’m pretty sure that once I’m gone, it’ll go back to normal. No need to get upset—“
He shook his head, interrupting her. “This…is the first time I’ve been outside in months.” He tilted his head back and inhaled deeply, as if delighting in the fresh air.
“Oh.” Well, didn’t that make her feel like an asshole? Or rather, an asshole-by-proxy since she wasn’t the original asshole. “I’m glad we’re taking a walk, then.”
“Yes,” Kai said simply, and then fell silent.
Charlotte clasped her hands and began to walk forward, relieved when Kai moved into place at her side. She glanced over at him, wincing at his bare feet and the way he had the furs wrapped around his shoulders. “If you’re too cold—“
“I’m fine,” he said quickly.
Right. She nodded, and continued strolling, though she tried to consciously thin and warm the ice at her feet so it wouldn’t bite at his skin as he stepped.
They walked her enormous courtyard in silence, and as they walked, her thoughts turned to the walls, as always. Here, there was a spot that could be reinforced. There, the ice had made formations that almost looked like steps and she needed to smooth them lest someone use it as a ladder and climb over all her hard work. As they walked, she peeked over at him a few times, but his face was carefully blank.
Well, it was now or never. Steeling herself, Charlotte turned to the jagged ice and approached it, placing her hands on the wall. “Give me a moment. I need to smooth this.” She turned her back to him.
And waited.
Her eyes closed, she connected with the ice. She’d been stretching and testing her ice queen powers, since no one had given her a manual. Through testing, she’d eventually figured out that if she concentrated, it was like she could connect to the ice at a molecular level and almost ‘see’ what was around her. She’d feel any vibrations of movement, striations in the ice that told her something was changing.
If Kai was going to make a break for it, she’d feel every footstep on the ice and know what he was doing without lifting a finger.
This was about trust. And she mentally crossed her fingers and hoped she could trust him. She was so freaking lonely, and captor-and-captive wasn’t exactly the most fun relationship. Something had to change.
So she waited. To Kai’s eyes, she would appear to be lost in concentration, hands locked against the icy wall. There was not a single sound except the whistle of the chilly wind.
A footstep crunched against the ice.
Charlotte waited. Maybe he was shifting his feet. Don’t do it, Kai. Please don’t.
Another footstep. Then another.
Then, he was running, and her spirits sank. Charlotte pulled her mind out of the ice and whirled around to see Kai sprinting, as fast as he could, for the icy lattice of the portcullis that led to her courtyard. If he could break through that, he could head straight on to the hills.
Or so he thought. She could stop him in an instant. Her heart sank, though. She couldn’t trust Kai after all. Not that she was surprised, but she’d hoped…
Oh well. Crossing her arms, Charlotte watched him race across the ice a moment longer, and then knelt to touch her fingertips to the ice-covered ground.
Two hundred feet away, the ice slithered and shifted under Kai’s feet, knocking him onto his back. He got to his feet quickly, shaking his head to clear it, and began to race forward again.
But she had him. The ice surged around his feet like quicksand, submerging him up to his calves in ice and locking him in place.
His feral growl of frustration was audible from a distance.
“I thought we were past this,” C
harlotte called out in annoyance, pacing over to him. “Seriously. An escape? Really? You thought you could get away?”
“I had to try,” he snarled at her, twisting his body to give her his best glare as she strolled forward.
Charlotte moved in front of him and kept her arms crossed on her chest, one finger tapping on her forearm. She wanted to yell at him in frustration. She was just so damn disappointed. They couldn’t be friends after all, could they? It was all just a big pipe dream.
She suddenly wanted to cry. Was she really going to be stuck, alone and scared, for the next month with no company except a man who wanted nothing more than to flee her presence? She rubbed her stinging eyes, willing the tears away, and then sighed.
Did she blame him? He thought she was the snow queen, and the snow queen was an asshole and a half. Of course he’d run away.
Charlotte dropped to the ground in a crinkle of icy skirts. She was just so very tired of all of this. Being the bad guy was rather taxing on the soul. “Can we talk? Heart to heart?”
Kai glared at her, stiff and angry, his entire body vibrating with rage.
She threw her hands up. “Just talk, okay? Nothing more. No tricks. Just talk.”
He relaxed a bit, but then added, “I can’t feel my feet.”
“Oh. Oops.” Charlotte touched the ground, releasing the ice covering him to his calves. He danced out of its grasp, stomping his bare feet on the ground, and then set the fur on the ice, crossing his legs and rubbing his toes to bring warmth back into them.
And he gave her another grouchy glare.
“Sorry about that,” she told him. “I had to see if you were going to run. Looks like I was right.”
“Like I said, I had to try.”
“I know. And I don’t blame you. I really don’t. I just…” she sighed heavily. “Can we be friends? Truce? I’m here for the next month and I’d really like it if we could stop hating each other.”
He gave her another wary look. “You’re not going to punish me?”
“Why should I?”