by Jill Myles
“Your people will come after you in two weeks. It’s been foretold.” Well, if a fairy tale was considered a divination of the future. “When they do, they’ll either win or I’ll win. What happens if I win, do you suppose?”
“Unending winter,” Kai said softly. “Endless cold. You’ll be the queen of a dead land. No one will live here or be able to survive here.”
She gazed down at the seals below. They seemed happy and well-fed enough. But she knew what Kai meant – there’d be no people. There’d be nothing for them to eat, no crops to harvest. She’d be alone, a queen of nothing but ice. But…people could survive in cold, if they knew how. Entire Native populations lived in icy Alaska and Canada and they seemed to cope just fine. But Kai’s people weren’t prepared for that sort of lifestyle, and she couldn’t blame them.
Charlotte didn’t know what to do. Either she screwed over an entire kingdom, or she destroyed herself. Logic told her to be self-sacrificing and to give herself up for the good of the many, but this wasn’t just death and then moving on to the Afterlife. This was no Afterlife. She’d just cease to exist, full stop.
And that was completely terrifying.
“I hate being the bad guy,” she said abruptly. “Hate it, hate it, hate it! I don’t want to be evil!”
“So don’t,” Kai said.
She sighed and slid off the side of the polar bear. She couldn’t sit still; she was too agitated. “You don’t understand. I’m the snow queen—“
“You have a lot of magic,” he agreed. “A lot of power. If you don’t want to be evil, then do something about it.”
He made it sound so simple. “Like what?”
“You’re the one with the ice powers. If you can come up with unique ways to build your castle, unique ways to travel up the mountain, and unique ways to torture me, why can you not think of ways to do something good with your powers?”
She blinked. Thought for a moment. Blinked some more. Why…had it never occurred to her that she could do something other than evil? She’d simply heard the label ‘evil queen’ and assumed the worst. Fifi had put her in the wrong person, and she’d just gone along with it. She’d accepted the fact that she was ‘bad’ and whined instead of doing something about it. She’d moped instead of taking action.
Who said she had to be the bad guy? She could do whatever she wanted with these powers. If she could feed Kai, maybe she could feed everyone. She just had to figure out how. If she could make ice cubes that were food appear out of midair – and a nourishing soup for Kai as her captive…why couldn’t she do more?
Who said she couldn’t? Muffin and Fifi weren’t here to stop her. So the fairy tale got a bit more off the rails? So what?
“Oh my God,” she said softly, her hand going to her breast. She could feel her heart pounding with excitement all the way through her skin and her icy bodice.
“What?” Kai slid off the side of the polar bear and approached her, his bundled furs sweeping through the snowy path. He regarded her cautiously. “What is it?”
“I have…choices.” A laugh bubbled up in her throat, and for a moment, she felt so light and free that she wanted to dance. She twirled in a circle, her gown tinkling with the movement. “Oh my God, I have choices!”
“Careful,” Kai said, putting out a warning hand and stepping closer to her. “You’re near the edge and I don’t want you to slip and fall.”
She grabbed his arms and laughed, spinning him around with her. “I’ll just make ice to break our fall. It doesn’t matter! We’re going to fix things, Kai!”
“We are?” he asked, amused. His long, black hair ruffled about as they spun in a slow circle, and she felt his gloves go back to her waist again, pulling her closer to him.
“You’re the best, you know that?” she said, still giddy with excitement. Impulsively, she grabbed him and hugged him close, then immediately pulled away. “Oh, I’m not touching you, am I?” She didn’t want to hurt him.
But the look on Kai’s face was odd. He was watching her, that intense expression on his face. And Charlotte froze in place, her arms still around him, intensely aware of his scorching body heat and just how close their mouths were.
The atmosphere felt charged. Not with magic, like it normally did when she drew her power around her. With something entirely different. Her breathing became quick, excited, but she didn’t move away. She didn’t want to pull out of his embrace. She didn’t want him to stop looking at her with that heated, sleepy expression of lust.
Because, oh heavens, she loved that look on his face.
Slowly, Kai raised a mittened hand and caressed her cheek, tracing the lines of her face. She longed to lean into his touch, to press her mouth to his fingers, but it was only the soft fur of the glove and not his hot skin.
And she wanted more than just this. “Kai,” she said softly.
“I know,” he murmured, tracing his gloved fingers along one of her eyebrows and then caressing her cheek again. “I’m being careful. I just wanted to touch you.”
“You did?”
“It’s impossibly strange to me, but you’re not the same woman you were. I don’t know how or why it’s changed, but…I’m drawn to the new you. I can’t get enough of you. Whenever you leave, I can’t stop thinking about you.” His mouth drew in a reluctant smile. “I keep checking my eyes to see if the mirrors have somehow returned, but there’s nothing. I’m as clear of mind as I ever was…and yet I can’t stop thinking about what it’d be like to put my mouth on you. This you.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “I wish I could touch you. Skin to skin. I miss that kind of touch.”
“There are things we can do, if you’ll let me,” Kai told her softly. “If you’re willing to let me touch you how I wish to.”
A shiver rippled through her body as her imagination went wild.
“Will you let me?” Kai asked, dragging that soft, ticklish glove down the column of her neck and grazing it across her collar bones.
“Yes,” Charlotte breathed. It wasn’t even something she had to think about. She wanted his touch. She wanted him. She craved it. “As long as it won’t hurt you.”
“It shall be exquisite torture, but I don’t mind that,” he said, and released her from his grip. “Tell your bear we want to return to the castle.”
“We do?” She was a little disappointed at the thought. “Why?”
His smile grew broader. “Because there’s no need to run. We’ll figure things out together. And because you’re safest there.”
She was surprised he was worried about her safety – surprised, and touched. Charlotte smiled and gave Kai a shy look. “Let’s go back, then.”
~~ * * * ~~
By the time they returned to the Fortress of Solitude (as she was starting to think of it – maybe it was time to pull out some Superman decorating motif), night had fallen and stars twinkled in the clear skies above. The air was a crisp, lovely cold that felt wonderful on her skin, though she suspected it was brutally cold if Kai’s occasional shiver gave her any indication. Charlotte felt guilty that he couldn’t huddle against her for warmth – she was probably colder than anything else in the area.
The bear paused outside of the gate she’d made, waiting. Charlotte closed her eyes and summoned her magic, like sucking in a breath. Then, she blasted it out with a single thought, and opened her eyes to watch the gate melt away. The bear lumbered forward again, and the moment they crossed the threshold, she repeated the burst of magic, giving herself a migraine. Her power was sapped at the moment, and she slumped on the bear’s back.
“Charlotte?” Kai asked, and a mitten touched her shoulder. “Are you well?”
“Just give me a moment to recover,” she said softly. “It took a lot out of me.” Normally she didn’t expel quite so much force in such a short period of time. Her head throbbed, reminding her that she was pushing herself too hard. She slid off the side of the bear and nearly collapsed on the ground, her knees giving out. Perhaps s
he’d pushed herself harder than she meant to this time.
To her surprise, a warm arm went over her shoulders and another behind her knees, and then she was being hauled into the air and cradled against a broad chest. “I’ve got you,” Kai told her.
“I can walk,” she protested weakly. “Really.” But oh, it was nice to be tucked against him and carried. She’d never been carried before. Actually, she’d never had anyone take care of her before. It was…refreshing, really. To be able to relax for a moment and let down her guard? It was…nice.
When he snorted a protest, she didn’t complain, just tucked her hands against his furs and let him carry her inside, through the winding corridors of the ice palace and into her palatial bedroom. There was her icy nest, just as she’d left it, and Kai gently laid her down inside.
“Rest,” he told her. “Your bear can take care of itself. I can take care of myself. But all of this,” he said, gesturing at the palace, “needs you to be well. Understand?”
She nodded up at him, resisting the urge to rub her throbbing forehead. “Maybe I’ll close my eyes for just a minute.”
“Do that,” he said sternly, peeling off his cape and laying it over her as a blanket. As if she needed a blanket.
Still, she snuggled underneath it, the scent of Kai in her nostrils, and went to sleep.
Chapter Six
Next to him, Charlotte cried out.
Kai bolted awake and sat up, rubbing his eyes. The chamber was frosty, his breath puffing, and he tugged the blankets higher over their bodies. He’d gone to sleep clothed in his furs so he could curl up next to her while she slept.
There was no reason to do so, but he’d wanted to. He liked touching her and being near her, just like how he couldn’t seem to get enough of looking at her. And this was nothing like the mirror spell from before, when he’d felt drugged and doped out of his mind, unable to process anything but the commands she’d given him. He was in full control of his facilities…and still obsessed with this sweeter, gentler version of the snow queen who went by the name of Charlotte and talked to people that he couldn’t see.
The snow queen that was just as trapped here as he was. Kai gazed down at Charlotte’s sleeping face, wondering at her secrets.
Even now, as he studied her, she tossed and turned, shaking her head. Her eyelids fluttered in her sleep. “No…” she murmured, a distressed sound. “Don’t…come back!” When she shook her head again, tiny crystalized tears sprinkled the bedding.
A nightmare. Kai adjusted one of his mittens, tightening the laces to ensure it stayed on. Then, he gave in to the urge to touch her, stroking her cheek with the backs of his gloved fingers. “Charlotte. Awaken, Charlotte. You’re having a bad dream.”
She flinched, and then her eyes flew open, and her lashes fluttered as her blue eyes struggled to focus in the dim light. “K-k-kai?”
“It’s me,” he said softly. “You’re safe.”
Her breasts heaved, her ice bodice creaking with each lungful of air she sucked in. “God. Oh God. That was the worst dream ever. I…” she looked at him and then clamped her mouth shut. “I’m okay, really. Thank you.”
He didn’t like that she’d pulled back, a wary look on her face. “What were you dreaming about?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” he argued. “You were shaking and crying. What was it?” It was obvious to him that the dream had frightened her…and just as obvious that she didn’t want to share it with him. That made him feel helpless. He wanted to help her. To comfort her. And he couldn’t if she pursed her lips and looked away, like she was now.
So he distracted her again, running the soft fur of his mitten along her jaw again. “Charlotte,” he coaxed. “Tell me.”
She shook her head again. “It’s nothing, Kai. Really.”
“Was it about the prophecy you mentioned?” He asked, brushing the mitten across her gleaming brow. He could have stopped touching her at any time, truly. He just…didn’t want to. She was snuggled in bed next to him, looking soft and oh-so vulnerable, and he couldn’t help it. He had to caress her, even if it was through this gods-blighted mitten of his. He longed to touch her skin, to touch her like a man touched his lover, but they had to be so very careful at all times.
It was frustrating.
“I’m fine,” she said softly. “Really.”
He doubted that very much. Even now, she seemed to be trembling quietly under the thick furs. He knew she couldn’t shiver with cold, so it had to be fear. Kai kept touching her, this time brushing a lock of hair from her brow and smoothing his glove down to her bared shoulder. “Something tells me that you’re as terrible a liar as you are an evil queen.”
Her mouth quirked sadly at that, but she shifted in the blankets and raised an arm over her head, resting it on one of the pillows tucked beneath her head. “Thank you for waking me, Kai.” Her sleepy, soft gaze moved over him restlessly. “Why are you still in your furs?”
So I could press against you while you slept, he wanted to tell her. But he kept silent. If she was going to keep her secrets, he’d keep his own, too. Instead, he studied her. With her arm over her head, her breasts had risen higher, nearly pushing out of her icy bodice. If she moved just a little more, he’d see a glimpse of nipple. Were they pert and tiny under that bodice, begging for his touch?
Gods, he wanted to touch her.
As if sensing his thoughts, Charlotte licked her lips. “Kai?” Her voice was soft. “Talk to me. I can’t stand the silence.”
“You’re beautiful.” His fingers traced one white shoulder, and he wished he could touch her skin without the glove. Without barriers.
“I like it when you touch me,” she told him in a quiet, achingly sweet voice. “I’ve missed being touched so badly. I wish we could kiss.”
“We can’t,” he murmured, and leaned in. His long, black hair fell over his shoulder and brushed against her creamy skin, and she shivered in response. “But I can do things to pleasure you, if you’ll let me.”
She licked her lips, her eyes growing bright with interest. “Only if I can do the same to you.”
“I am yours.”
Her brow furrowed and anger flashed across her face. “No,” she said, her hand clasping his through the glove and stopping his leisurely exploration of her. “You’re not mine. You belong to you and no one else. Remember that, Kai. All right? Whatever, whoever I was before? I don’t own you.”
You may not own me, but you’ve enslaved me all the same, he thought again, but didn’t disagree with her. Instead, when she lifted her hand from his, he brushed down one bared arm. “Can I touch you?”
“Of course.”
“All of you?”
She sucked in a soft breath, and then gave a small wriggle on the bed. Now both arms were above her head and she closed her eyes. As she did, her icy clothing seemed to shimmer and melt into her skin. A moment later, it all disappeared as if it had never been, and she was soft and naked and bare next to him.
Kai gazed down at her utter perfection. Her breasts were perfect round globes, her nipples the palest blue he’d ever seen, so pale they almost blended with the rest of her skin. The tips were small and tight, pebbled with arousal. Her stomach was slightly curved and her hips flared out to long, tapered legs and tiny feet.
And covering her sex was silky white floss that matched her hair.
He’d never seen her naked with his senses about him. Flashes of memory told him that he’d possibly seen her naked when he was ensorcelled by the mirror, but the memories belonging to that time had disappeared as soon as the spell had. She looked pale and fragile next to him, but the look on her face was one of anticipation and desire, and it made his cock harden with need.
“I’m going to touch you now,” he told her, and brushed one of the gloves down the length of a pale arm, readying her for more.
She nodded, anticipation making her cheeks flush an attractive hint of icy blue. There was no fear in her eyes,
only excitement, and that aroused him even more. He’d never met a woman quite like her. Perhaps Gerda, who had an enthusiastic lust for life, but he thought of Gerda as a little sister more than a lover.
His covered hand swept back up her arm, and then brushed across her chest, gliding down between the twin mounds of her breasts. He watched as her breathing increased, her breasts rising with excitement as his touch grew bolder. “Is your skin as soft as I imagine it is?” he asked her.
She licked her lips again, and they gleamed icy cool. “I think so.”
“I’d love to touch it and find out for myself.”
She shivered, her nipples thrusting up toward him, taunting him. “You can’t touch me for long, not with bare skin. You need some sort of barrier or we’ll both burn.”
At this moment, he’d have burned with her if she’d asked. But the thought of hurting her made him sweep the glove over her skin again, and then brush the soft fur of it over one nipple.
Charlotte gasped and arched against his hand, a silent plea for more.
He’d give her more. He’d give her everything he could. His cock was a needing ache in his own now-tight loincloth, but he’d ignore it to pleasure her. His own would come later, at the sight of her when she came from his touch.
Because he definitely planned on making her come.
“I wish my fingers were playing with this nipple,” he said, caressing it through the mitten and admiring as she moaned and arched in response. “I’d tease it with my fingers and pluck at it until it was aching for more. Then I’d put my mouth on it and lick and suck at it until you were wild with need.”
She bit her lip and moaned a sound that resembled his name. Her hands fluttered, went to the mitten, and then pressed it hard against her breast.
Gods, now his cock throbbed like an aching tooth. He rubbed his fingers over the tip of her breast, rolling her nipple, and then pinched it.