Lord of Winter

by Ana Calin

  “The way I felt,” she whispers. “Like I had access to every mystery of the universe. When my body chemistry changed, it was...” Her voice fades, she’s lost for words. I nod.

  “I know what it feels like, we all do, at the Winter Court. We’re full fae, we can shift, too.”

  Her eyes slip down my body, and my cock reacts. I stiffen in my seat, refusing to believe that just happened.

  “But you can do more than that, can’t you?” she says. “More than just transform your body into ice. Your skin can shift into armor.”

  “It’s not just my skin.” I clench my jaw to pull myself together. She makes me feel things that worry me. “My whole body changes, on the inside as well. I become insanely difficult to kill, my flesh turns into armor that’s almost impossible to pierce.”

  “Why almost?”

  “Because there are high fae powerful enough to do it.”

  “Like who?”

  “We weren’t talking about me, Lady de Saelaria, we were talking about you.”

  “What’s with the Lady? You called me Arielle before.”

  “I didn’t know who you were. Or I wasn’t sure. Now I know for a fact you’re a noblewoman.”

  Her eyes narrow into slits as she gives me the best glare she’s capable of.

  “It shouldn’t matter, you know. Who someone is. Everybody deserves to be treated as if they’re important. Pain and suffering feels the same under everyone’s skin.”

  “You have a point, and I completely agree. But when you’re a high fae that has to ensure the safety of an entire fae realm, thousands upon thousands of people looking to you for protection, safety, even happiness, you have to make tough choices. You learn that some people need to be more ‘equal’ than others, simply because sometimes you have to sacrifice one in order to save a hundred. Just put yourself in that situation. What would you do?”

  “I don’t know, I’ve never been in your shoes, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t subject people to the kind of ‘test’ you put me through. Humans are far younger and baser than fae, and yet they stopped doing shit like that centuries ago.”

  “Only that test could have revealed your identity. And now that you know the story behind it, you know why it was so enormously important. If you’d failed that test, you could have died, it’s true. But the fact that you survived it means you’ll save thousands of lives. It was worth the risk. Besides, I would have jumped in for you, if you hadn’t come back. I would have saved you.”

  She crosses her arms over her chest, making a point of how she still doesn’t trust me. “Good to know. But how am I saving thousands of lives?”

  I clench my jaw, buying time. I’m still trying to figure out how to tell her the truth.

  “Like I said, as a descendant of the ocean king you have power over water, in all realms. Power so great it takes a broad consciousness to even grasp it. Imagine it like a sports car with so much horsepower and special inner workings that it takes a formula one pilot to drive it, the average Joe just won’t do.”

  “Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not the average Joe. I’m the average Jane.”

  “Sorry if I offend you, but it’s the truth. You need training before you can fully wield your power. And that’s not all. You would need special protection in the supernatural realms. There are many dangerous supernaturals that crave what you have, and that will do anything to get their hands on it. They’d even make a deal with me, give me anything I want in exchange for you.”

  Moments of silence follow, and I can see in her eyes that she understands.

  “So you intend to trade me.” She scoffs. “Can’t say I didn’t expect it would be something like that. Letting me freeze to death in a dungeon, or downing me would have suited you much better, but when you discovered I was special, you had new ideas. Why torment me to death when you can sell me, and get more than just pleasure out of it.”

  “I would never send you to your death.”

  “Stop the charade, Lysander. It’s just you and me in here, no one else to pretend for. Those supernaturals you’re talking about want to kill me, just like they did with the ocean king’s other children.”

  “The ocean witch would want to kill you, yes. Others would want your power, and they can’t take it, unless you’re very much alive.”

  “Come on. Aunt Miriam taught me enough about the fae to know that our power cannot simply be taken or given.”

  “No, but it can be temporarily borrowed.”

  “What do you mean?”

  It’s hard to look into her eyes and say this, but here it goes.

  “If a man beds you, your powers merge with his. He would then be able to wield your water magic for weeks, the first three days completely and fully. Then the powers would slowly fade.”

  She jumps to her feet, crimson flush staining her cheeks.

  “Are you going to sell me like a, a—?” She can’t even say the word, her voice stumbling over it. The silver drawings I put on her light up, undulating on her skin. She seems a beautiful water nymph in silver chains. My cock twitches, the muscles in my thighs stiffen. What the hell?

  “You asked for the truth, I’m giving you the truth.” Low threat creeps into my tone, which makes her stand down. I’ve done too much to her already, and she’s afraid of me, which hurts. But right now I’m just trying to mask my desire for her. It’s unacceptable for me to feel that way about her.

  “I brought you in from the human world because you’d used your magic, thereby breaking supernatural law. I was considering punishing your Aunt Miriam for raising you there, since that in itself is forbidden.”

  “You promised you wouldn’t touch Aunt Miriam,” she says, glaring at me from under her highly arched eyebrows. “If you do, I will not cooperate.”

  “I won’t harm your Aunt, and not only because I promised you. But because I understand why she raised you there. It was the only safe hiding place.” I motion to the food. “Eat, it’s getting cold.”

  “I’m not hungry anymore.”

  “I can hear your stomach grumble. It’s not going to help anybody if you starve to death.”

  She grabs another croissant, going for the latte with the other hand.

  “Tell me, Arielle,” I continue. “What stories has your Aunt Miriam told you about your parents?”

  “She did tell me that they were killed, assassinated, so I know that much,” she says. “And she told me it wasn’t safe for me in the supernatural realms.”

  “Did she ever tell you who killed your parents, and why?”

  Tears sparkle in her dreamy blue eyes that keep me captivated in a way that nothing ever has. It’s hard to keep my focus, and not let my thoughts stray to how she would look completely naked. Must be her mermaid powers doing this to me. Even though my magic keeps them at a minimum, suppressed, they’re natural to her, and seep to the surface.

  “They were assassinated on sight, under the accusation of treason. It was a fabricated accusation.”

  I nod. “That’s the information I have, too.”

  I already know her story, but I sit quietly and allow her to tell it. I can see that it helps her release some of her frustration.

  “Like you said, my father had moved back to the Flipside, but he would often go on missions in the human world. He knew the human world extremely well, having lived in it for thousands of years, so the Council of the Arcane charged him with tracking down fae, demons and other creatures of darkness that would seek to prey on humans, and form entire mobs. But someone framed him, and made it look like he was working with those gangs. They executed him on sight. Then they tracked down my mother, and assassinated her, simply because she knew about the supernatural, and she was a liability.”

  My jaw clenches. “You were unjustly orphaned, and I want you to know I’m sorry about that. You were only a baby, you still needed them so much.”

  “How do you know I was a baby?”

  “I told you, I have information. The version that has bee
n brought to my knowledge is very similar to yours. No need to go into details.”

  “Okay, so I’m the ocean king’s descendant, and I have power over the ocean—power I can’t feel anymore, because of the limitations you put on me.” She looks demonstratively at the silver drawings on her arms. “And now you intend to sell me to the highest bidder, am I right? I suppose you’ll also try to get the best deal for my virginity.”

  Wait, what?.

  “You’re... You never?”

  She raises an eyebrow. “I’m half fae. I have the fae trait that I only feel lust when I’m in love, and I’ve only been in love once. Unrequited. So here I am.”

  I can’t help scanning her up and down. It feels like I’m undressing her with my eyes, and by the way she wraps the duvet around herself, she feels it, too.

  “Let’s just say it’s unusual to meet someone from the mortal world who is a virgin at twenty-two. But you’re right, being half fae... So you were in love once?” Now why am I hung up on that?

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she murmurs, looking down. That heats me up. An uncomfortable feeling grips my throat.

  “You still have feelings for him?”

  “I said, I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to.” I rise from the chair. She stares up at me from the bed, and the way her eyes land on me, long black lashes hooding them, it makes my blood boil. Get a grip, Lysander, you’re the fucking Winter King.

  “Your Aunt Miriam hid you from the supernatural world because she feared for your life,” I explain. “She relinquished her fae looks and aged as a human, because she needed all the camouflage she could get. She knew powerful supernaturals were after you, and any man who ever entered your life could have been a spy for them.”

  “Well, it’s pretty obvious my first love wasn’t one. I’m here, in your power, not some other guy’s that might have sent him.”

  Silence falls between us.

  “Lysander, I’d like one thing to be clear as day between us,” she says, standing up and squaring her shoulders, holding the duvet above her breasts. “I may be forced to let you handle my body like merchandise, chained and powerless as you sell me to the highest bidder. But my secrets are my own, like my soul.”

  She defies me with those eyes. So much smaller than me, barely more than a girl, and yet so much power inside her. I can feel her magic rippling in her core with her anger. The lure of a mermaid coils around her, as fine as morning fog. I wonder—if she were to sing now, would I be able to resist her?

  I can feel lust bubbling up inside of me, which can only mean one thing. A thing I’m not prepared to accept, or to deal with.

  I step back, ready to go.

  “Catch some sleep. We’re leaving soon, you’ll need all your strength.”

  “Leaving where?”

  “To meet the ‘highest bidder’.” My lips curl as the words roll off my tongue, leaving a bitter taste behind.

  “I see,” she hisses. Her blue eyes fill with resentment, and I can’t believe how wretched that makes me feel. “I must say, you’re a great disappointment, Lord of Winter. For someone as ancient and powerful as you, as experienced and wise, you’re nothing more than a medieval inquisitor. You subject me to a deadly test as if you were on a witch hunt, and now you want to trade me over to some guy.” She sticks out her chin, arms folded in defiance across her chest. “And what if I refuse? What if I tell your ‘highest bidder’ to go to hell?”

  I hate it, but I have to do this. My jaw ticks. “You won’t, if you care about your Aunt Miriam’s safety.”

  Her cheeks go deep crimson with anger, but she doesn’t say anything.

  “The problems might extend to your new friend Edith Snowstorm, too.”

  “You would harm two innocent people if I don’t fuck who you tell me to?” she growls.

  I just stare at her, which she takes as answer enough.

  “Now I understand how you’ve stayed king of the Winter Realm for so many years. You’re a tyrant, a bully, you would sell your own mother if it brought you what you wanted.”

  “Everything I do is for the greater good.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  We stare hard at each other, her arms locked over her chest, her face red. It hurts to see the hatred in her eyes, which I wish would look upon me with... Damn it, I want her to crave me.

  “The humans have a saying, Lord of Winter,” she says, almost like a curse. “People always meet twice in life. When we meet for the second time, I’ll make you pay for this.”

  It’s a threat, and yet it has a soothing effect on me—it’s a promise that we will meet again.

  “Now do me the honor of leaving my chamber,” she demands, turning her back to me. I still stand rooted in the ground, watching her black hair fall over her shoulders like rivulets of liquid ebony. It caresses the milky skin of her back, the duvet draped over her loins. She’s sobbing lightly, I can tell by the way her shoulder blades move.

  “Now,” she says in a cracked voice. I walk slowly backwards, eyes still on her, fighting an overwhelming need to stay with her.

  Once the door is closed behind me, I start down the hallway at a rapid pace, trying to break this thread that ties me to her. I can feel the guards staring after me. They’ve never seen me like this before, and frankly, I don’t recognize myself either. There’s only one place that I can go to now, and I head straight for it.

  Lysander

  “WHAT IN THE CURSED realms is wrong with you?” Sandros grunts.

  I’m pacing his room like an angry lion. His chamber is spacious, but also Spartan, since he is a true military man. I head to one of the archways that face the ocean, gripping the ledge.

  “Fuck this,” I hiss.

  “Are you gonna tell me what ‘this’ is all about?”

  I look at him over my shoulder. He stands there bare-chested, black pants on. He just got out of a bath, his long hair damp, a plain white shirt in his hand.

  “I’m sorry, I needed to...” What am I going to say, that I’ve fallen prey to the charms of a water nymph?

  He frowns at me. “Is this about the water princess?”

  “Arielle, yes. I just told her what’s going to happen with her next.”

  “And how did she take it?”

  “How do you think?”

  He doesn’t say it. It’s understood.

  “I have to admit, I feel sorry for her,” he says.

  “I do, too.”

  Sandros slides his shirt on, leaving it open and removing his silver dagger from the sheath on his bedside table. He walks over as he polishes it.

  “I have a team of military messengers teleporting to Xerxes,” he says. “I expect them to be back by morning.”

  “Fine. Keep the portal open the whole time, so they can return easily, but have soldiers in place in case they bring back more than just themselves from the Fire Realm.”

  “They call it Purgatory these days.”

  “Yeah, I keep forgetting.” I stare out at the ocean, allowing the sundown to mirror in my eyes. “I wouldn’t put it beyond Xerxes to take advantage of the messenger portal, and use it to attack. He’s as treacherous as Lucifer.”

  “But sadly not as pretty.” The sound of stone polishing metal fills the air between us as we stand side by side, watching the sunset. We’ve bonded over stuff like this for ages. My little brother, and weapons, I feel most at home with them.

  “So, tell me about the girl,” he begins as the mood loosens. “What happened that made you barge in here looking like a madman?”

  “I don’t know, it’s just... I feel things I shouldn’t fucking feel.”

  Sandros laughs.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “First of all, you’re swearing. You never swear. The girl is messing with your head, and she can’t even tap into her full powers.”

  “Messing with my head.” I stare out at the dying sun, its orange rays spreading like thinned blood over
the horizon. “I’ll have to start using protection against her charms, the same way as the sailor fae of old did.”

  “You’re not really considering amulets, are you? You’re the fucking Lord of Winter, King of the Winter Realm, the feared and respected Lysander Nightfrost. Mermaids and water nymphs got nothing on you.”

  “This one does.”

  “Strange. You’ve got natural shields against all kinds of magic. Only higher fae and divine supernaturals from the highest realms can drill through them.”

  “Arielle de Saelaria isn’t just anyone either. She is the ocean king’s descendant.”

  “But her magic is under control, isn’t it? You put a silver spell on her.”

  “What if it isn’t her magic that’s doing this? What if it’s...her nature, something that’s as much a part of her as her eyes?”

  “You mean you feel naturally attracted to her? Because if that’s the case, it’s simple—just take her; she’s your prisoner, you have the right to subdue her sexually.” He shrugs, still polishing his blade. “You’d be doing her a favor anyway. I doubt Xerxes will be concerned with her pleasure. In fact, he might enjoy hurting her while he takes her.”

  My jaw clenches so hard it hurts. “Especially when he learns that she’s a virgin.”

  “Say what?” He angles his body to me, his interest piqued. “But she’s twenty-two, lived in the mortal realm. How can she still be a virgin in a world where girls—”

  “Apparently she’s taking physical intimacy very seriously. Or she’s frigid, I don’t know. But it seems she’s special in more ways than we originally thought.”

  “Fuck me.”

  “I feel guilty for what’s going to happen to her,” I continue quietly. “Xerxes will surely marry her, tie her to him permanently. He’ll take her again and again in order to renew his power over her domain, and no one will be able to save her once they’re officially mated.”

  A vision fills my mind of Xerxes parting the girl’s legs at the wedding, his golden body glowing in the low light of candles, as the white folds of her bride gown flow like a cascade from the edges of the bed.