He chuckled. “Froston is quite fond of the human world and enjoys many of the comforts they’ve developed over the years.”
I looked around, trying to imagine Froston carrying all this stuff through a portal into the Arctic the way that I had arrived here. It didn’t seem practical or possible but it did make me chuckle at the mental image of Froston carrying a weight machine on his back.
“You wear your thoughts all over your face,” the prince told me quietly. “You won’t last long in our world if you don’t learn to control that.”
I gave a frustrated huff. “I’m not well-suited for this world in a lot of ways - so it might be best for you to just send me home.”
The prince laughed out loud as he circled around me, moving more gracefully than I could ever hope to be. “If your father wasn’t one of my most important allies I would be tempted to keep you for myself.”
Another piece of the puzzle fell into place for me. I had been wondering why the prince had been willing to let Froston handle my kidnapping and confinement. I guess I was incredibly lucky that he considered my father a powerful ally.
“The two of you have been friends a long time?” I asked the prince, more to make conversation than out of any real curiosity.
The prince laughed again. “Friends?” He shook his head in amusement and motioned for me to join him over on the mats. I was guessing that was a ‘no’ to being friends then.
“You and I have a lot of work to do today. I want you to meet the king soon, and I want to show him what you can offer us.” He stepped closer to me and I reflexively took a step back before I even realized what I was doing. That seductive darkness still radiated off him, and I would prefer to be as far away from that as possible in my current mind’s state.
He cocked his head at me with laughter in his green eyes that were eerily similar to mine. “I’m not going to harm you, my sweet Anna.”
I blushed but held my ground as he came closer and reached for my hands. His hands were calloused as he gently took ahold of mine. That surprised me, I would think that a prince wouldn’t have many duties that required manual labor. “Now that we are alone, you can call me Drake,” the prince offered as if he was being generous.
My heart fluttered nervously as we stood close to each other and I felt his magic reaching for me again. Dark tendrils wafted off of him and floated towards me, I instinctively recoiled but there was nowhere for me to go.
“Normally, fledgling fae are taught from birth how to manage their magic. But you have some unique circumstances,” he explained quietly.
I nodded. Unique was one way of putting it.
He gave me an amused smirk. “Because you are utterly clueless, I’m going to take a short-cut to show you how this works.”
I blushed but tensed up when I felt his magic surrounding me and pressing in on all sides.
“We’re going to connect and I’m going to channel magic through you. I’ll have control over the magic itself, but you will feel exactly what I’m doing and be able to replicate the process on your own later.”
I stared into Drake’s eyes and it was like the world dropped away, leaving only the two of us. My anxiety intensified, just what was this magic lesson going to entail?
“Just relax,” I heard him murmur as his magic reached inside of me. I panicked and tried to fight him off, but his magic slid inside of me easily. I knew the moment that we made the connection because it was like our minds melded together.
I could feel him in every thought and crevice in my mind. He combed through all my thoughts and emotions as easily as I would shuffle a deck of cards. The invasion was violating and the ease at which he did it was disconcerting. How could I protect myself from someone like him? How could I ever hope to protect my pack from the fae?
Pay attention. I felt rather than heard his words as he delved into my well of magic. As much as this invasive process horrified me, I did see how it was useful as I felt him handle my magic.
I could feel the control he had over the flow of magic and his intent as he wove it around me. He had my complete attention as he pulled my own magic from me and used it to blow a gentle breeze through my hair.
I couldn’t help but smile when he created a cloud of fireflies that surrounded us before flying up to the ceiling and dissipating in a shower of sparks.
I felt him release his hold on my magic and urge me to try to do the same. I fumbled to direct the flow of magic the way that he had, but I was able to access it much easier than I ever had before. Now that he had shown me what I should be doing, I was able to clumsily mimic the motions that he had gone through. He had to keep giving me little nudges when I floundered, but I was able to follow his directions.
We worked together for hours. Sweat beaded on my face and dripped down my back as I struggled to follow the prince’s directions. We worked on using what the prince called elemental magic by making breezes that fluttered through our hair. I was completely hopeless at the illusion magic that he had used to create the fireflies, so he eventually abandoned his attempts to teach me that.
“Let’s try fire,” Drake announced. “You seemed to have some affinity for that before.”
I swallowed nervously. Letting loose an out of control blaze of fire was not something I was willing to risk.
Through our connection, the prince picked up on my thoughts. “I told you before, I can absorb any errant magic that you let out. That’s one advantage to inheriting part of my father’s magic.”
I observed him thoughtfully. He had told me before that his father was like an incubus to the humans, and now he had told me that he could absorb magic. Was the out of character attraction that I sometimes felt for him due to him trying to use some type of incubus magic on me? I had thought that an incubus was a type of demon who used humans and fed off their sexual energy. Were demons real? Or had humans named different fae as demons?
He had to have heard those thoughts, but he didn’t react to them. “I know you can use fire,” he said impatiently. “Close your eyes and focus.” The prince delved back into my magic to demonstrate. He created a small fire above our heads that quickly burned out. I tried to do the same, but my fear kept getting in the way. I was afraid to let the fire out, just seeing Ben’s charred remains in my mind.
The prince released my hands with a disgusted snort. “Your father has allowed you to stay with the humans for far too long. You’ve become soft and helpless, a frightened rabbit right before the hounds are released for the hunt.”
I glared at him, but he was partly right. I was soft. I cared about the people around me and I loved my pack. But he was wrong about me being helpless – I would do anything to keep them safe. I let my anger simmer inside of me and used that to fuel the magic to create a small flame.
Drake watched me with narrowed eyes. “Interesting that you link your emotions to your magic, I haven’t seen that before.”
I shrugged. “That’s what works for me.”
“Let’s see what you can do when you get truly angry, then,” the prince murmured.
He combed through my mind, bringing forward a memory of Kelsey when she had deliberately tormented and embarrassed me in front of a guy that I thought was cute my freshman year of college. At the time, I had been in tears and confused about why she would do something like that. We were friends, weren’t we?
Get tough! Drake shouted in my mind. Have some self-respect! You just let her push you around like that? How could you expect anyone to respect you or see you as an equal?
Looking back on it now, I was embarrassed at the way I let Kelsey treat me. I was angry at her for the emotional roller coaster she had kept me on over the years, but I was angrier at myself for letting her do it. I shouldn’t have let her manipulate me, I should have seen through her ‘best friend’ act. I never should have let her keep drawing me in every time I thought I had enough and was ready to walk away. But she always had a reason and an apology waiting for me once she had pushed me too hard. And
I had never had a true friend before to compare our relationship to. I hadn’t even realized how fucked up it was – I was just grateful for the good moments that we had together.
All of that was over. I had my pack and my guys now. I knew what true friendship and family meant now. I knew what it was like to be accepted for who I was.
Hold on to that determination, Drake told me. You need to believe in yourself and hold your head high. Use your emotion, but don’t get lost in it.
I focused on the anger that he had drawn out of me and used it to form a ball of fire bigger than a basketball. Heat came off it and warmed my hands but I let it dissipate with a thought.
That was good, but you can do better.
We kept working with the prince trying to goad me into emotional reactions. But by the end of our session, I was able to independently use my magic to do a couple simple tasks.
I couldn’t fight the huge grin that stretched over my face as the prince withdrew from me and I was left alone in my own head. This experience had been anything but pleasant, but I was learning how to use magic!
Drake shared in my grin for a moment, before he remembered that he was an arrogant ass and put his trademark smirk back on his face. “That will be enough for today.”
I only nodded. I had accomplished a lot, but it had also taken a lot out of me. For the second day in a row I felt like I had run a marathon.
The prince started towards the door, but turned back to me. “Oh, and Anna?”
“Yes, Your Highness?” I mumbled quietly.
“Let’s keep our unorthodox training methods to ourselves. If anyone asks, you flung fireballs at me as I absorbed them.”
I nodded in confusion, but the prince was out the door before I could ask any questions. Now alone in the room, I plopped down on the floor and laid on one of the mats. I would just rest for a minute before making the hike back through the castle to my room.
“My lady?” I heard Caylee’s voice call out to me.
I reluctantly sat up and Caylee giggled when she saw me on the floor. “The prince asked me to bring you back to your room before fetching you something to eat,” Caylee told me with a sly grin. “He said you worked up an appetite?”
I blushed. “Not the way you’re thinking.”
Caylee pouted in disappointment but reached for my hands, so she could pull me to my feet. She chattered enough to make up for my silence as we made our way back through the castle. I was so tired that I had to keep my eyes on the ground to keep from tripping. That was the reason why I didn’t notice when I almost walked into a female fae.
She was just as tall as I was, but waif-thin where I was curvy. Her blond hair was a few shades darker than mine and braided into an elaborate up-do that must have taken hours to perfect. She was wearing an elaborate gown with a corset that made her waist look tiny. If this was what a female fae was supposed to look like, then I understood Caylee’s dismay at not being able to make me fit in their mold. The female fae narrowed her eyes at me and circled like a lion would circle around injured prey. “I don’t see what’s so special about you,” she practically spat at me.
I stood up tall and straightened my shoulders. I was so not in the mood for this right now. I already had my fill of the Kelseys of the human world, I had no desire to meet the fae version. I simply ignored her and continued walking. Caylee’s jaw dropped but she ran after me once she realized I wasn’t going to stop.
The female gave a very unladylike snort of disapproval as I walked away from her, but she didn’t pursue me.
Once we had turned a corner and were out of site of the stranger, Caylee whispered to me in a panic. “Don’t you know who that was?”
“No, Caylee. I don’t know who that was, because I haven’t met anyone other than my father and the prince since I’ve been here,” I said sarcastically. “And I don’t care who she is because I don’t like bullies.” There was no way I was going to let a mean fae female make me feel like less than her. I was a badass fire-throwing Arctic wolf now.
I immediately felt bad for my sharp tone when I saw Caylee wilt. I had let my stress and exhaustion get the better of me and I had taken it out on the one person who had shown me kindness here. “I’m sorry, Caylee,” I said gently. “It’s been a really rough day. Maybe we could talk about her once we get back to the room?”
“Of course, my lady,” Caylee answered quietly. “I’ll run you a hot bath as soon as we get back so you can relax.”
I was too tired to argue with her or let her know that I was perfectly capable of running my own bath, so I just nodded in agreement. I never thought I would be so happy to see the door to my prison here in the fae world, but I eagerly went into my room and sat on the couch. I slumped down and closed my eyes, hoping for a few moments of peaceful rest.
True to her word, Caylee headed right into my bathroom to turn on the water. There was a moment where I wondered how the fae had hot running water without electricity, but I decided to just let that one go for now.
Chapter 6
Anna
The next couple days were more of the same. The prince would show me different ways to use my magic and I would clumsily fumble my way through it until I could manage the task on my own. I practiced my magic on my own tirelessly, my pack was going to be depending on me to protect them and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from succeeding.
I slept for most of the time that I wasn’t in the lessons or practicing, but my sleep was fitful at best. I wasn’t sure if it was magic use that kept me feeling drained and exhausted, but no amount of sleep seemed to help.
During the night when I tried to sleep I was plagued by nightmares, and my only real reprieve was in the early mornings. I tried my best to get through the days, but with every day that passed I missed my pack more. I had a constant physical ache that reminded me of their absence, like a part of me was missing.
The prince had started out teaching me how to manage basic elements like wind and fire, but I had graduated to trying to use more complex magic. I had discovered that it was easier to focus on my intent behind using magic and let it flow through me, as opposed to trying to force it to do what I wanted.
During our lessons, the prince was gradually becoming less of an asshole to me. He didn’t even care when I lost my temper and yelled back at him when he was pushing my buttons, sometimes I even thought that he enjoyed it.
Today, Drake was waiting for me in our practice area with two other people. One was a young girl, who looked like she was about ten years old and had her hair in pigtails. The other was an older man in his seventies or eighties.
Drake hopped to his feet when he saw me in the doorway and sauntered over with his trademark grin looking even more wicked than usual. “Anna, you are in for a treat today.”
I looked at the two humans nervously. “What am I learning today?”
“Today, we are going to be focusing on one of my specialties – compulsion.”
My jaw dropped. “Compulsion? You can manipulate people?”
He gave me a feral grin. “I can. Today you are going to learn how to project an emotion onto another person. Once you get better at that, you’ll be able to subtly influence another’s thoughts.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why would I want to do that?”
He laughed. “Why wouldn’t you? Anything you want can be yours.”
“Have you done that to me?” I asked softly. “Manipulated me?”
He smirked. “I’ve tried, but you are surprisingly resistant. That makes me think that you might have an affinity for it.”
I frowned. “Can we learn something else today? Maybe like making portals back to my world?”
The prince laughed heartily but reached for my hands. “My sweet little buttercup. I should be hurt that you’re trying to run away from me.”
I rolled my eyes but held my tongue. I would like nothing more than to run far away from here and never come back.
“As much as I would lik
e to indulge your every request…” the prince said mockingly. “Your father is one of the few fae in the realm who have that ability.”
I tilted my head to regard him. That was why my father was such an important ally to the king. It also explained why the prince was being gentler with me than he would probably like to be.
“Why do you really want me here, anyway?” I blurted out. I was more than tired of the subterfuge and games that were part of our daily routine.
The mocking smirk faded from his face and he looked at me honestly. “I need you. The kingdom needs you.” He sighed and dismissed the two humans. They looked relieved and didn’t waste any time getting out of the room and away from the prince.
He took my hand and led me over to one of the benches. “I’ll be honest with you, Anna,” he told me seriously. “There’s a lot of tension between us and the Summer Court right now. My father can be… antagonistic at times.”
I swallowed nervously. I was supposed to be meeting this king soon so that he could evaluate my progress and see whether or not I would be of use to the kingdom. A part of me hoped that he would decide that I was completely useless. But I had a feeling that the prince wouldn’t agree to simply send me home to live my life if I was deemed a failure. From what Caylee had told me, he definitely seemed like the vindictive sort.
“You don’t know a lot about our world, but let me tell you the basics,” the prince stated. “The Summer Court is made of the most perfect, beautiful, and powerful of our kind. The Winter Court is made up of everyone who doesn’t meet their standards or who has been rejected and turned away,” the prince explained.
“There are a lot more of us than there are of them, but there are quite a few of the fae here that would do anything to get back into their good graces.”
“And you don’t?” I asked curiously.
He smiled. “I was born into the Winter Court, I would never be accepted there. My mother, the Morrigan, was one of the most powerful fae alive at the time, most would consider her to be a goddess. But her powers of death and destruction would have never been welcomed at the shining Summer Court. She carved out a powerful kingdom here and made a haven for everyone who had nowhere else to go.”
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