Winter Tails: A Limited Edition Winter Shifters Collection

by Fox, Piper

  The king stepped back from her with anger in his eyes. “You would dare reject me?”

  “I-,” Naomi started, but the impact of his backhand against her cheek sent her stumbling back into the window she so desperately wanted to escape from.

  “You will not make a fool of me. Your mother made a promise in your name, and I expect you to uphold it. You will be my bride.”

  “I never wanted to be your bride.”

  His stronghold wrapped around her neck as he dragged her forward. He forced a kiss on her that was so vile she had to force the bile from entering her mouth. When he finished the assault on her mouth, he held her by a fistful of her hair.

  “You will be my bride, and you will enjoy it,” his face stretched with a sinister grin, “Or you will die.”

  The king released her with the threat and marched towards the door, leaving her alone and sobbing.

  They left her to herself for thirty minutes before the door swung open and her mother along with two of her aides entered.

  “What is the holdup, dear?” Margaret questioned as the doors closed behind her. “You’re being awfully rude to your guests right now.”

  “They aren’t my guests,” Naomi sat in a small chair, cast in shadow, at the back of the room.

  “What is your problem now?”

  “My problem?” she stood, stepping into the light to reveal the bruising around her eye. “He hit me. He told me that if I don’t pretend like I’m infatuated with him, like his touch doesn’t make my skin crawl or his breath doesn’t make me want to vomit, that he will kill me!”

  “And what did you say?”

  “What did I say?” Naomi’s mouth hung open. “You’re seriously blaming me for his act of abuse.”

  “I’m assuming you did what you always do. Backtalk.”

  “Are you serious?” Naomi shook her head. “How could you hate me so much?”

  “Enough with the dramatics, Naomi,” The Queen held her hand up to stop her daughter’s talking. “The aides will clean you up. I expect you back out there in five minutes.”

  “No,” Naomi spoke calmly. No longer angered but purely disgusted by her mother.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I will not do this. Not for you, not for this country, not for anything. I will not tie myself to a man so disgusting that even as King he cannot convince the most ratchet woman to lie with him.” She ripped the robe from her shoulders and dropped it to the floor. “If you want peace with him so badly that you would marry for it, then you do it! But I will not sell my soul for your good press.”

  “You will do what I tell you to do,” her mother flexed her chest, imposing her power and warming the air of the room with her fire. It was a method she used often, the threat of her dragon.

  Instead of shying away like she had many times before, Naomi felt empowered to challenge her mother. Her lungs filled with air as she tapped into her core where, unlike the fire her mother used, there was ice. The temperature plummeted in the room; the windows frosted over and her mother staggered back from her.

  “You-,” the queen began.

  “I am done,” Naomi announced as her chest expanded and the dress her mother chose ripped at the seams. For the first time in nearly five years, Naomi unleashed her dragon in front of her mother. And as the queen stumbled back on her ass, her aides there to help her up, she blasted the windows with ice breath. The glass fell around her escape like the heavy flakes of a snowstorm.

  * * *

  She flew around the palace and blasted as many exits as she could with her ice, sealing them shut to buy her more time. Naomi had no destination in mind. Her only thought was to get as far away from her mother as she could. It wouldn’t be long until the guards were after her.

  Her wings glistened in the sunlight, casting a rainbow of reflections on the ground beneath as they carried her to the familiar location. She only wanted to see it once more before she would run away forever. Their rendezvous location.

  As she flew above, she expected the small piece of land to be empty, but the cast shadow of a woman beckoned her to the ground. When she landed she found her aide, Min, standing in the field. After scanning the area, making sure it wasn’t a trap, she allowed her human form to show again.

  Her hair blew wildly around her in the wind as Min approached.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I hoped you would come.” Min held out a small piece of paper to her. “Your mother banned me from the palace. This was the only place I could think of.”

  “What is this?”

  “Confirmation,” Min spoke as Naomi unfolded the note. “Axel is still alive.”

  “This is a map.” Naomi looked up from the paper that depicted a land she’d only been to as a child. “He is in Kynoh?”

  “Yes,” Min nodded. “It’s where she keeps people she never wants to be seen again. He is alive, but I don’t know how much longer that will be true.”

  “Are you sure this is where he is?”

  “Yes, another aide accompanied him there. She is there now.”

  “Thank you Min,” Naomi hugged the girl. “I know the risk you took in coming here.”

  “It’s worth it. What’s happening, it's not right.”

  “I agree.” Naomi watched the sky behind Min’s head. She had to get moving soon and before anyone saw Min with her. “You need to go somewhere safe.”

  “I will.” Min pulled the hood over her face. “I hope everything works out for you.”

  “Thank you,” When Min was a safe distance away, Naomi shifted back to her dragon, before flying away, she breathed an extra layer of ice on the ground, covering Min’s tracks. No one could know that the girl helped her.

  Naomi didn’t need the map to find her way to Kynoh. She’d memorized the way as a young girl, and though she hadn’t been in nearly a decade, she remembered her last time traveling the path like it was the night before. She often fantasized of following the route to the lost lands of her people.

  Kynoh was the home of the Sinos. Before her mother had it destroyed. Tensions rose between Margaret and Samson, the last living mail Sinos, and grandfather to Naomi. When Naomi was nearing her maturity, Samson insisted she return to Kynoh to learn the ways of their people.

  Margaret insisted it wasn’t necessary. She said she could teach Naomi everything she needed to know, only that wasn’t the case. Margaret knew nothing about being a dragon of the ice. Samson taught Naomi all he could during their brief visits, but eventually Margaret grew so envious of their relationship, the relationship she could never have with Samson, that she attacked Kynoh.

  Landing in the courtyard of Kynoh broke Naomi’s heart. Where there used to be a beautifully groomed garden and lush green grasses, there was an overgrowth of weeds. The buildings she remembered standing proud and tall, were caving in on themselves. All around her, she could still feel the death of her people.

  The only structure that was not threatening to fall over was the main house. Naomi walked without hesitation up the steps that lead to the massive porch. She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

  Crossing the threshold was like walking into her past. She hadn’t expected the interior to look so well kept up. Just to the left of the entrance was her grandfather’s study. She couldn’t help herself from going inside. She spent so many afternoons in the space, reading and discussing the history of the Sinos with Samson. He told her she was their legacy, their hope to live on and that she held a power that would make others envy her. She never thought they would include her mother in that count.

  “You are our legacy, Naomi.” He handed her the heavy leather-bound book.

  “What’s this?”

  “This is our family’s history. A gift to you,” He lowered his voice. “A secret between us.”

  “A secret?”

  “There are things in this book that cannot be known by those without the gift. Your gift.” He ran his fingers across the embossed snowflake on the cover. “M
any have tried and failed to decipher the text hidden within these pages.”

  “It’s so pretty,” she smiled at him.

  “Yes, it is, but it’s also a symbol of strength.” he placed her hand on the cover. “Whenever you see this, know that you are in a place of power. When you are in a place of power, you are at your strongest.”

  Naomi opened the book to find the interior full of aged pages, all of which were empty.

  “The pages are blank.” She looked up at her grandfather.

  “Oh, but are they?” He winked, leaned forward and blew his cool breath across the page. As the thin layer of frost touched the page, something magical happened. Words appeared, stories of their people.

  Her eyes widened as she hurried to consume the lessons before the words disappeared again.

  “Wow,”

  “Inside of you is an amazing beast, one that is powerful and awe-inspiring, one that can cause destruction and chaos, but also beauty and life. What you decide to do with it, is your choice.”

  ‘I don’t want to destroy anything.”

  “I know you don’t.”

  “Thank you, grandpa,” Naomi reached up to hug him. “There’s so much I don’t understand, I’m so happy to have you here to help me.”

  “I’ll always be with you,” He smiled. “Even when I’m not.”

  It was one week later that her mother would attack their home, destroying nearly all evidence of the Sinos existence. Everything but the main house which she would turn into her torture den.

  With the message of the past echoing in her mind, Naomi left the study. As much as she would love to continue to reminisce and even search the home for clues of their family. She couldn’t justify the time spent. Axel was locked away somewhere inside the house. If she were lucky, he was still alive.

  Naomi headed for the foyer where there were winding steps that led from the entrance to the second floor. She would start at the top and work her way down, checking every room that she could until she found him.

  She made it halfway up the flight when she heard the heavy pounding of dragon feet landing outside. At least five touched down. She turned on the steps, heading back down to stand behind the door.

  “Let’s not play this game.” Her mother called out. “Come outside and handle this like a big girl.”

  Naomi said nothing.

  “You want to do this the hard way? Fine!” the queen yelled, and a moment later they blasted the door and every window along the front of the building with fire.

  Naomi jumped back, expecting the fire to burn through the door, but it didn’t. She could see the flames and even feel the heat, but the structure stood tall. The walls glistened with magic and as she looked closer; she realized there were snowflakes. Thousands of snowflakes, just like the one on the book cover. They were the reason the structure still stood. They were her protection.

  When it was clear, they would make no progress, the fire stopped. Naomi peeked through the window where she could see her mother, standing in human form with four of her biggest guards surrounding her, all of them in their dragon state.

  “I didn’t want to have to do this!” Margaret called out. “But you leave me no choice!”

  His cry of pain was enough to make her want to tear the door down. She looked through the window to see Axel, bodied covered in blood and bruises, being thrown across the ground. She gripped the doorknob hard enough to bend the metal in her hand.

  “Look at him, don’t you just want to come and save him?” Margaret taunted her daughter.

  “Don’t do it!” Axel called out, begging Naomi not to do anything she might one day regret. His outburst got him a kick to the face, causing him to spit a mouthful of blood onto the ground.

  “Get out here!” her mother called. “Or I will kill him!”

  Naomi couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t take being bullied and abused by her mother. She refused to allow herself to continue to be controlled by fear. It was her mother’s game. Scare her into doing something terrible to prevent something more heinous from happening. It had to end.

  She opened the door, breaking the seal of protection around herself, and stepped out onto the porch.

  “Oh, good!” the queen clapped. “I thought I was going to have to end his pathetic life. But who knows, I still might.”

  “You will not touch him.” Naomi responded.

  “Oh? And I suppose you’re going to stop me?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  She descended the steps, eyeing each of the dragons that surrounded her. They would do nothing to harm her unless her mother gave them a direct order. One even she, the psychotic mess that she was, was too smart to do.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Facing you, once and for all. I’m done with this. I will not be your punching bag anymore. I’m sorry that you hate me so much. I’m sorry that you were born with fire and I with ice. I’m sorry that you are envious of that. I’m sorry that I could forge a relationship with your father that you were not simply because we shared that gift. And I’m sorry that after bringing me into his world, you could no longer have children. For all of that, I am sorry.” Naomi reached the last step. “But I will no longer apologize for these things. I will no longer allow you to guilt me into a life I don’t want just because you were born into one that you feel you don’t deserve!”

  “That is the last time you ever speak to me with such disrespect!” Margaret pushed Axel away from her as her body ripped into her dragon form.

  The queen’s dragon was massive. A big part of the reason she attracted the attention of the king was her size and power. She was twice the size of any other female dragon in Byliar, and even though she had fire instead of ice, she still possessed the strength of the Sinos bloodline. Her strength however was also her greatest weakness because the queen was so afraid of being outdone by her daughter that she never learned what she was capable of.

  Naomi waited, as she’d done many times before, for her mother’s display to end. Each time she shifted she danced around like a peacock flailing her wings, whipping her tail, putting on a show for someone but herself. She finished the performance with a burst of fire that reached from the depths of her belly into the sky.

  With a straight face and no fanfare, Naomi called on her dragon. Her body expanded, trading flesh for scales, hands and feet for paws. Hers differed from her mother’s. Where Margaret’s skin was red and her claws permanent. Naomi’s was a deep cerulean that spread into the arctic tips of her wings. Her claws were also retractable, giving her more versatility.

  They danced in circles, sizing each other up. Margaret was still bigger, but Naomi was sleek and strong. It didn’t take long for Margaret to lose her patience. She lunged at her daughter, aiming her massive fangs for the soft neck. Naomi jumped out of the way, spun and smacked her mother in the face with her tail.

  The ice on her tail cut Margaret across her right eye and cheek. The matriarch shook off the pain and attacked her daughter yet again. This time with fire. She blasted her time and time again, forcing Naomi to run. But while she attacked, Naomi calculated the way her father taught her.

  Margaret was driven by ugly things, anger, greed, and envy. They clouded her judgment in life and in the fight. Naomi quickly realized she would lose the fight if they stayed on the ground, so she leapt into the sky and Margaret followed.

  The two clashed in the sky. Over and over, they hit and separated. Margaret’s hits were harder, but the amount of force she used to fight was quickly tiring her out. As she slowed, Naomi, who’d been reserving her strength, returned the beating her mother had given her.

  She used everything in her arsenal, blasts of icy, sharp fangs and retractable claws. And when she ripped through her left wing, the queen fell from the sky.

  Naomi remained in the air, watching her mother’s descent, which was interrupted by one of the guards. He flew underneath her, breaking her fall as she returned to her human self. All Naomi cou
ld see from her perspective was her mother lift her hand to the sky and three dragons took off after her.

  The odds were against her, but she couldn’t lose. She led them on a chase through the clouds and using a trick her grandfather taught her; the deep frost flowed from her on the current of the breath. Her wings worked not only to carry her but to spread the chill, lowering the surrounding temperature. They followed her, unaware of the circles she led them. Each turn got tighter and tighter each time until they were lost in her frost. It didn’t take long until their cores got so cold that one by one; they fell from the sky.

  With the guards down, Naomi turned back to her mother who stood on the ground protected by the last guard. She dove from the sky and landed opposite the pair.

  Her mother stood cradling her bleeding arm while the dragon guard positioned himself between them. Naomi was sure she could take him, but her confidence wavered as another dragon appeared. The one who’d been assigned to torture Axel. She braced herself as the two formed a wall between her and the queen.

  The larger dragon, with scales the color of dirt, launched his attack, but before he could reach her, a weakened Axel slammed into its side. The two dragons tumbled across the courtyard and rolled out of sight, leaving Naomi with just one to face.

  He dropped his jaw open, going for the obvious move, fire. And when he did, she leapt into the air. His fire grazed the end of her tail, but her claws ripped through his throat. He fell beneath her weight as she slammed down on his neck.

  Naomi looked at her mother while the sounds of his gurgled death calmed. She shifted back to her human form, so they were on a level playing field.

  “You’re going to kill me now?” The queen backed away from her daughter with slow steps. The black robe that draped over her shoulder slid to one side, leaving half her body bare.

  “Should I?”

  “I am your queen,”

  “You are my mother!” Naomi shouted. “You were my mother before you were my queen, but not one day have you acted like I was anything more than another subject to you.”