by Ana Calin
“So it obeyed your heart’s desire. That’s the next level of using a portal, someone would have had to teach you.”
“No one did.”
“Then you’re a natural. More reason to be kept under observation.”
“You conceited bastard,” I hiss. “You would kill me with your own hands, if you didn’t still need me, so stop the protector charade. Don’t think I don’t see behind your plot, Lord of Winter, and remember that you have no right over me.”
“If you keep acting like an errant child, Arielle, I will punish you as one,” he threatens through his teeth.
“Oh, you’re gonna bend me over your knee?”
God, he’s so infuriating. Heat explodes all over my body, I burn to defy him. Still, I realize I’ve walked backwards, and now I’m pressed with my back against the window. He traps me between his powerful arms, his face with his sharp ice king features so close to mine that I can smell the scent of his magic, cold coming off his skin.
My nostrils flare, and tears swell out of my eyes. I can’t hold back anymore, all those pent up emotions just pour out of me. Before I know it, I’m beating his chest, screaming at him.
“How could you use me like that, you bastard? You’d already pledged yourself to her, and still you took what I offered. You used me for sex, and then tossed me away.”
“You what?” Aunt Miriam reacts from the other side of the room, as if my words just electrocuted her back to life. She approaches slowly, inspecting Lysander’s sculptured face, her brow furrowing the closer she comes. “What in the cursed realms happened between the two of you? What is going on here?”
My lips seal. Damn it. Because of my outburst, her heart will break into pieces.
Lysander squares his large shoulders, as if assuming responsibility. “We will tell you. But you should probably have a seat.”
Lysander
EMOTIONS MIX IN THE old woman’s eyes.
“So you took her away from the mortal world to throw her in a dungeon, then you found out who she was, and you saw better ways to use her. Then you slept with her, too.”
“Almost,” Arielle says from her seat. She’s bracing her knees, embarrassed to have revealed our affair to her aunt, huddled in her unicorn blanket. “We almost slept with each other, we didn’t go the whole way.” She glances at me, but looks away quickly. “We stopped before, you know, the main thing happened.”
“I never intended to take advantage of you, Arielle,” I say in a low voice. I want to sound detached, but I can’t deny the exalting emotion that fills my chest when I’m around her. An emotion I’ll never be able to escape, as much as I want to. “I should have stopped even earlier than I did, but I couldn’t. I know it’s no excuse, but you were too enticing.”
“No, it’s no excuse,” her aunt intervenes, staring at me through her glasses. I can sense her magic boiling just underneath her skin, but she keeps it in check to avoid provoking me. In the end, she has committed a crime by living in the mortal world, even though she never used her magic here, and she chose to live like an aging human. She even looks like she’s over seventy. “Even though Arielle is indeed a naturally powerful sea fae, and exuding attraction comes natural to her even without the special magic that’s been passed along her bloodline, you are the Lord of Winter. Also known as the King of Frost. Nothing is supposed to get to you, sure as hell not the luring magic of a water nymph, or a mermaid.”
“I want to make it up to Arielle.” I look at her again, struggling to keep a grip on my heart. “I will grant you any wish you have, as long as it’s not to unchain your power, to set you free or—” All right, here it goes. “Or to be with a man.”
The idea of her with another man is unbearable, it’s hard to even speak it out.
“You’ve got a nerve,” she hisses, daggers shooting out of her glare.
“It’s not personal, Arielle. You know why you cannot give yourself to anybody.”
“That means you’ll grant me only petty desires, things that don’t actually matter.”
“No, it can be big things. Like not punishing your aunt for still being in the mortal world, even though the reason she was here in the first place—raising you—no longer stands.”
Silence falls between the three of us. Despite sitting huddled by the window, Arielle holds my stare. Anger stains her snow-white face. Her silky black hair appears to shimmer, showing me that her power is rising, ready to explode.
“I’m not afraid of punishment, Lord of Winter,” Arielle’s aunt says. “But I do believe I would be of more use to you free than in a dungeon.”
“Of use?” I frown.
“You say you pledged yourself to Minerva Midwinter because of all the allies her family can bring to fight Xerxes,” the woman says, getting up from her seat and heading over to the kettle. The kitchen is small, especially with someone of my size inside, so I have to move out of her way. “But Minerva is a lady of the Winter Realm, she should have activated her connections and influence without you, her king, having to do anything in exchange. I can’t tell if what she wants is a chance to win your affections, or just power, but I know she’s doing all this for selfish reasons.” She sets the kettle, taking down three cups from the cupboard. “I don’t know what those reasons are just yet, but I’ll tell you this—she’s surely keeping aces up in her sleeves, secrets she doesn’t tell you about.”
“Many of her family’s allies were only waiting for a chance to snatch the throne from me, some of her cousins would even have tried to seize the power themselves. They would have even joined Xerxes, thinking foolishly that he would share the power with them if he won the war—sadly, vanity makes some of my nobility that stupid. It’s why I needed the alliance with Minerva to be rock solid. Through her union with me, her family gains legal succession to the throne. If I lose the throne, they lose it, too.” Not to mention that, if I’d refused, Minerva would have used her power and influence to hurt Arielle, but I keep that to myself.
“You are a capable king,” Miriam says as she pours tea in cups. “Probably old enough to remember the days when the Court of Ice and the Court of Sea were one. Back in creation times. Maybe you even retain some power over the waters?”
“Very little, and no, I wasn’t born until the two realms were separated. Hybrid fae of winter and sea wield some of both, but they’re not exceptional in any. Winter and sea fae have tried purposefully mating with each other for years, actually, even though there was no mating bond calling them together. They sought to produce enhanced specimens, but the powers diluted on both sides, instead of improving. The only way to gain real power over the seas is, well, I told you.”
“Borrowing Arielle’s power,” Miriam says, calmly. “Or becoming her bonded mate.”
When she mentions that, my cheek twitches.
“Let me remind you that I’m very old, King Lysander. I understand things really fast.”
By the cursed realms—She knows.
“Then I hope you understand this. When Arielle offered me the use of her powers to battle Xerxes, I made a blood oath to her.” I say it quietly, feeling the need to justify myself. “I only found out about the, well, side effects of that blood oath after the events with Xerxes. Old Iridion told me.”
Miriam raises her eyebrows over the rims of her glasses, her forehead crinkling.
“So you didn’t know at the time you made it?”
I shake my head. “No.”
“What the hell are you two talking about?” Arielle whispers, cup of tea between her hands, her eyes swinging between her aunt and me.
“But then your engagement with Minerva Midwinter can only be treachery,” Miriam says. “You cannot pledge yourself to another woman, your energies will never mix, it’s impossible.”
“I know.” I move around the room, as much as it allows. I’m too large for it, casting a shadow over the crammed cupboards.
“Then why did you go through with the engagement?”
“For the love of G
od, are you two saying that Lysander and I are...bonded mates?” Arielle shrieks. She sounds terrified of it, which sparks fire in my frozen blood—she doesn’t want our bond, and it feels like a dagger being plunged between my ribs.
“I went through with it because I had to, I needed the alliance for all the reasons I told you,” I reply to Miriam, then I look to Arielle. “I want you to know I didn’t bind you to me on purpose. I never wanted to force this mates’ bond on you.”
A faint line appears between her eyebrows. “But aren’t mates supposed to be connected from birth? I have even heard versions about supernaturals’ soul energy being connected since the souls of two people came into existences, billions of years ago.”
“That’s true, but High Fae of the highest supernatural bloodline, like you and me, have the liberty of choosing their mates, because of our positions of authority.”
“What does that mean?”
“As king of the primordial Court of Ice, I have the freedom of choosing my mate. As descendant of the ocean king, you have the same freedom. Under normal circumstances, the choice is made official through a pledging ritual like you saw at the castle between Minerva and me. Except that this particular ritual was a fraud, because I had already, unknowingly, pledged myself to another.” For a moment I allow all the madness I feel to channel towards her through my gaze. “Arielle, when I declared myself willing to die with you, you and I become mated.”
A heavy silence fills the space between us. I can feel it spread beyond these walls, over the apartment buildings, stretching out to the brownstone streets towards the campus that Arielle used to go to.
The old woman keeps her eyes on her niece, focused to help her through this. She got over the surprise, and now I get the feeling she actually likes the idea.
“So, let’s see if I have this straight,” Arielle says. “I no longer have the freedom of choosing my mate. I’m bound to you, and there’s no way out of it.”
My lips tighten, and my fingers curl into a fist. Jealousy starts to burn in my stomach.
“You would have preferred someone else? Got anyone particular in mind?”
“That’s not the point.”
“The mating of our souls came along with the blood oath. I repeat, I didn’t know it would do this to us.”
“What about your fiancée,” old Miriam inquires in a patient tone. “She must have a fated mate, and she must know who it is—fae know about their mates their entire lives, long before they meet them. Betraying her fated mate should deeply disturb the balance of her magic.”
“Minerva is High Fae as well, so she also has the freedom to choose.”
“But she must sense that the ritual didn’t work,” Miriam says. “Once a mating bond is created, you feel an irresistible pull towards your mate, you know where they are at all times, and when you’re around them you’re highly charged. She must notice all this.”
“So that’s how you knew where I was,” Arielle whispers. “You sensed me through our bond. But—” She looks to her aunt. “How come I don’t sense him?”
That hits me right in the gut. I want her to feel me the way I feel her, but something must have happened during the blood oath that made it much stronger on my side.
“What do you feel?” I ask on impulse, sounding more aggressive than I intended. Arielle scans me up and down with that look in her eyes that promises she’ll never forgive me, much less love me, at least not willingly. She raises her chin, locking her arms across her chest. She seems to be battling with herself to say it, and when she finally does, it’s with defiance.
“I feel attracted to you. After what happened between us in the mountains, I imagine there’s no point in denying it. What changed is that now I’m not only always aware of you, but I can also sense it when you’re watching me—I felt it at the engagement ball, which was pretty awkward considering you were just pledging yourself to another woman. But I can’t sense where you are, or track you down.”
“Maybe that’s because when I made the blood oath to you, I gave you my blood, but I didn’t get yours in return,” I say, struggling with my need to grab her and force her to kiss me. “Maybe that’s why our feelings for each other are out of balance.”
“But now you understand why he pledged himself to another woman, Arielle,” her aunt chimes in. “Besides, considering you were already mated, it was impossible for him to resist you in the mountains.”
As Arielle falls into silence, her cheeks still burning, I assess Miriam.
“Why do I get the feeling you’re on my side here?”
“You are the Lord of Winter, one of the most powerful supernaturals in the world. I can’t think of a better mate for my niece, to be perfectly honest. Besides, you’re mated now, so what’s done is done. Better make the best of it.”
“There has to be a way out if it,” Arielle bursts out. “I can’t be bound to him forever. He’s going to marry someone else, for Christ’s sake.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but there’s no way to break a blood oath.” I almost snarl that at her, that’s how badly I want it to get inside her head that she’ll never be free of me. “Otherwise why would I do everything I did to obtain a blood oath from Xerxes?”
“You said the silver spell that chains my powers cannot be broken either, but it can. Maybe it’s the same with the blood oath.”
That gives me pause. “Who told you the silver spell can be broken?” Anger seeps into my irises, I can feel ice lighting them up.
“Zillard Dark.” She throws the name into my face. That demon, of all people...
“And what exactly did he tell you?”
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you lied to me. There are ways to break what you did to me. Who knows what else you lied to me about.”
“I never lied to you, and I repeat—there is no way to break the blood oath except if I lift it, or if I die.”
“All right, the two of you have a lot to set straight, but right now we have more pressing matters,” Miriam intervenes. “Xerxes is still after you, Arielle, and he won’t stop until he gets you. You need to focus on annihilating that threat. Everything else can wait—even your wedding to Minerva Midwinter, Lord Lysander. I will help you in whatever way I can.”
Every ally is important, so I automatically think in what ways she could be useful. A few seconds of scanning her family history in my memory does it.
“Lady Miriam, your father a creature of the underworld, am I right?”
She nods. The subject seems to upset her.
“Descendant of a fallen angel, some old accounts say,” I continue.
“Like you said, he was a creature of the underworld.”
“And what was he doing in the human realm when he met your mother?”
“Let’s just say he was too well known in his own realm, and here he could enjoy some measure of anonymity.”
“There are rumors that you inherited a special skill from him.”
Her lips draw in a hard line, her eyes flicking to Arielle.
“In all these years,” I say quietly, understanding, “you never told her?”
“I think it’s better if we discuss this in private.”
“No, we’re discussing here and now. Arielle an important partaker in this war, she deserves to know everything.”
Miriam shakes her head, and it feels like she begs me not to do this. Not to expose her secret to Arielle. But there’s no way around it, not anymore.
Lysander
ARIELLE KEEPS LOOKING at her aunt as if struck by lightning. I guess it’s not every day that you find out the woman who raised you as a mother has a secret darker than the underworld.
“Your mother’s second husband,” Arielle whispers. “Your father. He was... He could do all that?”
“He was a creature of the dark. I suppose it comes with the territory,” Miriam replies quietly.
“Did grandma know when she married him?”
“What my mother did was a matter of s
urvival,” Miriam says. “She needed protection. In the end, being with him became a living hell, and she preferred to fade away and die after a few years, but in the beginning she desperately needed him.”
I narrow my eyes, going through Miriam’s story in my mind. I heard and read accounts about her mother’s second husband, a man of a mysterious and dark bloodline. There was evil in his blood, and Miriam clearly inherited at least some of it.
“Now you might be able to change destiny, Lady Miriam. You can use that power to help us against Xerxes. Put that power in the service of the light.”
“It’s dark magic, Milord, magic that I haven’t used in a very long time,” she says, pleading eyes on Arielle, like she desperately wants her niece to understand. “I only did a few times when I was very young, with no real idea what I was doing. When I finally got the harm I was causing around myself—”
“But if you put that skill in the service of our cause, you could make up for all of that. You would be doing something your father was never able to do, namely use it for a good thing,” I interrupt, hoping that would help Arielle not to judge her aunt, but rather to see her dark talent as something positive. All dark things can be turned in favor of the good. “Your power might even enable me to back down from the arrangement with Minerva.”
The woman smiles. Arielle keeps looking at us intensely.
“But remember the main reason you’re doing it is for Arielle’s safety,” I say gently. “You would make a highly valuable secret weapon. I know you had other ways to help us in mind, you never thought I would require this of you, but think about it. No one would ever see that kind of magic coming, especially not from someone like you.”
“I can’t use it myself,” she says. “I wouldn’t survive it.” She looks to Arielle with regret. “You will have to take over the burden, my love.”
“I’ll take the black magic from you, if that’s what you want,” I say.
“No,” Miriam counters. “The only person I’ll ever will it to is Arielle.”