Ever Winter (17 page)

“Don’t be coy with me, halfling. She probably contacted you at one point by now. What did she say? Where can I find her?”

“If I tell you, will you let us go?”

He paused, studying her expression as if to find treachery in her two chocolate eyes. Without finding any he twirled around, pacing once more. “No.”

“Then I’ll never tell you.” Shade turned to walk out but stopped when Corb abruptly appeared before her.

“You will tell me or your Teleen boyfriend will suffer my wrath. I can always encase him in ice once more, but that would be merciful.” He gripped her neck and gave it a firm squeeze. Shade
scratched at his wrist pulling to no avail. Her breath squeaked as he pressed harder until stars popped into her vision.

“Please…” She managed before he suddenly let her go, sending her crashing to the floor. Gasping and coughing, she bent over and attempted to catch her breath. She rubbed the sore spots on her neck and glared up at Corb. “You may have erased us from our memories, but you’ll never get what you seek. You can encase us in ice, torture us, whatever it is, but you’ll never find what you want the most.
Ever
. She never wanted you to!”

Shade scrambled to her feet before his anger burst again. This time he remained still, focused on her with a snarl on his face. His breathing told her he was reining in his temper and was almost about to lose this battle as he quietly seethed from her words.

“No matter what you do, you won’t find her. She made sure of that.” Shade spat at him, disgusted at his lack of control. She prayed he wouldn’t keep his word on torturing Dylan, but she had to run right now, or he might do something insane.

She backed her way out into the hall, keeping one eye on Corb and one toward down the way. As she turned to go, his voice echoed in her ears, bringing her fear into check.

“You may be right, Shade. But, I have eternity to find her, even after you are long gone and your children are grown and dead. Don’t ever forget, you are not the only descendant to come. Your children’s children will be haunted forever until I find her. So you think about that in your little human brain. You choose the future of your children or I will do it for you. I can wait a very, very long time.” With that he disappeared from the throne, rushing by her in a blur down the hall toward his chambers, leaving Shade shivering in his wake. The cold was nothing compared to the aching defeat she felt cracking inside her soul.

He was right. He did have an eternity and she had nothing but her mortal life of magic to contend with him. If she didn’t cave in, someone down the line would and that someone would be blood of her blood regardless of what happened now. Nothing could stop him. Why hadn’t Kilara told her of this? Was it worth keeping the Ancient safe? Shade couldn’t defend herself against Corb, but Kilara, she might be able to subdue Corb if she was attacked. Somehow things were running rampant in her head as a million possibilities surfaced, slowly calming her frantic heart.

She’d figure it out. She just needed a little more time to think things over, maybe discuss it with Dylan more in depth. Her actions today had not been thought out well and she was paying for it. In the meantime, she’d stay out of Corb’s way.

Chapter Seventeen

SHADE SAT AT
the vanity table set up in her room. The snow was constant here and clung to her hair like thick ropes of ice. She had to frequently brush it to break off the icicles and smooth out her hair. It was a miracle her locks stayed smooth under such frigid conditions. She didn’t have to condition it at all when she washed it.

The castle miraculously had a very exquisite bath pools. They were heated from underground geysers which shot out streams of hot water into circular pools lined with rock and ice. Shade loved to bath in them, they were a solace in this desolate place. She still never saw the servants and often wondered who served them meals and who tended to their clothes, changed their sheets and always had the place clean and tidy. Someone must be there to work in such a vast place. But, they never showed their faces, keeping the illusion of utter abandonment. Utter despair.

It was after one of her baths that Shade sat there, running the brush through her long frozen hair when she caught sight of the ampules around her neck. She smiled as she fingered the beautiful vials hanging on the silver chain. She never took them off, it was as if it was incredibly wrong to remove them from their rightful place. She didn’t dare remove it. Something told her not to. She didn’t know how she knew that, she just did.

Today, she studied each vial over and over again. The blood red fluid swirled inside of each one, vibrant and almost glittering inside. Alive, pulsating wit
h life. She could almost feel warmth seeping from the glass, begging to be touched.

What was this fluid within? Was it a potion? Poison? Blood?

“What are you thinking about while sitting there so pensive?” Dylan laid across the sheets of the bed as he enjoyed watching her beauty routines. It was like watching a bird preen themselves, running their beaks through long feathers, making them shine and gleam. Not that she was a bird, she was nothing less than an extraordinary woman in his eyes. He wanted nothing but to be where she was, watching her brush her hair. Her long silk gown rustled with every movement, snug to her body and pressed to her curves where he stared longingly over and over again. It was hypnotic to say the least.

“I was wondering what these charms were for. Do you know? Does one drink the fluid inside?” Shade held the necklace up for Dylan to see. He hopped off the bed and approached, taking the charms into his hands but not removing it. The vials did feel alive, and begged for release.

“They look like memory charms.”

Shade straightened. Her eyes wide with expectation. “Like, to remember things we don’t want to forget?”

Dylan nodded. “Yes. Vials of memory are made of one’s essence. I don’t know whose essence you have here but from what it seems, you may have two memories to contend with if you drink them both.” It was curious how Corb had not ripped the charms off her already. This made Dylan suspicious and also excited at the prospect that Shade could have her own memories in the vial at her throat.

“Shade, you should drink them, both. You would remember then, who you were, before this place. Maybe you would be able to help me remember too.” He handed them back and waited as she pondered his words. She stared at the vials as they shimmered and the glass tinked where the vials touched. Could it be true?

Just like the tiny acorn-like seed, it had its own memory and it had pushed its essence onto her to plant it into the ground. She hoped when she drank the vials, she would remember what the great oak tree was for.

Unscrewing the tiny jeweled tops she pressed both vials to her lips at one time, glancing at Dylan one last time for reassurance. He nodded, urging her on with his beautiful steel grey eyes. She tilted her head back, letting the warm fluid drip into her mouth and down her throat.

Suddenly, she felt a fire building inside her middle, slowly growing and growing until she dropped the vials and let out a piercing scream.

“Shade!” Dylan caught her before she collapsed to the hardened ice floor, where her body convulsed as the fire grew and felt like it would consume her from within. “Shade, what’s happening?” He pushed disheveled strands of hair from her face as she twitched and groaned, stifling screams as they came with her choked breath.

I’m going to die. This is it. I’m on fire!

She couldn’t speak to tell this to Dylan, but she felt a scorching heat building up within that begged to be free, begged to melt her icy exterior.

Dylan felt her body get hotter and hotter as the moments ticked by. The ice melted from her hair, leaving it damp and saturated. Water began to hiss as it turned into steam and billowed off her skin. Dylan himself could feel the heat and it was defrosting him too, his icy white skin slowly melted away to reveal blue fire softly burning along his skin.

Memories.

Memories can hit like a freight train, a hurried mess which entrances the mind in its myriad of flashes. An entire life can be glimpsed in mere seconds. He let them run amuck across his mind, seeing things he hadn’t thought of for what seemed like hundreds of years. His mother’s face. Darren running around throwing sparks into the air and igniting the twigs Dylan had sent flying across the Glass Bridge as children. The Teleen caverns flipped by, like scenes in a silent movie. The moment he first laid eyes on Shade and had acted so cocky and self-assured to later find that he’d been such a fool. He’d thought so little of her at first−his discrimination against her mortality had set him up for disaster, binding him to her forever. At first he’d been hateful, resentful of his enslavement. But now, now she was everything he wanted in his life.

As the crash of his returning memory settled
, he cranked his head down to look upon Shade’s face. She had stopped twitching but was still burning up, even hotter than he’d ever felt her. A small line of blood dripped from her nose and mouth, crimson and stark against the icy floor where it sizzled and melted through it.

Now the daze was just as quickly replaced with panic as he nudged her to awaken, calling her name. “Shade!”

Corb was at their sides a moment later, shoving Dylan away from Shade and assessing her injuries.

“What’ve you done? What did you do?” He burned his fingers on her skin as her temperature continued to rise and the icy floor melted all around her, soaking through the silk of her clothes. Once he touched her, he sent his freezing spell through her to cool her down. It wasn’t until he realized how much power it was taking to reverse the heat of her meltdown that he even saw the empty vials lying in the pool of water expanding all around them.

He grabbed them and shook them at Dylan. “Did she drink these?” Dylan nodded. “What have you done, Shade?” He shook his head as he pulled her to his chest, cradling her. His power had worked momentarily, but now, without heat, she began shivering so intensely, it looked as though she was going into a fit of convulsions again.

Scooping her up he faced Dylan, who was slowly getting to his feet.

“I remember everything, Corb. Let us go.” His glare was filled with hate toward the Ice King for stealing their lives and now, possibly having Shade die because they were stuck here. Drinking the memory vials shouldn’t have been so violent for her. He wondered if it was the bad mix of her power and the Ice King’s enchantment over her that was killing her.

“We have to take her out of here or she’ll die.” Corb stated, gritting his teeth at the Teleen warrior. “You have to come, though I’d prefer you stay here and rot.” He turned and whisked her away down the hall. Dylan followed close behind, afraid to lose sight of Shade forever.

The atrium was as before, with the enormous Great Oak Tree standing like a king in the middle of the room. Corb brought her to lie next to the great, metallic trunk of the tree and turned toward Dylan.

“You’ll have to be touching her at the same time as you ask the tree for sanctuary. Tell it where to go. Hurry!”

“Why can’t you?” He grabbed Shade’s fallen hand, feeling her shaking from the cold and her lips slowly turning an unsavory shade of blue.

“I’m an Ancient. There is no sanctuary for Ancients of Faerie. The tree is an ancient unto itself. I can ride along with you, but I cannot make the request.” He motioned Dylan, looking more desperate as the moments ticked by.

Dylan frowned, grasping her hand even tighter and watched Corb grab her other hand. He didn’t like it, but he had to get her to a healer quickly. Pressing his fingers to the cool, steely bark of the Great Oak, he squeezed his eyes shut. “Take us to sanctuary, Great Oak Tree. Take us home, swiftly as you may.”

With that, the great Ice kingdom faded away while the wind blew around them with a deafening scream. He felt Shade’s fingers still gripped in his, her life force growing fainter and fainter as the jaunt took them across the earth and deep into the mountain caverns.