Midnight Frost (10 page)

From the corner of our eye we could see the tavern maid, a characteristically buxom young woman balancing far too many cherry blossom ales on her trays, bending over to serve a group of young men – probably fairy, I thought, although they had  - as etiquette demanded – put away their wings. (For my part, I found “sliding” - as Kian termed it – my wings to be an odd sensation, still unfamiliar to me, and had Kian not reminded me of the inadvisability of wearing wings indoors I would have forgotten it altogether).

“Come on now, Annette,” said one of the fairies. “You know we want more than ale tonight.”

She rolled her eyes. “I've already told you, Bollo – you can have cherryseed ale or fairyfruit ale. Take your pick.”

“That's not what we mean, my pretty. How about you take us all upstairs?”

“Rooms all full, fellows.” She sighed as she placed the glasses down on the table.

“How about behind the barn, then?”

“You go on then!“You gn Annette was getting angry. “How about going yourself? Sleeping in the barn like the animals you are.”

A hand flew out and seized her wrist. “Listen here, you stupid strumpet. We're offering you a good rate, see, so don't play the prude on us. We know what kind of services you sell here!”

“I'm not interested – let me go!”

“Two choices, missy!” the other one cut in. “We pay you a fair price, or we take it for free!”

She gave a scream as one of them slipped his hand up her skirt.

“Enough!” Kian leapt to his feet, spilling all of our drinks in the process. “Let her go. She said she wasn't interested, boys!”

“She doesn't know what she wants,” snarled the fairy. “Stay out of it. Now – why don't you, my pretty, sit on my lap...”

He yanked her down roughly onto the chair.

“Two choices,” said Kian. “Unhand her – or else I'll do it for you. By order of the Midnight Knight!”

The bar fell silent amid a few belated gasps.

“The Midnight Knight, eh?” Bollo grinned. “I thought you were just a nursemaid's tale.”

“Nursemaid's tales are real, friend. Now I suggest you start believing before I convince you myself.”

“It's true!” Two unfamiliar voices interrupted us. “He's the Midnight Knight himself!” Two figures came forth. One was tall, pale, ethereal – a blue-eyed fairy with the whitest skin I had ever seen. The other I recognized. It was Pan, the satyr, whom I had met at Kian's lodge long ago. “Now, he doesn't want to dirty his shiny armor, see? Because everybody knows the Midnight Knight's armor gleams the brightest in Feyland. So let's escort you out before he has to get your ugly blood on his breastplate.”

Before Kian could respond, the fairy and Pan seized Bollo and his lecherous companion, and threw them out unceremoniously into the street, pouring their cherry b lossom ale onto them as a final parting gift, to the applause of the tavern's patrons.

“See!” Pan cried. “The age of lawlessness and chaos is over! The Midnight Knight is here to stay!”

“I'll go make sure they're gone!” Cary bounded out the tavern door, with Barnaby jumping at his heels.

The two came over to me, Logan, and Kian. We looked them up and down, confused by their actions, as they pulled up a seat at our table.

“Now,” said the fairy, staring straight into Kian's visor. “I may not be able to see your face, Dark Knight, but I'd recognize that stiff walk and stilted voice anywhere!”

“Jeremy?” Kian laughed. “My old friend – I could barely see you in this light!”

“I always knew your eyes were no good!” Pan clapped him on the shoulder. “Either that, or Jeremy's gotten fat.”

“That was a kind defense you gave of me,” said Kian, embracing Jeremy tightly. “I did not expect to be recognized.”

“I'd heard the Midnight Knight was marauding around these parts,” said Jeremy. “And I heard too that you were dead – but I didn't believe...I knew something had to be up. And when I saw you here just now – I put two and two together and discovered the truth!”

“I apologize for the deception...” said Kian. “It is necessary, strategically, to maintain a certain...”

“Hush!” Pan crowed. “As far as we're concerned, you've always been the bravest and strongest knight around. If that makes you the Midnight Knight, friend, so be it!”

Kian smiled at his friends. “Well,” he said, taking a deep breath, “that's what I've come to talk to you both about...”

Chapter 10

J
eremy insisted that we leave the tavern behind, and ride home that very night to his manor. It was a quiet place, covered in spring flowers and buds, with a comfortable-looking stable for Barnaby and Cary to sleep in. It was just as Kian had said – on the furthest edges of the Winter territory, as far from the Court as possible; from the garden, it was possible to see the beginnings of the Wolfsland forests.

Jeremy smiled bitterly. “I said, as you know, Kian – I would never fight for Winter. But for the Midnight Knight – I will fight for him. He represents something more than the evil and the hatred I thought war was all about. Rosanna would have fought for him, too. For peace. For security. For fairies and wolves and centaurs all united for the common good of Feyland.”

“And Minotaurs!” Barnaby insisted.

“And Minotaurs.” Jeremy conceded. “I swore I would never fight again – but for this cause...I will fight. I will fight for a cause Rosanna too would have fought for, had she lived. The two of us under the same banner at last.”

“I'm sorry, Jeremy,” I said, patting him on the shoulder with as little awkwardness as I could muster.

“But what am I saying?” Jeremy gave a hollow laugh. “Depressing a girl so close to her own wedding day! We should talk of happy love, not sad love.” He turned to Logan. “And you must be a happy man indeed!”

Logan coughed. “Er...I am!”

Kian looked down. “I've...I've told Jeremy about your engagement, Breena,” he mumbled. “I hope you don't mind!”

“Yes, the engagement!” Barnaby gave a contented yap! “I can't wait for the wedding! I've never been to a wedding before. Minotaurs don't have weddings.”

“We hope we're all invited, Breena!” Cary laughed. I blushed crimson. I hated lying to them – lying to Logan, or so it felt, as much as we were lying to the others. We knew how important it was to keep our secret safe – even Cary and Barnaby didn't know Kian's true identity, and referred to him only as the Midnight Knight. But as I looked around at my newfound friends, I realized how painful lying to them was going to be. Even Pan and Jeremy, who knew about Kian's identity, and could be trusted never to betray
that
secret, couldn't know that Kian and I were still together. The more people knew about me and Logan, the more dangerous it was – we couldn't risk angering Josephine's pack.

“Of course you'll all be invited,” I said. “No doubt about it.”

“Go on, then!” Cary crowed. “She's blushing – look at that! Give her a kiss, Logan, and claim her as your wife.”

“Oh, I couldn't...” Logan's cheeks were as red as mine.

“Go ahead!” Barnaby and Pan chimed it. “You've been riding and working hard for days. You deserve a bit of honey, eh, Logan?”

“Not in front of all these people!”

Now Jeremy was joining in. “Give her a kiss, Logan!”

We looked helplessly at Kian, who sighed and added his voice to the throng. “Yes, go on, Breena!” It was his blessing, I knew – we couldn't get out of it now – but I heard the bitterness in his voice. He looked away as Logan, shooting me an apologetic look, pressed his lips to mine.

The same sensation – the same warm smell of musk. The same shudder within my chest. It was so familiar, this taste, this smell – such familiar pleasure. I could feel his arms tighten around me; I could lean my head against the broad, taut muscles of his chest. I wanted to close my eyes, to lose myself in the sensation.

“Don't stop now!” The boys were laughing. “Keep kissing the bride!”

I felt a stirring within me, hating myself for it. My magic was sparking within me – responding to the call of my desire. No, I told myself – no, I loved Kian! I had to resist this!

I pulled away sharply, unable to meet anyone's eyes. “That's enough!” I cried.

“She's embarrassed!” Cary laughed.

Kian looked up at me, trying to put on a brave smile. “Let's be gentlemanly, fellows?” He assumed a light, ironic tone. “Let's not embarrass the lady too much.”

“Thank you,” I whispered into Kian's ear, and he furtively squeezed my hand as he rose. Yet I knew the sight had pained him; I could feel it. He feared what I feared – that the fire between me and Logan, so rapidly put out, could be rekindled at any moment. No, I told myself – Kian could trust me.
Logan
could trust me. I was too old, too wise, too responsible to let this cloud of emotions control me any longer. I had chosen Kian, and I had to stay strong and firm in that decision.

“Now that we're done with the tavern-calling,” Kian said. “I promise that we swear a sacred oath, and consecrate our partnership. The fellowship of the Midnight Knight – those of valor and strength, the returners of the ways of the old magic – unity among all magical creatures, peace, triumph over the Dark Hordes. I demand your loyalty – and your oath of fealty!”

He rose, his Knight's sword glinting in the moonlight.

“Are you all ready to swear such an oath, my men? And woman?”

“We're ready!” We all responded.

“Then I, the Midnight Knight, whose name is known to no man but whose sword is recognized and feared by all, shall pronounce you all my knights – the followers of the Orders of that which is neither sun nor moon, neither winter nor summer, neither snowflake nor flame, but both combined. And so I invite you all to swear yourselves members of the League of Frostfire.”

I rose first, beaming with pride. As Kian raised his sword above me, as I knelt before him.

“Don't get used to it,” I whispered to Kian. “Technically, I outrank you.” After all, I was a Queen, and as long as his mother was living he was but a Prince.

“Don't I know it?” He smiled back at me.

“The Queen Breena, Queen of Summer, Empress of Autumn, Protector of the Summer Court, do you swear your loyalty to the League of Frostfire.”

I hesitated only for a moment. What would this mean for Summer – for my role as Queen – if I gave my loyalty to an organization that claimed neither summer nor winter for its source? Was I betraying my country? But I remembered Tamara's speech to me – her talk of my destiny. I wasn't chosen simply to rule Summer, but to do what I could to bring the two kingdoms together, to enact unity. Better a mere knight of Frostfire – believing in true peace and unity – than a Queen of Summer alone.

“Do you swear your loyalty to the cause of peace? To the mission of Frostfire? And to the Midnight Knight?”

“I swear my loyalty to the cause of peace,” I said. “And to the mission of Frostfire.”

But I could not swear my loyalty to the Midnight Knight. Although Kian had my heart, and all my fealty, I could not go further – my duties as Summer Queen would always come first.

Kian looked confused, but said nothing.

“And Logan, the Wolf Prince...”

One by one, they all swore an oath of loyalty; one by one, Kian touched their shoulders, dubbing them Knights of Frostfire. Barnaby, Jeremy, Logan, Cary, Pan – all of them received their new titles gladly. But I could see Kian looking at me with confusion, wondering why I – I alone – did not swear fealty specifically to the Midnight Knight. The others had not noticed, but I could see the pain in his eyes.