Reign of Ice (Forever Fae series) (17 page)

“And then what are you going to do?”

Shivers raced across my skin as Brayden lowered his lips to my neck and kissed his way slowly up to my ear. His voice came out husky and full of need when he whispered in my ear, “And then, my sweet angel, I’m going to make love to you.”

BRAYDEN HAD LEFT
with Calista over an hour ago, along with Ryder and Kalen for protection purposes. The look on Calista’s face was priceless when Brayden went to her and asked for her help. His brothers picked on him a little, and instead of getting mad like he did last time they picked on him, he joined in with the laughter and joked back. He wanted to escort me to his dwelling, but his mother requested some time with me before he took me away.

Sorcha
also joined me, but held me back a few paces while we followed Queen Mab down the corridor to her side of the palace. Quietly, she whispered sarcastically in my ear, “What happened to all that mess about not getting attached and bonding with my brother?”

I rolled my eyes at her and sighed. “It was stupidity talking. I’ve been known to speak before I think sometimes. After everything that’s happened I realized that by not bonding with him and forming our court that I would be putting you all at risk if I failed.”

“I see,” Sorcha remarked. “Is that the only reason why you’re doing it?”

I smiled and shook my head. “No it’s not,
Sorcha. I love him.”

We walked in silence the rest of the way until Queen
Mab ushered us into one of her rooms and shut the door behind her. “Mother, what are you up to?” Sorcha asked. “I don’t think Ariella is going to be interested in your hand me downs.”

The room we were in looked like a huge closet that would put mine to shame any day. Queen
Mab scoffed and dismissed Sorcha with a wave of her hand. “I didn’t bring her here for a hand me down. I actually have something that I had made for her when she got here,” she responded incredulously.

She disappeared into another room, and when she came back she had the most gorgeous white gown draped over her arm. She held it up to me and grinned. “When you came here and we had that talk, I knew you and Brayden would work things out. You will look like a true ice queen in this dress.”

Sorcha snickered, “Why, because she’s going to look like a snowflake? She’s going to blend into the snow with that white dress, her bright blonde hair, and pale skin.”

They bantered back and forth and I thought it was funny how they interacted with each other. My mother and I never talked like that or joked around, and it made me happy to know I was a part of something real. The dress was simply amazing, but what really made me smile was that I knew Brayden couldn’t care less what I wore; it was what was underneath that counted.

Brayden still wasn’t back yet from doing whatever he and my sister had to do, but Coran was waiting for me by the back palace doors. “Did Brayden tell you to keep a watch over me or something?” I asked humorously.

He bowed his head and gave a slight grin. “Yes, he did, Your Highness. I was told to escort you to your home when you were done with the queen.”

With my dress in hand, I was ready to go. Coran followed me closely as we ambled down the path to Brayden’s home. It was hard to call it my home since once we formed our own court we wouldn’t be living there anymore. It was strange to think that in just a matter of hours I would be queen of my own court. Up ahead, I could see Kamden waiting for me on the front porch steps with a worried frown marring his face. He was alone and that could only mean one thing … he hadn’t found Zanna yet.

“Any luck whatsoever in figuring out where she could be?” I called out as
Coran and I approached him.

He shook his head and threw his hands up in the air. “I’ve been looking, but I can’t find her. I think something’s wrong. This isn’t like her to disappear like this.”

“Hmmm …” I wondered. “I know she wouldn’t have given up looking for you and went back to Spring, which means she’s probably still here somewhere.” I walked up the steps to my door and let Kamden and Coran follow me inside. Draping my dress over one of the chairs, I took a seat and tried to think.
Where could she be?

Coran
stationed himself by the front door while Kamden took the seat across from me. Frustrated, he ran his hands through his hair and grumbled, “What are we going to do if we don’t find her? We’ve never been away from each other like this.”

Reaching over, I placed a reassuring hand over his and squeezed. “We will find her,
Kam. When Brayden gets back I’ll get him to send some people out to look for her. It could be that you two just missed each other. Although, for some reason I have a feeling in my stomach that I don’t see that as being the case here.”

“I would say not,”
Coran interrupted angrily, gazing out the front window. He drew his sword and came to stand in front of me.

“What’s going on?” I demanded, trying to see around him.

He pointed his sword to the window and said, “Look.”

Kamden
and I got to our feet, and I pushed past Coran to gaze out the window. “Oh, no,” I wailed. “This can’t be happening.” What I saw made my blood run cold. At the edge of where Elvena put the protection spell stood Alasdair with Zanna in his grasp, and a huge smile on his face. Kamden stormed out of the house and raced down the steps, but stopped when I shouted, “Kamden, stop!”

I started to walk out the door, but
Coran stepped in my path. “I can’t let you go out there, Your Highness. You won’t be protected if you go past the shield.”

Zanna
was terrified and trying her best to keep calm, except the iron blade at her throat wasn’t helping. One tiny move and it would all be over; I refused to leave her at his mercy. I gazed up at Coran, my decision is final. “She’s my friend, Coran. I can’t just leave her out there.”

I pushed past him and out the door, making sure I had a firm grasp on the dagger in my belt.
Kamden moved closer to the border, with raw panic in his eyes, and roared, “Let her go!”

Alasdair laughed, the echo of it ringing menacingly in the air, and tightened his hold around
Zanna’s waist. The iron from the dagger was blistering her skin at the neck and I knew she had to be in great pain. What made everything worse was that not only did the sorcerer hold a fatal blade to her throat, she was also wearing the bloodstone talisman. It was the same necklace that could siphon a fae’s energy and kill them within minutes. I could feel Kamden’s fear for her and it broke my heart, but most importantly it made things more clear. I was ready to fight.

The sorcerer pointed his iron weapon at me and sneered, “If you want her bad enough you will step past your protective barrier and take the talisman off from around her neck. If not, then she will die here just like your friend I gutted the other day.”

Those words were where I lost Kamden and his ability to restrain his anger. He leapt past the area of protection and attacked; all the while I screamed as I watched him make a fatal mistake. Zanna fell helplessly to the ground, blood oozing out in spurts from the cut through her neck by the iron blade. Her body thrashed as the poison spread and tried to invade her body.

“
Coran!” I yelled. “Find Meliantha, and hurry. I’ll be okay, just go now as fast as you can!”

I expected him to protest, but something must’ve shown on my face because he nodded and rushed off with impeccable speed up to the palace.
Kamden attacked the sorcerer with everything he had and I knew he needed my help, but I had to save Zanna. Quickly, I ran past the safe zone, grabbed Zanna under the shoulders, and carried her back over to the protected side.

The bloodstone glowed an ominous red and I could see her getting weaker and fading by the minute. The cut on her throat was getting worse, her flesh slowly decaying as the poison seeped into her veins. “Dammit,
Zanna, you better hold on and fight. Help is coming and I need you to stay strong,” I pleaded.

I grabbed the talisman and tried to yank it from around her neck, but it burned me the second I touched it. It sizzled the skin on my hands as I tried to lift it over her head, but it was no use. It didn’t budge.

“Shit,” I hissed in pain. No wonder no one was capable of taking the talisman off of themselves.

It reminded me of the dagger
Durin made for us. No one could touch it other than me and the others.
Was the sorcerer’s talisman that same way?
Unsheathing the special dagger from my belt, I didn’t know if what I was about to do would work, but I had to try. Sliding the blade under the golden chain, I jerked it up as fast as I could. I never expected it to be so easy, but it broke and fell to the ground.

I did it.

“Kamden!” I yelled, catching his attention briefly. When he saw I had Zanna on the safe side, he dodged another of the sorcerer’s blows and immediately lunged back into the protection of Elvena’s spell. The second he was safe, he ran over to Zanna and picked her up in his arms.

“
Zanna,” he cried, holding her tight.

Meliantha
raced toward us with Coran, Drake, and Sorcha trailing behind her. “Get her to Meliantha now!” I ordered him. With Zanna sputtering in his arms, he jogged up the path and collapsed in front of Meliantha, placing Zanna in front of her. Meliantha bent down, closed her eyes, and placed her hand on Zanna’s throat. I prayed to the heavens that she would be okay.

Alasdair sheathed his iron dagger and smiled. “Well, that was fun, Princess. I was hoping to have some more dreams with you during this little reprieve, but again, you ran scared and had to have a protection spell to keep you safe. However, I knew you couldn’t resist saving your friend,” he taunted eagerly. His gaze found the talisman on the ground, and before I could secure it in my grasp, he extended his hand and chanted a few words in a language I didn’t know. The necklace bolted off of the ground and back into his hands.

An uneasy feeling washed over me as he stared at me and smiled. “I must say this has been one of my simplest missions yet. I never thought it would be so easy to steal your power.”

“What are you talking about? You haven’t gotten my power,” I snapped.

Alasdair dangled the necklace in his hand and chuckled menacingly. “Oh, Princess, that’s where you’re wrong. All it took was one simple touch to absorb your essence into the bloodstone and you’ve already done that. So thank you, Your Highness, for giving me what I needed.”

My blood ran cold. What had I done? How could I have been so stupid as to touch it?

“You bastard,” I hissed. Quickly, I shot to my feet and charged after him, heading for the border. Before I could get past the shield, I was knocked off my feet by the weight of someone tackling me to the ground. The breath whooshed out of me as the impact from the fall had me gasping for air. When I looked up, the sorcerer had disappeared and Brayden was on top of me, scowling and angry.