The Snow Queen's Captive (14 page)

And so was Charlotte’s strength. As if someone had pulled the plug on her power, all of the energy left her body. She collapsed on the floor, too weak to hold up the club.

How…why was she suddenly so weak? Had she – the old snow queen – really borrowed that much power from the mirror? And here Charlotte had been expending it right and left, as if it were limitless. Right now, she didn’t even feel as if she had enough energy to get up and walk across the floor, much less reinforce the falling walls around the castle.

Things were quickly going from bad to worse. Angry tears threatened, but Charlotte sniffed them away. All right. She didn’t have much power left. She had two days before Gerda would come here, and she could prepare. She could do lots of things…

Hell, who was she kidding? She was screwed and a half. She flopped onto her back and stared up at the ceiling of her ice palace. The carefully crafted prisms gleamed with cold, incredibly beautiful and ethereal.

A drop of meltwater fell from the ceiling and plopped on her cheek.

Figured. If the roof was going to cave in in the next day or two, it’d serve her right. Just because she didn’t want to be the bad guy in the fairy tale. Well, she’d destroyed her magic mirror, and she was still the bad guy, and she was going to lose, lose, lose.

These two days might be her last days here, waiting while the palace collapsed slowly around her. She…

She paused. Sat up.

She had to get Kai out of here.

Chapter Eight

 Kai was whistling when he returned to the ice fortress, a string of fat fish over his shoulder. Her suggestion to cut a hole into the ice and fish there had worked splendidly, and he’d caught them a magnificent, fresh dinner. Granted, Charlotte’s would have to ice hers down to enjoy it, but it would be a treat for both of them after weeks of colored cubes and the nutrient broth of his. He couldn’t wait to see the expression on her face when he showed her his catch. Then, he’d bake them over an open fire and make her eat until she could eat no more. She’d been pushing herself hard these last few days and she looked exhausted.

He knelt and slipped back through the hole she’d crafted for him through the wall. So much for his being her captive, he thought with a wry smile. When had that stopped being a thing between them? Ever since she walked down to the cave and pulled the mirrors from his eyes, she’d been different. Sweet. Funny. Caring. Now, he didn’t stay with her because he’d been ensorcelled – he stayed because he cared for her.

She was convinced that in two days, Gerda would come traipsing up the mountain looking for him and looking to make an end of her. He wasn’t so sure about that. Sure, Gerda was an impulsive girl, but to confront someone with the magnitude of Charlotte’s powers would be foolishness itself. Even Gerda wasn’t that naive.

To his surprise, she wasn’t in the courtyard when he entered. He called out her name, “Charlotte?” Sometimes she was just an ice-wall away and would melt through the moment she ‘felt’ him enter. But today, there was no welcoming greeting. A prickle of unease touched him, and he dropped his fish onto a snowbank, heading into the castle.

When he touched the massive entryway door, it felt slick under his glove. Was it melting? He squinted up at the skies, which were sunny but as cold as ever. Huh. With a heave, Kai pushed the thick ice open and stepped into the palace. “Charlotte?”

No answer. His footsteps increased in pace and he began to race through the halls. Had she somehow hurt herself? Used so much of her powers that she’d knocked herself unconscious? Finally wore herself out? He headed for the bedroom, where they slept curled together every night, never quite touching.

She was there, tucked into the bed they shared, a tiny figure in a nest of ice and furs.

“Charlotte?” he called again.

She sat up, brushing at her face. It was obvious he’d woken her from a slumber. It was also obvious there was something wrong. She looked weak, pale. Normally there was an almost unhealthy radiance to her, as if she were lit from within with magic. That light had been snuffed. The girl in front of him seemed incredibly fragile.

“What’s wrong? You look…” he paused, unsure what to say. Different? Sick? Pale? “Unwell.” Unease swept through him. What if…what if she’d changed again? What if this was no longer Charlotte but the other queen again?

Or worse…what if it was someone else entirely? He studied her warily.

The smile she gave him was wan. “I’m fine,” she told him. “But we need to talk.”

He didn’t like the way she slowly got out of bed, as if every muscle ached. He didn’t like the reluctant way she shrugged on one of the furs over her body. Normally she bounded out of bed, full of energy, reshaping her ice-gown into something beautiful and artistic full of crystalline facets. The gown she wore now was cracked from where she’d lain on it and as he watched, a piece of the skirt shattered and fell away, revealing one pale foot. “You need to rest. You’ve been working yourself too hard.”

She shook her head. “I’m fine. Really. But, Kai—“

“Charlotte,” he said firmly. “You—“

“I’m releasing you.”

He paused. “You’re what?”

“I’m releasing you,” she said, her voice weary. “You need to go. Leave the castle today.”

“What about you?”

“I’m staying here until…until the end.”

That sounded so incredibly fatalistic that he grew concerned. “Charlotte, you’re sick. I’m not leaving your side—“

This time, she shook her head violently. “You’re not listening to me. You have to leave. Now. I’m releasing you! Go back to your people. You don’t have to stay with me.”

“Of course I don’t have to stay with you.” What in all the names of the gods was she babbling about? “I’m here because I’m—” he paused, not sure what to call their relationship. In his culture, a man didn’t touch a woman like he’d touched Charlotte unless they were wedded. He’d assumed that since they were together emotionally if not physically, she was his mate in all but the ceremony. But she’d not approached the concept of mating. He knew she wasn’t from a people like his own…did they even have mates? Did they wed or did they simply go about their lives by themselves? Because he sure as damn well thought of her as his mate.

And now she was sending him away? The thought was inconceivable.

So he said, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Charlotte frowned up at him. “Kai, don’t argue with me. Not about this.”

“We won’t argue, then.” He began to thrust his hand into one of his mittens so he could touch her and help her stand up. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“You are. I don’t want you here,” she protested.

“Lies.” He bit at the laces on his mitts, tightening them. “I’m going to make you dinner and I’m going to feed you, and then we’ll talk about this—“

“No,” she said again, and drew herself to her feet. Her eyes gleamed with a shimmer of ice – were those tears? – and then she clenched her fists at her sides. “This is for your own good, Kai. Leave this place and return to your people or I’m going to make you leave. You don’t belong here.”

“Leave?” He snorted. “You are my mate. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I can’t be your mate,” she gritted. He felt her drawing magic, drawing power closer to her. Her brow broke out in a shiny glimmer of crystalized sweat beads. “We can’t even touch.”

“That doesn’t matter. I can touch you,” he snarled. “Shall I show you how much I can touch you? Shall I make you come again? Make you cry out my name as I pump my fingers into you?”

“And then you lose your hand because it freezes off? I won’t let you do that.” She raised her hands in the air. “And if you won’t leave, I’ll make you leave.”

The ice surged around his feet, trapping them.

“Charlotte, no,” he growled. “Don’t do this.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “But I have to.” And the ice surged around him, carrying him like a wave. New bursts of ice formed on her forehead, and she swayed as she reshaped the walls and pushed him, protesting, right out of the castle itself and into the courtyard. From there, the tidal wave of ice continued, pushing him, pushing him, pushing him right out of her domain. With a hoarse cry, he tumbled to the earth as it dumped him outside of the protective wall surrounding the courtyard. As he got to his feet, the ice surged back into place, resealing the wall and trapping him outside.

He slammed a fist into the ice. “Charlotte,” he yelled. “Don’t do this!”

There was no response. She’d shut him out entirely.

~~ * * * ~~

For hours, Kai pounded at the wall, determined to make Charlotte notice him. When dusk fell, he gathered firewood, rubbed sticks until he made a fire, and camped out at her doorstep, waiting for her to return. To apologize and let him in. To flounce out in a swirl of icy skirts and yell at him so they could at least talk.

Something.

Anything.

But when a bitterly cold dawn crested on the horizon and Kai’s fire burned through the last of the wood he’d gathered, and the ice keep was utterly silent, he realized that she wouldn’t be relenting after all. With a heavy heart, he gathered his furs tight against his body, snuffed his fire, and began to walk to his people’s village.

It took him most of a day to follow the cook fires to where they’d created their lodges anew. Charlotte’s castle was in the heart of the territory that they claimed for their tribe, but they’d moved away from the edges of the sea and its bounty to the edges of the valley, where food was scarce and snow was thick on the ground.

Someone hailed him as he approached, and Kai raised a weary hand in greeting. Moments later, others in the tribe approached, swarming him with hugs and happy greetings. They were excited to see him return, hale and healthy, and he wished he could share the excitement in their voices. Instead, he kept thinking of Charlotte, the way she’d pushed him out. Her fragility as she’d sat up on the bed when he’d last seen her.

Something in her had changed, and not for the better, and he was worried she’d somehow used too much magic and hurt herself. And even though Kajeh hugged him close, chief Dovak whacked him on the back with relief, and little Tidda patted him with tiny hands to reassure herself that he was back, he didn’t feel like he was at home.

At some point, home had become the high, crystalline walls of the palace and Charlotte’s sweet smile.

And even as he mused on this, a woman approached, her own body wrapped in thick tailored leathers, her long black braids dancing on her shoulders. Gerda smiled at him and hugged him close, and her lovely face was radiant. “Kai! You are back!”

“For now,” he agreed.

She frowned at that tepid response. Linking her arm in his, she tugged him toward the fire burning outside of her small hut. “How did you escape? Will the evil bitch come looking for you?”

“She’s not evil—” he began.

Gerda immediately grabbed his face and began to study his eyes.

He swatted her hand away. “The mirrors are gone. They haven’t been there for a while. That wasn’t her that did that.”

Gerda’s eyes widened. “There is more than one snow bitch?”

“No, there’s just the one,” he corrected, irritated at her words. “And she’s not a bitch. She’s kind. I think she’s…ensorcelled herself.” Kai thought of the mysterious people she’d begged and pleaded with in the middle of the night, who disappeared when he hunted for them. “Someone has trapped her, like I was trapped. And she let me go.”

“I don’t understand.”

No, she wouldn’t. And he wasn’t explaining it right. How could he possibly tell Gerda that while the snow queen looked the same from her cloud-pale hair to the blue tinge of her delicate cheekbones, she was completely different underneath? That one day he’d woken up and she’d changed, so completely and utterly that even he couldn’t explain it? He shook his head. “It is a long tale, for another time, and one I don’t wish to share right now.”

Gerda’s eyes narrowed and she reached for his chin again, determined to look in his eyes.

He swatted her hand away. “Don’t be childish. I’m myself.”

“I don’t understand you. She kidnapped you and made you her puppet. Why would she let you go? Is this a trap?”

“It’s not a trap,” he growled at Gerda. Normally he loved her like a sister, but tonight, he just wanted her to stop pricking at him with her sharp tongue. “Leave me be, Gerda. I’ve walked all day and wish nothing more than a bite of food and a bed.”

But that wasn’t enough for inquisitive, impulsive Gerda. “Kai?” Her voice grew soft and this time, her hand cupped his jaw. “I am truly glad to see you again. I am. But you look so very sad to be here. Aren’t you happy to return?”

He closed his eyes. He wished that he was happy to be here, amongst his people again. Instead, all he could see was Charlotte’s wan face, leached of all color and health, as she dragged up the last of her strength to send him away…

“I’ve come to care for her,” he admitted to Gerda. “I’ve taken her as my mate, but she’s pushed me away. She’s sick, and I don’t know how to help her because she won’t let me get near her.”

“I see,” Gerda said softly.

He knew his words had to hurt her. Ever since they were children, it had always been assumed that Gerda and he would marry at some point, being the closest in age in their small tribe. But he’d never felt anything for Gerda except the affection one might have for a sister.

Nothing like the bleak, hopeless love he felt for Charlotte.

“Sit,” Gerda said, gently steering him toward her fire and the log that served as a seat. “I’ve made some rabbit stew. Warm your hands and eat, and then rest. You’re home.”

He wasn’t. But he did as she said.

~~ * * * ~~

The next morning, Kai awoke in a strange bed, in a strange hut, and found himself entirely too warm. He pushed the fur coverlets off him, and examined his surroundings. Gerda’s hut, if the snowshoes and spears in the corner were any indication. He got to his feet, and wondered at the low murmur of voices near the central fire.

When he emerged from Gerda’s hut, though, the sound of many voices grew horribly, terribly clear. The men and women of the tribe, the hunters, all carried spears and their bark shields. Great Uglaf had his prized axe resting on one shoulder. Faces were grim but determined. All had streaked their cheeks with the black paint that signified that they were going to war.