The Snow Queen's Captive (6 page)

After a day or two of this, he decided to use her games against her. She pretended to be lonely? He’d be friendly to her. Attentive. Caring. She wanted a friend? He’d be that friend. And then when she let her guard down, he’d destroy her.

She was not the only that could be a cold, calculating liar. And she’d soon learn that he could be just as ruthless as she.

As she’d begun to do every day, she showed up after the sun had set and the night grew cold. She looked weary, dark circles under her bright blue eyes, and when she drew ice up from the floor to create her stool, it seemed to take her longer than usual.

He took bites of his travel bread from his pack – the last of it – as he watched her. Now she was showing weakness in front of him? Another ploy? Very well; he’d play along. “You look fatigued,” he commented between bites. “Not sleeping?”

She looked utterly surprised that he’d addressed her first, and then pleased. A soft, shy smile crossed her face, so sweet that he’d almost believed it. “No. I have a hard time falling asleep, I suppose. Too much on my mind.”

“Do you need your blankets back?” he gestured at one of the furs wrapped around him.

She shook her head. “I know this is an ice castle, but it feels warm to me – over-warm, really.” She wiped her brow and he noticed for the first time that it gleamed with perspiration. “They’ll do you far more good than me.”

“Thank you,” he told her, keeping the venom out of his voice. He felt a stab of excitement when she gave him another surprised, but pleased look.

“You’re talking to me.”

“As you’ve said, there is no one else to talk to.”

This time, the smile that curved her face was wry. “I know you don’t like me.”

“You are being kind to me,” he told her, though the words galled him even as they passed his lips. “I can appreciate that.” He tapped a fingernail on the hard icicles that made the bars of his cage. “Even if I don’t appreciate this.”

She looked just as unhappy at the bars as he felt. “Necessity, I’m afraid.” And she set that little tray of colored cubes in her lap and began to eat.

He needed to get her attention again. “I’m almost out of food,” he said, and shook his empty pouch at her.

“Oh.” Her pale white brows drew together. She offered him her tray of colored cubes. “Can you eat these?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried them. You’ve never offered them to me before.”

She got to her feet, tray in her hands, and approached his cell. The icicles were too thick and closely formed to be able to wedge the tray through, which he knew. She picked up one of the cubes and held it out to him between delicate, frost-tipped fingers, and then pulled her hand back, considering. “I don’t know if this is too cold for you.”

He shrugged.

She seemed mystified, though, and disappointed as she placed the cube back on the tray. “I don’t want to burn you when I’m trying to give you a treat.”

“If you want to treat me, Queen, let me out.”

“Please,” she murmured, shaking her head. “Call me by my real name.”

“Charlotte,” he said, though it tasted strange in his mouth. “Let me out.”

“I wish I could.” That wistful look crossed her face again. “I can’t, though. It’s not part of the plan. What do I normally feed you?”

Did she hit her head? Was that why she kept asking him such strange questions? Or did she lose her memory the more she used her power? When he’d first arrived, she’d only used her powers for small, selfish little whims — such as torturing him with ice. He’d grown to dread the slight crackle that came from the icy floors as she’d passed, the magical domain responding to her. Over the past few days, though, she’d been expelling a great deal of magic – the castle had been filled with the subtle, constant crackles of ice being manipulated. Not for the first time, he wondered what she’d been up to.

So he decided to test something.

“Why not let me out as you did before?” he lied. “So we can have dinner together once more, like friends instead of mistress and slave.”

They’d never had dinner together like that. She’d kept him bound and confined, and when he wasn’t forced to kneel at her feet like a dog, she’d kept him locked away in his cell. But he was curious to see how she’d react to his blatant lie.

The snow queen considered this for a long, long moment, her pale gaze holding him. He scarcely dared to breathe, waiting for her cruel smile to curve that beautiful mouth into hardness, for her to let on that she was well aware of his game.

But instead, all she said was, “I’d like to do that…but I don’t trust you not to run.”

“Ice the doors,” he said quickly. “Then I won’t be able to escape your chambers.”

She paused.

“You know you can quickly overtake me again. You certainly stopped me fast the other day,” he cajoled, his voice soothing and low. “Your ice powers are beyond my mere human strength.”

After a long moment, she nodded. She set the tray down in her ice-chair and then climbed the stairs. “Be right back.”

He watched her go, dumbfounded.

He’d lied to her. Told her that she’d let him roam freely in the past…and she’d accepted it? As if it was the truth?

This…wasn’t right. Something was wrong.

Had she truly lost her memory? Maybe all the use of her powers fragmented her thoughts? He didn’t know. All he knew was that she’d somehow changed a few days ago.

And he intended on taking advantage of it.

She returned a short time later, wiping her brow, now frosted with perspiration. “The doors are iced,” she said. “Three feet thick. It’d take you hours to escape if you tried to break through, and if you kill me, this place will collapse around your ears. The entire ice palace is only held together by my magic.”

He studied her to see if she was bluffing, but her delicate face was expressionless. “Fair enough,” he said slowly, thinking. He wouldn’t kill her, then. At least, not right away. He’d wait until her guard was down. He’d have to convince her to take him out of the castle, somehow. Then, when she was relaxed in his presence, he’d kill her and escape.

Of course, to earn her trust, he’d have to charm her.

Before, the snow queen had been less than amused at his reluctance. That was why she’d enchanted him in the first place. If he was pliant and agreeable to everything – even her tortures – it was one less thing for her to worry about. So she’d taken away his free will and bespelled him to think he was in love with her. It wasn’t too much of a stretch for the mind – she was ethereally beautiful, if cruel. And even with the spell? She still hadn’t trusted him not to escape – she’d never given him the freedom to walk her chambers in the past.

But two days ago, she’d taken away the enchantment. And now she was about to invite him to sit at dinner with her.

If he didn’t know better, Kai would have sworn that it was an entirely different woman. But the pale brows and white-blonde hair cascading down her back were the same. The dress made of lattices of frost and icicles was the same. The blue eyes that watched him were the same. The deadly command over ice? The same. Only the expressions and mannerisms were different.

It simply had to be a new tactic to get him to let his guard down. Fine then, he’d play her game. Kai gave her his most cajoling smile, but said nothing. If he encouraged her to let him out, she’d suspect something.

She continued to watch him from the other side of the icicle cage, her fingers curling around the thick shafts of ice as she regarded him. It looked as if she were trying to decide if she wanted to trust him.

He held his breath, waiting.

Then she gave a small sigh and the icicles began to crack and vibrate. “Step back,” she told him in a soft voice.

“I won’t harm you,” he told her. Not yet.

This time her mouth twisted into a hint of a smile. “I know. I meant that if you were too close, you might get speared.” And the icicles in her hands shattered like glass, the shards tinkling to the floor.

He staggered backward, avoiding the flying ice even as she ignored it, her small hands touching each icicle that made his cage and shattering it with ease. Astonishing. He’d wrapped his hands with the polar bear pelt and tried to break them himself, but they’d proven far too strong.

Strong magic, indeed. And concerning. If she used it, she could destroy him in an instant. He had to be careful.

She brushed aside the shattered icicles. Her efforts had created a small doorway that he could step through. “Sorry about the mess. For some reason, breaking the ice is a lot easier on the magic than just reshaping it.”

“I see.” He made no move to step forward. “Thank you, Charlotte.”

A soft smile touched her face. “You remembered my name.”

Kai nodded.

The snow queen stepped aside and gestured for him to walk out of the cell. “Come, then.”

He pulled the polar bear hides tight around his body and stepped forward. The air was always frosty when she was around, but he didn’t mind the cold lately. It meant that she’d be visiting, and even if he couldn’t figure her out, it was better than staring at the ice walls of his prison. Kai stepped out of the cell and immediately felt a bit lighter in spirit. He was halfway to freedom.

“Follow me,” she said, and swept past him in a tinkle of ice, her dress shivering with her movements. He studied her as she walked. Even her mannerisms were different, he decided. Before, she’d walked with hard, brisk steps, her movements almost jerky. Now, as she strolled away from him, there was a rolling sway to her hips, and an ease to her steps. She didn’t march up the stairs as much as she glided.

Yet it had to be the same woman. Puzzling.

Kai followed her up the stairs, taking his time with each step. Though the floors were patterned with a texture, they were still ice and hard for him to walk on in bare feet. The skins flapped and dragged around him, and not for the first time, he wished for his own clothing.

He followed her into her room and was stunned at the opulence of it. His village was small, their homes modest. Yet this chamber was like something out of fireside tales – it reminded him of a cathedral he’d seen once in a city, all vaulted ceilings and glimmering beauty. At the center of this was a dais shaped like an icy bowl rising from the floor and filled with snow. That must have been her bed. He pictured this creature – so different than the queen of a few days ago – waking from sleep. Her features would be soft, her hair tousled about her head, her limbs languid as she stretched…

And a bolt of arousal struck him. Kai loathed himself for the thought, pulling the furs closer to his body. Nothing but mind games. That was all this was.

Her gasp of surprise caught his attention. Kai turned to her, but she was staring at a small nearby table in surprise. Two place settings had been laid at the table. Her tray of small, colored cubes was accompanied by an equally icy goblet, and across from that was a bowl of soup and a plain ceramic cup.

“Someone was here?” She looked delighted, turning back to him. “Do you think there are servants here? Someone else to talk to?”

“Invisible servants,” he told her. “Magical constructs. They anticipate your needs when you voice them. They’re not real people. I asked the very same thing when you stole me.”

Her hopeful expression dimmed. “Oh.”

For some reason, he didn’t like that he’d been the one to diminish that excitement on her face. “You told me that you hated having others around.”

She looked sad. “I must have had a change of heart. I guess.” She sighed and sat down at the table, the icy stool neatly curving to accommodate her. “At least you have something to eat now.”

Kai grunted and sat down at the table across from her, careful to layer the polar bear skin over the ice stool left for him. Carefully arranging the furs, he sat and regarded the goblet and bowl left for him. Ceramic. It’d be cool to the touch but wouldn’t injure him. He recalled the same cup and bowl from his fuzzy memories of when he’d been enchanted – a sobering reminder that the woman across from him was not meant to be trusted.

No matter how prettily sad she looked.

She glanced at his bowl of milky soup, then at her own brightly colored portion of food. “Would you like some of my dinner, perhaps?”

“No. Not when this has been laid out for me and I know it won’t ice over my insides.”

“Oh.” She stared at one of the colored cubes. “This ice thing is a bit of a pain in the ass, isn’t it? Thank God it’s only for a month.”

“A month?”

“Um, never mind.” The snow queen smiled brightly at him. “So tell me more about you.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to demand, why should I? But that wouldn’t bring her closer to trusting him. If she’d truly lost her memories, this was his time to take advantage of things. “I’ve told you everything you need to know time and time again,” he lied, making his voice as easy as he could. He picked up the ceramic bowl and sipped his dinner. “But you never tell me anything about yourself.”

“Oh?” Her blue eyes widened again. Then she frowned. “I’m not sure what I can tell.”

A devious non-answer despite her sweet expression. He said nothing, simply drank the nourishing (if tasteless) soup left for him and watched her.

She toyed with one of the icy cubes on her tray, a pink one. “So what did we talk about at dinner if we never talked of our histories?” She lifted it to take a small bite.

He set his bowl down. “We didn’t talk much. Mostly I just serviced you with my mouth. It didn’t leave a lot of room for talking.”

She wheezed, choking on the bite of her dinner. Then she coughed, gulping for air, and covered her mouth. Her face turned a pale, delicate blue – definitely a blush. “I what?”

Despite himself, Kai was fascinated by her reaction. Either she was an incredible actress or she had indeed had something happen to her that caused her personality to revert to some softer, sweeter version of herself. And considering that she was missing all the lies he was dropping? He was starting to become more and more convinced.

This would work well for his plans.

“Shall I show you? Would you like for me to service you again?” He put his bowl down and stood. He wasn’t lying about that; he’d had sex with the snow queen. While under the enchantment, he’d have done anything she wanted, and more. He’d been fully aware that he’d hated her even as much as the enchantment forced love into his mind and overrode his reactions. He should be furious at how she’d treated him, but the enchantment had muddled with his memories of those interludes – thankfully – and all he remembered were icy limbs, her wicked, cruel laugh, and a vague sense of resentment in the back of his mind, mixed with pleasure.