Ice Queen Read online

  “The rightful ruler,” Noel echoed. “Funny, because from here, it looks like the Princess is still alive and kicking.” He got up, turning his back to the soldier as he met Douglas and Hale. “Stentar wants to rule two kingdoms.”

  Hale shook his head, saying quietly, “He won’t stop at two.”

  As the men spoke, Frost inched closer to the soldier. Stentar wanted the Jewel, wanted Wysteria in his gold-lined pocket. He’d use Frost up and toss her aside, dead, so why should she give anything more to the soldier before her? Truly, she was only returning the favor.

  She knelt near his head, eyes darting between his bloodied face and the arm encased in ice. Blue hung near his other side, snarling and baring his teeth, his white muzzle bloodied and gory.

  “You said—” The man started, but he did not get the chance to finish.

  “I know,” Frost said, quite emotionless in her delivery. She set a hand over his mouth, and the man somehow had enough strength to claw at her with the arm Blue had annihilated. She did not appreciate the blood smearing on her leather shirt.

  Magic flowed through her, manifesting on her palm. Dozens of ice spikes erupted from her flesh, puncturing the man’s mouth and his face. Deeper and deeper the ice spikes grew until they hit his spine and his brain, and then—and only then—did his clawing, bloodied hand fall off her.

  Closing her eyes, she felt the ice disappear, and once she was free of the ice spikes, Frost stood and wiped at her arm. The only thing she managed to do was smear the blood. She smeared it more and more, baring her teeth at her clothes as if the display of aggression would finally get the blood to come off.

  Why did that man touch her? Why couldn’t he simply be killed in peace?

  She met three pairs of questioning eyes. No one had stopped her from killing him, and yet…yet these men were clearly conflicted over what they had just witnessed. Frost frowned at them. Did they not think her capable of violence? Did they not believe her able to kill, just like them? These three…they had no idea of what she’d done.

  One man. A soldier of Fenburn. One man was nothing.

  “What?” Frost asked. When none of them said anything, she stormed away, past the tree that had been home to her icy tantrum. Away from the camp and the corpses, away from the blood. She just wanted to get away from it all—was it so wrong? Was it so impossible?

  Yes, yes it was.

  The men did not let her go. They followed her, the blasted fools. Noel was on her after picking up his used blades, not bothering to wipe them off before sliding them back into place, one by one.

  “Princess has a violent side,” Noel was the first to speak.

  She glared at him. Gone was the murderous expression he’d worn, just like that. It was like there were two Noels, sharing the same body. Two men, one happy and sarcastic, and the other dangerous and grim.

  “I kind of like it,” he added, to which Douglas let out a chortle and Hale rolled his eyes.

  “That’s why you’re bringing me to her, isn’t it?” Frost asked, frowning as she put the pieces together. “That’s why my sister needs my help. For this Jewel.” Being used by her own family…by the one surviving member of her entire family. Didn’t feel too good.

  Noel glanced at the others. “Why don’t you let Queen Amara explain it to you? I’m sure she—”

  “She just wants to use me like Stentar does!” Frost yelled, feeling the need to run away and never look back. “Everyone just wants to use me.” For all the good it would do for them; she had no idea where this Jewel was or why having it would mean they were the rightful ruler of Wysteria.

  At her side, Blue sat on his haunches, gazing up at her with blue eyes so clear they almost hurt to meet.

  “Princess,” Noel whispered, reaching for her. “That’s not—”

  She jumped back. “Don’t touch me, and don’t call me that. I’m not a princess anymore. I’m just…I’m me. I’m my magic. I’m simply a tool for any reigning king or queen to use, at their disposal.” Bitterness laced with each word, and she fought back tears. “I’m not a princess. I’m nothing.”

  Nothing. She was nothing. There was no denying it now. Once she was used by her sister, Amara would toss her back to the barren wastes of ice and snow. Somehow, knowing that, it was worse than being just a job to these three men. Frost wasn’t just a job; she was less than that.

  She was nothing.

  Chapter Six

  Continuing the journey was hard after that encounter. Douglas could feel the rift growing between them and Frost, and he didn’t particularly like it. He understood where she was coming come, why she came to that conclusion—that she was nothing, that everyone only wanted to use her up and discard her after they got what they wanted from her—but she was wrong.

  She had to be wrong.

  Queen Amara might want the same thing King Stentar did, but that did not mean she wished to use Frost and toss her back into the snow. Queen Amara wasn’t like that. She was kind and caring toward all her subjects, and Douglas knew she would be the same towards Frost, even if they hadn’t seen each other in years.

  No, Frost was wrong. She wasn’t nothing.

  Frost kept to herself the few days after the attack. She mainly concerned herself with Blue, hardly talking to any of them. Douglas was unsure why, but it bothered him. She had such a pretty face, and to see it twisted in such despair…it hurt. It hurt him, strange as it was. It hurt him because he cared.

  He did. He cared about her. He’d grown to like her over these past few weeks, even if she was rather hot and cold. All right, mostly cold. Douglas wouldn’t go so far as to say he’d fallen for her, but he liked her, and he hated seeing her miserable. He wished there was something he could do, something Hale or Noel could do.

  Noel, Hale, and Douglas sat around the fire, situated in the center of a grassy plain that had been cleared of snow with Frost’s magic. They had to walk pretty far to find wood for the fire, but it was worth it, if only to have warmth for a few more hours.

  Warmth. It was something Douglas missed about Springvale. In Springvale, the weather was always temperate, always balmy. He never felt like his toes were going to freeze and fall off. But he supposed that was mainly because of Frost and her magic.

  Frost.

  His blue eyes sought her out. She sat a good ways away, near Blue, rubbing the wolf between his ears. She sat with her legs outstretched, her hair tucked in the same braid it usually was, little stray wisps escaping it. Douglas knew roughly how old Queen Amara was, mostly because the kingdom had waited for her marriage to Robin, for she’d arrived underaged. Focusing on Frost, he’d put her somewhere in her mid to late twenties.

  Her skin was like porcelain, flawless and beautiful. Paler than the moon in the sky. Every gesture she made was refined, even when she sat on her ass on the ground, even when she let her temper get the best of her. Frost was unlike any woman Douglas had ever met.

  “She’s likely to turn to stone, with you watching her so much,” Noel quipped, grinning as Douglas turned a scowl to him.

  “What…that doesn’t even make sense,” Douglas harrumphed, running a hand along his short beard. He knew his appearance wasn’t what women typically liked, with the gruff beard and the scars, but maybe… His eyes drifted back to Frost.

  Noel laughed. “Damn, Douglas. You have it bad for her, don’t you?”

  “I have nothing bad towards anyone,” Douglas replied. “She just looks sad over there, doesn’t she?” At his question, both Hale and Noel turned to look at her. All three of them stared at her for a few minutes.

  Frost smiled at Blue, telling the wolf something. Probably praising him as a good boy. He was a good companion animal, knew right from wrong and who was friendly or not, Douglas had to give him that.

  “Seems like she’s having quite the horrible time with her wolf,” Noel deadpanned.

  Douglas let out a deep-throated sigh. “I hope things are different when we get back to Springvale.”

 
“Different how?” Noel poked at the fire with a stick, causing the flames to cackle and crack. “We take her to the forward camp, let her talk with her sister, and then we head into the heart of Wysteria for the Jewel.” He seemed to know it all, the whole plan, already decided. “We have to beat Stentar to it.”

  Hale surveyed him, his stare knowing. “You’re worried Queen Amara will use her just like Stentar would.”

  With a groan, Douglas felt the need to lay his sword across his lap and sharpen it, but he’d left all that stuff back at home. He figured he’d best travel light. “Isn’t that what’s happening here? Springvale needs the stone. The only reason we’re bringing her back to meet with her sister is because without her, no one can get to the Jewel.”

  “No,” Noel said, shaking his head. His hood and mask hung around his neck, his gloves laying on the ground beside him. “No, Queen Amara wouldn’t do that.”

  Douglas was unimpressed. “How well do you know the Queen?” When Noel was silent, he went on, “We’ve spent more time with Frost than we have with the Queen.” He let out another sigh. Either way, it was out of their hands. This was a job, nothing more.

  He might like Frost, but in the end, he would do what he had to.

  Once the fire died down, they reclined down to sleep. Douglas could not sleep, however. He simply gazed at the sky above him. Nights like these, when everything was quiet and still, he often lost himself in his own head. How different his life would be if he was not a part of the guild…what he’d do, whether or not he’d have a wife and any children.

  A family. Above all else, Douglas wanted a family. It could very well be he only wanted a family because he never had one, because he’d grown up in the guild, learning to hone his natural skills and become a mercenary of sorts—he never called himself an assassin, like Noel preferred. Noel had a different skill set.

  Did Noel or Hale ever stop and wish for a family? Someplace they could rest their heads between jobs, a woman who would warm their hearts and their beds? Their beds…

  When was the last time he’d been with a woman? It’d been a while, Douglas knew. Again, not something he should be thinking about, but his mind went there nonetheless. And then, because his mind knew no boundaries in the middle of the night, he started to think about Frost, and whether or not she’d ever been with a man before.

  She was a princess, still technically was, and even if princesses were not prized for their virginity—something ridiculously stupid, Douglas never understood—she’d lived an extremely sheltered life. Of course all the kingdoms were full of rumors of her, and when she unleashed an eternal winter, the rumors had only spiraled. Before the eternal storm that swallowed up Wysteria, Frost was hardly seen by the public. To say she was sheltered, well, perhaps it wasn’t a strong enough word.

  Would someone who’d lived such a protected life have given herself to a man before? Douglas didn’t like thinking about it either way, mostly because to think of another man with her…made him jealous. Foolish and stupid, but it was true.

  His mind then went someplace it most definitely shouldn’t, and that was to Frost’s body. He was a man, so it wasn’t that strange he was imagining what she looked like beneath the leather she wore. She was slim but curvy in all the ways that made a woman a woman. Her hips were wide, her waist like an hourglass. And that said nothing about her chest…

  Oh, damn it all. Douglas needed to rein in his mind before he completely lost it.

  Time passed in a slow blur. He closed his eyes, tried to count imaginary animals in his head, but nothing worked. He was up, and he was not getting sleep any time soon. Douglas held in a groan as he slowly sat up, gazing at the two sleeping figures around him. Hale and Noel were out cold.

  Douglas ran a hand through his hair. He was about to get up and stretch, maybe do a bit of walking around, try to clear out his incessant thoughts, but a nose against his arm stopped him. Blue stood near him, nudging him. The wolf let out a low whine, to which Douglas shushed him instantly. Blue’s head turned toward Frost, and he started walking away, as if he wanted Douglas to follow him.

  He got up, careful to make as little sound as possible as he trailed after Blue. Frost was asleep, he found, though it looked like quite the fitful dream. She tossed back and forth, her face drawn into one of anxiety, fear. Blue dropped to all fours, on his stomach near her, letting out another whine, his sapphire gaze flicking between Frost and Douglas…almost like the wolf wanted him to comfort her.

  Odd. Were wolves that smart? Seemed something a creature with higher intelligence would do, but Douglas couldn’t think about it long. Seeing Frost caught in a nightmare, he didn’t like it. He didn’t want her to feel trapped.

  It might very well be a mistake, a mistake he might not repeat, if her anger and magic use on the Fenburn soldier had been any indication, but Douglas knelt beside her and set a hand on her arm, shaking her gently to try to wake her up. As long as she didn’t come to screaming and flinging icicle daggers, he’d be fine.

  Frost came to with a sudden gasp, jerking up as she sat, looking all around, as if she didn’t trust her surroundings to be real. Like something was after her. Her hands went to her chest over her heart, and her breath was short and frantic, erratic to the extreme.

  “You okay?” Douglas asked, aware his hand still rested on her upper arm. He was quick to drop it though, not knowing how she’d react to being woken up, or touched, for that matter. He rather liked being alive, even if he wasn’t currently thrilled with the state of his life. Dying wasn’t on his list of things to do today, or anytime in the near future.

  “There was a mirror,” Frost whispered, her voice trembling, nearly cracking on the word mirror. She met his eyes, and before he knew what she was doing, she leaned into him, clinging to his chest for dear life, holding onto him almost as a child would. But she—she was no child. She was a woman, and there was obviously something dark hanging over her.

  Her magic? The cause of this eternal winter? Either way, it mattered not. The only thing that mattered was calming her down and making her realize she was okay. Nothing was going to happen to her, not while Douglas was here, not while Hale and Noel were here, too. Together, they would protect her, even from herself. And after the Jewel was brought to Queen Amara…

  They’d get there when they got there.

  “There’s always a mirror,” Frost spoke to his chest, her fingers splaying across his coat. He wanted to undo the straps holding his coat closed and invite her inside, wrap her in his warmth. Her body was so cold, yet she never shivered. The trembling she did now was from the nightmare, not the chill of her own skin. “And ice. So much ice.”

  “It was only a dream,” Douglas murmured. His arms moved of their own accord, wrapping around her, holding her closer to him. “Just a dream.” He angled his head down, meeting her eyes. Like Blue’s gaze, hers seemed to glow in the night, too. Otherworldly, ethereal. Two orbs that sparkled and shone like blue diamonds, the most entrancing stare he’d ever seen.

  She spoke hesitantly, “And if it wasn’t?” Her fingers toyed with the fur lining his hood. Her face was less than a few inches from his, and it took everything in his power to keep himself from kissing her.

  Douglas shouldn’t be kissing a princess anyway, even if her kingdom was all snow and ice.

  While he was too busy, too lost in his own thoughts, Frost shifted against him, curling onto his lap as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. Their skin touched, his neck against her forehead, and a fire swelled within him, a jolt of heat in spite of the coolness of her own flesh. “What if it wasn’t just a dream?” she whispered, her breath short.

  “It was,” Douglas said, inwardly groaning to himself. Having her so near was…intoxicating. Unlike any other sensation or feeling he’d ever had in his life.

  “You don’t know the things I’ve done,” she said.

  “And you don’t know what I’ve done either,” Douglas murmured. “There’s no judgment here.” He ran a h
and over her hair, wanting to tangle his fingers in its blonde lengths but unable to because of her braid. “None.”

  Frost breathed out evenly, slowly calming herself. Her body did not tremble as much as it did mere moments ago, and she almost seemed serene. Tranquil. Like she was comfortable in Douglas’s arms. The mere notion that she could be comfortable in his arms made him happier than he’d ever admit aloud.

  Oh, this one. He really liked this one. He liked her far too much.

  Inside his chest, his heart beat rapidly, and Douglas prayed that she could not feel it through his layers. His damned heart was liable to leap right out of his chest at this rate. He had to cool himself down, had to remind himself that she was not like any other person he’d met. She was strong, but also so fragile.

  Frost’s fingers curled around the lower part of his hood, lightly touching his neck, which her forehead was still pressed against. She let out a sigh, cooing, “You’re so warm.” She rubbed her nose against his skin slowly, softly, almost nuzzling him. “I haven’t been warm in so long.” Such a switch from how she’d been acting lately, wordlessly begging him to touch her.

  How could he not? How could Douglas sit there and not want to touch her? He was a man, and she was a beautiful, broken woman.

  “Make me warm,” she pleaded, moving against him, her breath cold on his face. “Make me like you.”

  Douglas felt the words dig into his heart. Oh, how badly he wanted to lay this woman down and make her warm, make her see that she was perfectly flawed and still amazingly beautiful, but could he? In good conscience, could he?

  One arm still locked around her, his other hand snaked its way to her neck, pulling her face out of the crook of his. They met stares, and Douglas struggled inside as he said, “I can’t do that.” Making her like him, making her normal and magic-free, it was something no person could do. “But I can stay with you, if you want.”

  Her mouth thinned into a line, and she was slow to nod. She crawled off his lap, laying down on her side. Douglas watched as Blue curled against her front. He might not have been able to make her normal, but he could warm her up, even if it was just for tonight. Even though the last thing he wanted to do was undo the straps on his chest and open his coat, it was exactly what he did before he lowered himself beside her.