Frost Kisses (Bitter Frost #4: Frost Series) Read online

  I focused on a mental image of his face: beautiful, strong, stormy blue eyes that were almost grey with those sharp cheekbones and that impossibly high jaw, his black hair long and loose across his face.

  But there was nothing. No response. No return. Had he forgotten me? My heart doubled over with fear. Had he really stabbed me – and closed his heart to me forever? No, it couldn’t be! I felt my immortality, my Winter immortality, within me. It was the symbol of his love.

  Well, I’d have to make my own way out. I sighed. But if I was going to make it out of the pixie castle alive, I’d have to get some strength. I stared at the plate of food and realized how hungry I was. Before stopping to wonder if the food was poisoned, I gobbled it down, deciding mid-bite that Delano was too interested in me to have me killed, wolfing down a loaf of bread and fruits.

  My strength restored, I set about to look in the closet for something more practical to wear. I’d never be able to fight in this golden train. Nothing as practical as the knight’s uniform I’d worn to rescue Kian appeared, but I did spy some male Pixies’ clothes: one of Delano’s, no doubt. I made a face, but it was better than the alternative. As I hurriedly began changing into male gear a sudden sound stopped me, a voice in my ear that filled my soul with desire and relief.

  Breena!

  At first I thought he was contacting me, speaking directly, but then a vision appeared before my eyes. Kian was kneeling, knee-deep in silver blood on the battlefield, his boots caked with old mud, the body of a summer knight splayed out at his feet. I recognized the red hair and my heart stopped. Rodney? Shasta’s lover? No, it couldn’t be! I looked closer – it wasn’t Rodney – but my heart remained pained. Some Summer Knight, one of my men, had died at Kian’s hand.

  Kian! I called out.

  Breena! But he didn’t hear me, didn’t see me. His cries were directed to the great, cloud-covered sky, cries of pain and despair. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. He closed the lids of the eyes of the fallen body, his own frame racked with pain. “I never wanted this, my friend. I never wanted this!” No, Kian had always dreamed of peace – a peace that he and I would share. “I’m sorry you had to die. I knew you. You were a good soldier.” He began to sing, softly – a song he had sung for me in the old days, when Kian was first teaching me about Feyland at his cabin where he had taught me how to fight, and where we had first kiss – the icy Snow Prince and the mortal girl. It was a song in the ancient tongue, to be sung for a fallen warrior. Its beauty made me double over in pain.

  Kian finished his song, and then cast his eyes down to the corpse. “I have sung for you,” he said, his voice cracking with pain. “But who will sing for me? The woman I love…she is where you are now. If you meet her on the road to Heaven, tell her that I love her. Tell her that I’m waiting for her, and that I want nothing more than to cross that gorge across which I have sent you, and to see her shade for myself! If she will forgive me for having failed her – having failed our peace!”

  The pain was too great to bear! Tears began welling in my eyes, and my gasp caught in my throat. Delano was wrong – he had been wrong! My love for Kian was as strong as ever, and his for me!

  Kian! I called out in desperation, one final time. I’m here!

  At last he looked up, his eyes flitting around to the emptiness. Where are you?

  Here. With you.

  This is not real! Kian rounded about the empty air. My mind is playing tricks on me again, trying to deceive me, to drive me mad! Where are you?

  It’s me!

  His face contorted with pain. The dead do not speak with the living.

  I’m not dead! I cried, and the look of joy on his face filled me with ecstasy. I’ve been captured by Delano – I’m alive! Your snowflake saved me…even after what happened. Even after you stabbed me! It was a mistake, all a mistake! I never betrayed you…Wort organized the siege…

  I know it now! Kian cried to the heavens. I know it in my heart – but I always knew it. I never doubted you.

  But in the Great Hall! At the siege! I tried to explain, to help you…

  I was never there! Kian’s voice thundered in my ears. I had left. Breena, after you refused me – refused to accept my proposal… His voice broke off in pain. I was beyond distraught. My mind was on fire. I could not remain a moment longer in that castle. I had to get some air, to breathe. The very walls of the corridor felt as if they were tightening around me, waiting to choke me, to bury me alive within their depths. My heart was beating so hard that it shook my very chest. Had I remained a moment longer, I would have given into my primal desire: I would have challenged your wolf Logan to a duel, and killed him. I knew I could not let myself succumb to this rage I felt, a rage that I could not control. And so I left. I ran into the forest and cried out my pain to the trees of pine and fir. I told myself that you loved Logan after all, that you had made your choice. But I could not allow myself to believe it. For when I kissed you last, my kiss broke the spell that was on you – so powerful, so overwhelming, was our passion for each other. I knew then you loved me…but it was too late. I heard of your death – a death supposedly by my hand…

  Kian paused, and I can see his entire body shake. I would die before I hurt you, Breena. You know that. My love for you is absolute. You’re the only woman I love…have ever loved, Breena. And I certainly would not and did not stab you.

  Kian’s eyes grew wide with alarm. Where can I find you, my love? I need to see you. I need to see you with my own eyes in order to believe, lest I succumb to this pain, this fear that this is but another vision, another method of torment that my mind had conjured up… He grasped the air with his hands, as if making to hold me instead. My body longed to run into those waiting arms, to wrap my arms tightly around his broad shoulders and give myself over to the love I felt. Please don’t be a dream, Breena. Please don’t be another one of those haunted visions that have kept me screaming and awake for so many nights. Please don’t be a phantasm, a shade – please be real…Tears had appeared in his eyes, making them even more iridescent as they shone and sparkled at the corners of his gaze.

  I am real! I wanted to take him in my hands, to touch his face, to touch his silky hair, to let him feel me, to convince him. I’m real – I’m alive. My heart broke for his suffering; I wanted to bear it myself, to take it away from him, to spare him the agony that I could feel even from so many miles away. I knew it wasn’t you who stabbed me – knew it couldn’t have been – any more than I could have loved another! We’ve both been fooled and enchanted.

  I could see Kian’s face grow hard and cold. Whoever it was who has betrayed us, Kian gave a stony glare out across the horizon, I will seek out. We will restore justice. We will restore peace. And we will make sure our enemies never ever hurt us again.

  And then our connection faded, and he was gone.

  Chapter 6

  I huddled against the cold, warming myself one final time against the roaring fireplace before heading out to fight the Pixies. I knew the battle would be hard – one girl, even if she was the Summer Queen with the magic of Summer, against hundreds of pixie knights. But I was willing to risk it – I had to risk it! I wasn’t going to be a slave or a prisoner to any pixie king, least of all - Delano, and especially not if I had something to live for. Kian loved me, I knew that now – and I knew too that he still dreamed of peace between our two kingdoms. If I could only get free – if I could only escape! – then we could rejoin our forces, fight once more for freedom, undo the wrongs committed by Wort and Delano in their plot to overthrow the fairies once and for all! I gritted my teeth and felt my resolve deep within me, as icy-hard as winter steel. I would not give up! Kian hadn’t stabbed me; he hadn’t hurt me! It had been someone else – someone with powerful magic willing to use it to pry us apart.

  Before I finished putting on the final piece of clothing – a hunting-green velvet cloak that had clearly belonged to Delano, the warmest thing I could find in the wardrobe – I heard a distinctive coug
h coming from behind the door. I rushed over and opened it, expecting to find Delano lurking there.

  Instead I saw a familiar face, a face I had dreamed of so often – yet more beautiful than ever in its nearness, its warmth. It was Kian, standing at my threshold with a look of rapturous joy upon his face, his smile crinkling at the edges just as I had always remembered. “Breena,” he whispered. “I found you…”

  My heart leaped into my throat as I practically flew into his arms. He took my hands, and at his touch I felt that same familiar burst of electricity within me. He was staring at me now not only with love, but with desire – a palpable desire that I had never seen in him before. He had shown me love, passion, even longing before, but in his eyes now I saw the animal raging of true and ferocious need: he had longed for me; he had wanted me. And I wanted him.

  Before I could speak, Kian was upon me, kissing me with a ferociousness and a passion that he had never had before. The passion was so overwhelming I could barely move to respond, even as my body cried out to meet him motion for motion, kiss for kiss. He lifted me, carrying me in his arms to the satin sheets of the bed that had been prepared for me.

  “We have to get out…”

  “Not yet!” Kian threw me on the bed, and I caught sight of his hair glistening in the flickering candle-light. “Not yet…” His shirt seemed to come off in a single, fluid motion, and I saw again the taut contours of his muscles, that soldier’s body, that had gained its strength and agility over decades, if not centuries, of practice. His skin was smooth, pulled taunt against his muscles. He was perfect. I trembled as he kneeled into the bed, straddling me as he covered my shoulders with kisses. I had once feared that I would never see him again. But as he appeared before me I knew there had never been anybody else, there would never be anybody else. Kian was my true love, and my whole body ached with the desire to let my magic, my love, my being meld with his. I closed my eyes as he removed the velvet cloak from my shoulders, then began to strip away my garb, one item of clothing at a time until I was nearly completely bare.

  His lips fluttered on my skin, cold and tantalizing against the heat of my body. I could feel his tongue tickle my collarbone and explore the hidden recesses of my neck, and then lower – towards my stomach, as I couldn’t help but sigh with delight. “Kian!” I tried to think, even as his touch destroyed thought altogether. “How did you get in here? How did you find me?”

  He made no response, but only returned his mouth to mine, sucking gently on my bottom lip, then increasing in his passion, biting me slightly, then letting me feel the full brunt of his passion hot upon his lips. “How did you get in?” I murmured again between kisses, my eyes closing with unbelievable pleasure. “Delano’s guards…”

  And then I heard a familiar chuckle, which did not sound like Kian’s and was unmistakably evil.

  “Delano!” I shot up, looking around, expecting to see the Pixie King standing at the doorway. But nobody was there.

  “Looking for someone?” came that eerie voice from the bed.

  I gasped. Kneeling over me, his eyes hooded in lust where Kian had been a moment before was Delano, shirtless, as Kian had been, wearing the same black trousers that I had been so close to taking off…

  “No!” I cried, feeling my gorge rise. “No, no!”

  “From the looks of things,” Delano said languidly, “it seemed a great deal more like ‘yes’ ‘yes’ ‘yes’!’ He laughed, and I saw in his eyes the same smoldering desire I had seen in Kian’s. But while on Kian’s face it had excited me, even thrilled me, here I felt only shock and disgust.

  “That’s because I thought you were Kian,” I spat. The effort of speaking through my revulsion was great, and every word seemed like a new trial. I wiped my hand across my mouth, trying to erase the taste, the smell, the sensation from my lips. My face burned with red-hot shame, having responded to Delano with such passion.

  Delano’s smile grew wider. “Just me,” he said, his teeth pointy and flashing, his hands still on my bare skin. “Just glamoured up to look like your favorite lover boy…of the moment!”

  I leaped to my feet, gathering my clothes around me, putting them on as fast as I could. They were Delano’s clothes, I knew, and the idea disgusted me even more, but I wasn’t about to let Delano take a good look at me half-naked.

  “I just wanted to give you a little…ah….taste of what it would be like,” said Delano. “If you were with me. I wanted you relaxed so that you could tell what I’m capable of! You see, Breena, I hold much passion for you…your refusal of me has only fueled my want of you.”

  “You are not Kian!” I cried.

  “The Wolf Prince is not Kian, yet you spent days and nights with him…”

  “How many times must I tell you it was because of the love and lust spell Wort put me under…”

  “You could pretend I’m Kian…” Delano said with a wry smile. Then he laughed. “Or your Wolf Prince… or whoever you fancy…at the moment! Although with me, you seemed to be enjoying yourself very much!”

  I felt my cheeks stain red from anger and embarrassment! How dare Delano try to corner me in such a position, to see my secret feelings like that! I’d never even shown Kian that side of me before, that side so filled with desire that I was willing to – stupidly! – forego asking any questions in order to be with my beloved. And now to find out it was Delano who had seen my face, heard my moans! I wanted to throw up.

  I felt my anger burning within me, a rage so white-hot it seemed to emanate in a fiery glow from my body. You will get out of this, I heard a voice saying – my own voice, but older, stronger, a version of myself I had never heard before. You will not let yourself be a victim any longer. It was Winter and Summer magic, joining together within me, the power of my newly immortal blood.

  And I had to take control.

  Suddenly, a sword materialized in my hand, a ray of white light that hardened into steel. Delano’s eyes opened wide with shock, and I too had to work to hide my surprise! Was this what I was capable of with my new powers? I didn’t stop to think! I rushed straight to the bed, where Delano had been lying, defenseless, and pushed the sword straight against his chest.

  “How did you….” Delano’s eyes were bulging.

  “Someone else was glamoured as Kian before, you know…” I prodded the sword point into his flesh. “When I was stabbed. I don’t suppose you know who it was, do you?”

  Delano stared at me, his green-gold eyes blazing and defiant. His leer had twisted. “So what?” Delano smirked. “Maybe I did glamour as Kian before – maybe I didn't! But if I did, I'd certainly say you're better off for it.”

  “What do you mean?” I drove the sword in harder.

  “Well,” said Delano, warily watching the point of the sword as it pressed against his pale, ivory flesh. “Now you're free of the Summer Court, aren't you? No more worrying about peace between Winter and Summer. No more stress. No more heartache – do I want Kian? Do I want Logan? None of that. Instead, you get a beautiful chamber in a gorgeous palace, with a loving pixie king who wants nothing more than to please you and give you a life of ease and luxury.”

  “You call that helping?” I scowled at him. “I was fine before!”

  “Really?” Delano gave me a look of mock surprise. “So let me guess. You were perfectly able to marry Kian, despite the fact that his mother and his people would never have agreed to the match. Or perhaps you were happy to marry Logan the Wolf – even though your heart belonged to the Winter Prince...”

  “That is none of your concern.” And then it hit me. Wort's pixie heritage – the glamoured Kian that had stabbed me...the Summer Knights...or were they Summer Knights at all? Pixies had the power to glamour into fairies – the whole attack, the whole siege, had been a setup by Delano! “You’re the one behind all this, not Wort!” From the look on Delano's face I could see that it was true. “You set up my assassination; you set up the siege in the Great Hall. Just to get Winter and Summer fighting again.”
>
  “I wouldn’t take all the credit,” shrugged Delano. “I believe you met my half-brother, didn't you? Wort. You didn't treat him very kindly, did you? You see, I may be Pixie King of most Pixies, but he is in charge of the Pixies of the East, close to the fairy Autumn lands. Unlike you fairies, we Pixies work together. He convinced me to create this rift between you seasonal fairies. And now you've got your just desserts. And fairyland is unstable once more, making this an awfully ripe time for me to put my oar in, as it were. Perhaps with Winter and Summer so distracted with their own wars, they won't notice the real threat...”

  “The Pixies!”

  “How will the Summer Court survive when its Queen is dead?” Delano smirked. So, it hadn't been about lust at all – at least, not mostly. Delano wanted to topple the Winter and Summer Courts alike and rule all Feyland with his pixie brood.

  “Not so fast,” I said. “The Summer Court has a ruler – my consort, the Wolf.”

  “While my half-brother Wort is quite nasty, he's awfully clever. I'm sure he'll make sure that the Wolf doesn't reign too long...”