Enchanted Frost (Frost Series #8) (A YA Romantic Fantasy Adventure) Page 3

  “I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I’m afraid right now, if I don’t stay away from you, with everything going on between me and Kian…” I sighed. “But I can’t rule Feyland alone. And if Kian is gone, I need my advisor. My friend. Someone I can rely on.”

  “I promise, Breena,” he said. “I’ve learned once already what happens when I push things too far. I’ll respect whatever distance you want to set between us. When Kian comes back – and he will, Breena – he’ll see that he was wrong, that we’re just friends now, nothing more. That you were, and are, loyal to him. Faithful to him.”

  Poor Logan, I thought to myself. Even now, he was sacrificing his own feelings, his own wants, for the good of Feyland. But could I do the same?

  “All the same,” said Logan darkly. “When he does come back, I do intend to give him a piece of my mind!”

  “Logan!”

  “It’s true,” said Logan hotly. “He had a great thing going and he screwed it up because he was too damn stupid to see what was going on in front of his own face. Anyone stupid enough to leave you deserves a good punch in the face.” He scowled. “I know, if things had been different, I never would have.”

  The silence was deafening in its awkwardness. We looked at each other, and I could see the love vying with the fear in his face.

  “Anyway,” he said, trying rapidly to change the subject. “There’s something I need to talk to you about. Something important.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Logan took a deep breath.

  “There’s something in the air,” he said. “Strange magic afoot.”

  “Again?” I smiled, only half-bitterly.

  “Sit down, Breena,” Logan began. “This might take a while…”

  Chapter 4

  Kian

  I wasn’t sure where I was. The cold was bitter and seeped through me, slicing at my bones like a knife. This surprised me. I was the Winter Prince, after all – the snow and the frost were my elements. How could it be that the cold bothered me now? I shivered as I looked around me, taking stock of my surroundings, frowning as I tried to make out something familiar. Evidently wherever I was, it wasn’t the Winter Kingdom. I had power there; the cold could not affect me there. But this place was different. We were at the very outskirts of Feyland, now, a place where my magic, like my dominion, held less sway. I tried to squint through the snow, but I could see little except fog that clouded my eyes.

  “Hello?” I called out, to whomever was listening. “Is anybody there?”

  Only my own voice replied, an echo that shrieked with the whistling wind. “Hello? Is anybody there?”

  My own voice seemed to mock me, I thought grimly. It only reminded me of my loneliness – of how much I missed her.

  No, Kian, be strong. Forget her – you have to forget her. You have to be free of her. I thought of what I had seen in the mirror, the vision that made my heart split in two like a cracked stone, the vision of her, my beloved, my Breena, with Logan. Him kissing her pale, starry forehead. I had not heard their words, but I had seen enough. I had seen how comfortable she was with him; I had seen the puppy-dog love in his eyes. Typical, I thought to myself, grimacing. No sooner do you leave than your love decides she’s better off with him. She didn’t even wait until your shared bed was cold before going after her new love – her beloved Logan. And you thought she loved you? The thoughts echoed in my head; they were agonizing. The voice in my head was not my own, but another voice – high-pitched, serpentine, cruel. The voice that shook through my body and made me want to vomit. She never loved you, Kian, you fool. She never will love you.

  That is what my mother had implied, after all, wasn’t it? That my love had made me weak. That my love had caused me to lose everything I cared about. I ought to have been sitting alongside my mother on the silver thrones of the Winter Palace, ruling Feyland, with an iron fist and a hard heart. But instead I was here – here in these wild woods, I knew not where – mourning the woman whose lavender eyes and soft, cinnamon-scented skin had sent me into the madness that had transformed me into a creature no better than a beast, a dog, a Wolf.

  “Hello!” I called out again. “Who is there?”

  My echo answered me, but by this time my eyes had begun to adjust to the midst, and I was able to make out a few huts in the near distance. These were stone thatched huts – could it be? A village. Not a large one by any stretch – a hamlet’s worth of houses congregated in a circle. The moon shone brightly over the fields as I inched closer to the houses. One of them in particular seemed to beckon to me. From the window I could see the bright licking flames of what looked like a roaring fire; although I could not feel its warmth, I instinctively moved towards the house, longing for some sort of shelter.

  As I drew closer to the house I began to hear shouting and laughter – the voices of fairies. They were speaking in a dialect I did not quite understand, one of the Fey languages common in the borderlands, among people who did not mix often with the Fey of central towns. But I could make out a few words. “Beer,” for starters. “Two glasses.” I smiled to myself as I realized where I was – the local village pub.

  The glowing warmth of the fire greeted me as I entered, allowing my face to grow hot with the delicious warmth from the flames. I took a seat alone next to the fire, and an empty table. Of course, my presence was far from unnoticed. An unearthly hush fell over the denizens of the tavern as I passed by them – they all fixed their gaze on me, their stares intense, even suspicious.

  “Who’s he?” One of them had leaned in and was whispering to the other. “Looks familiar…”

  “Not from around these parts, though,” another was saying. “A perfect stranger. I don’t trust him.”

  But one woman among the group did not hang back suspiciously, but rather came to sit down beside me. She was beautiful – strikingly beautiful – with long dandelion-colored hair that fell almost to her feet, and eyes the color of cornflowers that bore deep into me with a searching look as she cast her eyes up and down my features, looking for something…

  “I know who you are, Prince Kian,” she said, her voice rich and melodious, her accent lilting with the traces of something foreign. I couldn’t deny that my body reacted involuntarily to her presence, to the light touch of her hand on mine. For all of my love of Breena, I was not entirely immune to the charms of beauty elsewhere, and I felt my heart beat faster as her hair fell over my hand. She looked up at me.

  “And I know what you’re looking for. We too, have mirrors.”

  “What am I looking for?” I asked her, meeting her gaze. “Can you help me?”

  “Now, now, my Prince…” Her voice turned dark with warning. “I don’t work for free, do I? It is my trade – and a girl needs to eat…” She laughed softly in my ear, her breath tickling my neck. “And sleep.”

  “Very well,” I said. Turning slightly red at the effects of her touch, I reached into my pouch and put a few gold coins on the table.

  “There…” She stretched out her hands, expectantly. I picked up the coins and pressed them directly into her palms. Her fingers closed swiftly around mine and I shivered at the softness of her touch. “That’s better, isn’t it, my Prince?”

  She leaned in closely. “I see your journey,” she said. “In your eyes. But I will read it better if I can see it in your hands, instead.” She took my right hand and turned it facing upwards, studying it with her sylph-like fingers. “Yes,” she said. “Just as I suspected. But you won’t find what you’re looking for here. You’re still technically in Feyland – albeit, in a part of Feyland that is far, far away from anything you’re used to, or anything you’re expecting. The one who can help you does not dwell in Feyland, for she is not bound by Feyland’s power.”

  “In the Mortal World, then?” I asked, and the young woman laughed.

  “Silly Prince,” she said. “You think there are only two worlds, don’t you? But I tell you there are more dimensions than you at least have ever dreame
d of, and she – for she is the one who can save you – belongs to one of them. You must keep wondering and wandering, until you are beyond Feyland and Feyland cannot touch you, cross into the Ancient Realms.”

  “The Ancient Realms?” My mouth fell open. “But they don’t exist.”

  “They do, my Prince,” she said. “And Gail lives there.”

  “Gail?”

  “She has many names. Some call her Gail. Some call her the White Witch. She is the one who can cure you of your…tragic affliction.” She traced her fingers along my chest. “So that you can enjoy other fruits.” She licked her lips slowly, tantalizing me. “But she, too, has her price. You should be prepared to give her whatever it is that she seeks…”

  “What does she want?”

  “Who can say?” The woman laughed. “Who can know? The question is – are you ready to find out? Is there anything that you wouldn’t give, if it meant being freed at last of that accursed infection, that odious infliction, Love? Is there anything you would refuse to do, if only it would mean making the pain stop?”

  I sighed deeply. I knew that agreeing blindly to something like this was stupid. One didn’t mess with powers one didn’t understand – that rule was hard and fast in Feyland. But my disease was rooted too deep for any other cure. In desperate times, I knew, desperate measures had to be taken. And with the loss of my trust in Breena, I was desperate. There was no way I could rule Feyland, no way I could be around her, unless I was healed of the love that had destroyed me so utterly, so terribly.

  And I couldn’t stand my own pain an instant longer. I was sold – hook, line, sinker.

  “There is nothing, my lady,” I said, taking her hand. “That I would not do to be free of this affliction.”

  Perhaps you can enjoy women again. Women like her. The thought burned my heart. No love. Only enjoyment. Only cold, casual transactions of the flesh.

  “You will come back, won’t you?” she said. “Once you’re cured. I’d like you to visit me and…test that theory.” She gave me an inscrutable grin, and I wondered how much of my thoughts she had heard. People out here, after all, had powers we normal Fey did not have.

  “I’ll think about it,” I said. Right now, I couldn’t picture kissing anyone but Breena – but the knowledge that one day I might be able to, sustained me. “It is best that I give up this love. That I make this sacrifice. The Winter Fey are not made for whatever it is I feel – it is a profanation of the sacred laws of the old magic’s.”

  “Courage, my Prince,” said the woman. “Come with me, and I will show you the way.”

  She led me across a windy and empty moor, towards a valley split in the middle of two tall, craggy mountains.

  “These mountains cannot be climbed,” she said to me. “There is only one way beyond. Through those stone gates there is a crevice, a path that goes into the Ancient Realms. Are you ready to go?”

  She waited for me to press more coins into her hands. I emptied the bag. Somehow, I reasoned, Gail the White Witch would want more from me than money for her pains.

  “I’m ready,” I said.

  She kissed my cheek. “Good luck, traveller,” she said. “I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for.”

  I nodded. “I hope so, too.”

  I took a deep breath and started walking towards the gates.

  Chapter 5

  Breena

  “A lot’s been happening, Breena,” Logan began, looking down as he shook his head. His hands were warm on mine, but there was a strange expression on his face. Something that I had never seen before, that seemed to course through me – his intensity was infectious.

  “You’re making me nervous, Logan,” I said. “What’s going on. Is something the matter?”

  There was a long, pregnant pause. “No,” Logan said at last. “Nothing’s the matter. Not that – exactly.”

  “But this strange magic you say is afoot – what is it? What does it mean?”

  Logan took a deep breath. “Do you know?” He looked into my eyes, his gaze terrifyingly intense. “Do you know how the Wolves lost their magic?”

  I shook my head.

  “It’s an old Wolf story, one I’ve never told you before. Back in the old days – long ago, before Summer and Winter were even divided – there was a fairy called Connell. And he was of the family that eventually came to rule the Summer Court, although there was no division at that time. And he was forced to fight a great, pitched battle against a dread nemesis...a battle he was sure that he would never win.”

  I smiled bitterly. “It seems that we get quite a lot of those in Feyland,” I said, unable to hold back a dark laugh.

  “Well, he knew that it was now or never – that he had to defeat this enemy, or else the extinction of his entire race, all his people, was at stake. And so he did the unthinkable. He consulted a witch, Panthea, one of the most powerful and most dangerous witches in Feyland....”

  “I’m confused,” I admitted. “What does all this have to do with us?”

  “Listen!” Logan’s voice was hoarse. “He promised the witch he’d do anything, whatever it took, in order to be able to defeat the enemy. And the witch told him she’d give him the power to do it: but at a price. He had to sacrifice his magic. And so she transformed him into a Wolf...”

  I gasped as I began to understand the story.

  “Then you mean...”

  “Connell,” he said. “The Red Wolf. The first Wolf. My ancestor. He was once a Fey – we were once Fey like you, only we had our magic stolen from us by this enchantress. But it’s come back, Breena.”

  “Come back?” This was ridiculous! I’d never heard of Wolves having magic before – and here was Logan, standing before me, telling me that the Wolves now had magic just like ours.

  “Yes, come back,” said Logan. He held out his hand. “Look!”

  I gasped at what I saw. Small sparks – green, the color of emeralds – were appearing around his fingers, their glow warm and oddly, alluringly, beautiful.

  “But how?” I turned to him. “This witch...”

  “Oh, Breena.” Logan looked pained. “There’s so much I want to tell you – so much that I know I will have to explain to you with time. But right now I need you to trust me. There’s something going on, something that I’m involved with. I’m responsible for bringing the magic back to the Wolves. I know that now – it’s my destiny. It was always my destiny.”

  “Then...”

  “I have magic,” Logan said. “Just like you. Maybe not just...” He blushed. “I’m still learning how to use it. But I’ve been able to levitate things, alone in my room. I don’t dare use it for fighting – I don’t want to expose the secret of the Wolf magic to anyone I’m not 100% sure I can trust. These are dangerous times, after all.” He furrowed his brow. “For the Wolves as much for anyone else,” he added darkly.

  “But what do you mean?” I asked him. “After all, isn’t this a good thing for the Wolves? You should be celebrating.”

  “I’m not,” said Logan. His face had grown hard and stern. “We Wolves aren’t used to this power. Unlike you Fey we have no laws about it, no means of controlling it. We aren’t taught from birth how to harness our skills. Instead, we’re getting untold power head-on. And things are happening. Things that only magic can explain. Earthquakes, for example. Volcanos erupting. People who don’t even know each other getting into brawls that leave only scorched earth behind. I’m worried for my people, Breena. I’m worried that this magic is coming on too strong...”

  “What’s it like?” I couldn’t resist asking. “Having magic, I mean. After all this time?”

  Logan leaned back, inhaling deeply. “Amazing...” he said. “Heady, overwhelming, wonderful. Sweet – bitter – dangerous. Like strong wine. You feel this amazing rush...”

  I smiled. I remembered that rush all too well. That excitement I’d experienced when I’d learned to use my magic properly for the first time. When I was with Kian...


  O, Kian...Even now he came unbidden into my thoughts, his beautiful form shattering my thoughts like a hammer. The smile vanished from my face; my cheeks turned pale as I reeled from the suddenness of the pain.

  “What is it?” Logan took a step towards me. “Are you all right, Breena?”

  “I’m okay,” I said, looking away. I didn’t want to tell him the truth. I’d hurt him enough – why stoke the fires of his jealousy even more than I already had. “I’m just having a bit of a headache.”

  “That’s why I came to see you, Breena,” Logan returned to the matter at hand. “Partly to help you – of course. As a friend. As somebody who loves you – and always will. But also as one of your loyal subjects, who needs your help, and who needs it badly. I need your guidance to help keep the Wolves in check – guidance from those with more experience than I have when it comes to harnessing the powers magic can bring.”

  “I’m not the person you should be asking,” I said. “I know my own magic well – but I don’t have nearly the experience that someone like Rose or Alistair does.”

  I saw Logan blush at the mention of Rose’s name, and felt a combination of gladness and bitterness at that fact. I knew Logan had been dreaming about Rose for a while – that she had caught his eye, as much as he hated to admit it. He, certainly, had caught hers. She was head over heels for Logan. And poor Alistair, Rose’s first love, didn’t have a clue.

  What a mess, I couldn’t help but thinking. Alistair loves Rose who loves Logan who loves me who loves Kian. And none of us are any happier for it. Perhaps the Fey wisdom was right, I thought, trying to hold myself together, to stop the heartbreak from spilling out. Perhaps being in love wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Sure, there were exceptions. My mother and father, for example. They seemed awfully happy. But they’d gone through a lot of pain and suffering – both their own, and that they had caused in others – to get where they were today. An adulterous liaison that nearly destroyed a nation – was this the best model of a happy relationship I had? Or Shasta and Rodney – a love that had resulted in Shasta’s summoning the Dark Hordes?