Midnight Frost (5 page)

Kian's eyes opened even wider as he caught sight of my wings, fanning out behind me, the gold and blue feathers shining even more brightly now.

“They're...beautiful,” he whispered, pride twinkling in his blue eyes. “But how?”

“I don't know,” I said. “I passed out before I hit the ground. But when I woke up, I was in the kingdom of the Dead – this horrible place, where nothing was alive, only the spirits of fairies with too much hatred, too much anger, to move on. And I met Redleaf there, and she told me that the Dead are part of the Dark Hordes now, that they'll be summoned to fight...and then she helped me – I don't know why – got me to the other side, to this even stranger place, that wasn't either life or death, this in-between place with buds on these dead trees, and a Winter queen was there – Tamara!”

“Tamara?” Kian gave a little laugh of surprise. “Queen Tamara has been dead for thousands of years.”

“She was there!” I insisted. “And she helped me find my way back. Kian, I think they helped me. I think they saved me from death – all of the Summer Queens. And the Winter ones too.”

“But I'm alive,” Kian said, looking down at his hands, his limbs, his body in surprise. “If I'm alive...”

“I died,” I said. “Or I as good as died!”

Kian fixed his gaze upon me, his love shining through his silvery blue eyes. “You would do that for me?” he asked.

“Don't sound so surprised – of course I did!” I wrapped my arms around him once more, feeling my relief at last sink in, feeling his muscles relax as he returned my embrace.

“You shouldn't have done it,” Kian said, his face flushing pink. “I love you too much to think you would ever – ever die for me! When I would give all I have to keep you safe.”

“Even if I had died,” I said, as Kian drew me in for a kiss, “it would have been worth it.”

“My brave Breena!” Kian said softly. His lips met mine, and as they touched I felt the same familiar joy, the same magic, overtaking me. This was my love – the love of my life – this was the place where the  edges of my soul fit so neatly into his – where all my emptiness, my longing, my desires were met by an equal and opposite force – filling what was missing in me, letting me fill what was missing in him. We were not two bodies, not two discrete and separate forces, but a single melded ocean of love, our powers so intertwined that I could not have said what belonged to me and what belonged to him. We were a single force, stronger in our unity than in any separation. As his hands reached for mine, as we rolled together in the cold snow earth of the mountain, our bodies wrapped around each other, a pale flame began to glow all around us – at once gold and silver, blue and red, the colors of Feyland all uniting together in a single, gleaming force.

“Look up!” I forced myself to separate my lips from Kian's for a moment. “It's beautiful!”

The colors began to spark and flame off each other, transforming the one into the other, so that silver melted into gold, and gold heated into red, and red fragmented and turned to blue and at last the blue poured into silver again. It felt like a canopy above us – the proof of our love – the proof that here, where the magic of the world was most ancient, where its secrets were hidden so deep that we would never fathom them, here the ancient spirits of Feyland did not scoff at our love, did not despise it as our families had done. Here our love was true; it was pure. Here the unity of our bodies, of our lips and hands and spirits, was not a threat to magic but a celebration of the most ancient magic of all – of the power of our love, with all its passion, all its dangers, to save Feyland.

“I've never seen anything like it,” said Kian, holding me closer.

“That's us,” I said. “You and me – Summer and Winter. Together.”

He kissed my hand. “I can't believe what a fool I was,” he said. “When you were under that spell – when you were lost to me. I let myself think that you didn't care for me – that you didn't love me at all. How could you love me, I thought, when I couldn't give you half of what you needed, of what you deserved. Peace. Loyalty. Stability. A family.”

“I want all those things,” I said. “One day. But I believe – I have faith now – that one day those things will come for us. Redleaf and Tamara, both of them – they said that my destiny was to unite the fairy kingdoms once more – so that there would be no Summer. No Winter. Only fairies – together. You and I – we'll have that, one day. They told me so.”

“If you have faith,” said Kian, “I have faith. Your love for me has saved my life – on this occasion, my Breena, and on so many others. You have put your trust in me – now I trust you. If my love can ever save your life – I hope it can do so.” He sighed. “But I cannot help but worry about you. You have managed to cheat death twice, my darling – how do I know that the third time, you will not be so lucky.”

I thought back to how I'd felt falling down the mountain – my fear, my anger, my pain. My desire to live a normal life – my desire to return to Feyland – my two lives flashing before my eyes. When the time came – and both Redleaf and Tamara had told me that one day it would come – would I be brave enough to face that fall a second time?

“I guess you'll have to protect me then,” I said.

“And you'll protect me.”

“Exactly.”

I cuddled into his arms. “Let's get some sleep,” I said. “Tomorrow, we have a great deal to do.”

“Don't we always?” he said, holding me tighter and closer until my head rested gently on his broad chest. I listened happily to the strong beat of his heart relishing the sound of life in him. Never had a breath nor a heartbeat sounded as musical to me as his, pressed against me.

“We always do.”

Chapter 5

W
e set out the next day from the mountain, seeking our way back to Feyland. The journey here had been easier – the Pegasus on which I had ridden, one of the Winter Queen's steeds, seemed to know where to go, as if the mountain had been calling us both forth. But now it was different. We could see the Summer Sun of Feyland in the distance, but that was our only hint as to where to go. Kian and I walked for miles – the landscape changing from mountain to forest and back again. We were in no hurry to get home, even as we knew it was necessary to do so. Last time we had been in the Summer lands, it had been the site of a great siege – the pixies, Dark Hordes, and Winter fairies fighting together against Summer. I shuddered to think of what we would find when we arrived there. Destruction? Death? Would I see the corpses of those I loved – my father, who was leading the armies, Logan, the Winter Queen, Rodney, Shasta? Would I see my palace laid to waste – would I see both Summer and Winter destroyed by the Dark Hordes, our castles overrun by Minotaurs and phantoms, giants and witches? My fear made me silent, and Kian and I passed our travels without much conversation. He, too, I knew, feared for his family – for his mother and his sister, for all his boyhood friends who could, at this very moment, be losing their lives on the battlefield, just as his father had done.

We held hands as we walked; we let our loves co-exist in silence. We could not bear to speak, because speaking meant talking of Feyland, and every mention of Feyland silently spoke of our terror – what was left of the land we loved? Was anything left at all?

At last on the fourth day of walking we arrived in a forest that Kian recognized as vaguely familiar. “It's not Summer or Winter or Spring,” he said. “This is no man's land – or rather, Wolfsland.”

“Wolfsland?” My heart swelled. “Then they might have some news – of Logan! Of the other wolves.” I caught myself just in time – I knew that my affection for Logan was a sore spot for Kian, all the more so given our recent history. But I knew, too, that Logan and Kian had developed, in spite of their rivalry, something that – if not friendship – was at least mutual respect. They both cared for peace and they both cared for me, and there was no time – in this age of wars and slaughter – to engage in petty debates over which of the two was more likely to win my heart. I knew for certain that Kian was my true love – I knew too that my love for Logan was real, in its own way. He was my childhood friend, my closest companion – he was the one I might have loved, had I only stayed in Gregory. Had I only stayed normal, had I never met Kian.

“Hark!” We heard a voice. “What do you want with us?”

“Who goes there? Friend or foe!” Kian leaped to his feet.

“That depends who you are, mate, doesn't it?” It was a woman's voice, harsh but sure.

“We come in peace,” I spoke up, “as long as you do likewise. We have no quarrel with any Wolves.”

“Lucky for you, then!” The woman stepped out of the shadows, staring at us through silver eyes. I couldn't help but gasp. Six feet tall, wearing armor fashioned of leather, her dark brown hair fastened with what appeared to be a rope fashioned of wolves' teeth, the woman who stood before us was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She held a sword in one hand and a crossbow in the other; from the way she sniffed the air before us it became apparent that she was, without a doubt, a Wolf.

“Who are you?” Kian asked.

“My name is Josephine, and I'm the leader of this pack. The Northern Wolves.”

“The Northern Wolves,” Kian looked relieved. “Then you are favorable to fairy peace.
And to Summer.
” He shot me a pointed look and I understood. Perhaps we'd leave Kian's status as Winter Prince out of the equation for now.

“Loyal to Summer!” I cut in. “I am glad to hear of such allies. Do you know me, Josephine?” It was hard to stay regal when she towered six feet above me, but her eyes were full of recognitions.

“The Summer Queen!” She did not bow – she was, after all, not one of my subjects – but she gave me a nod that certainly suggested respect.

“I was detained on a secret mission,” I said. “I have not been in Feyland since the first battle...I am looking for news...”

“A secret mission?” Josephine looked concerned. “For your sake, my queen, I hope that mission involved seeking out allies as powerful as the Dark Hordes.”

“What has happened? Is my father...is the King still alive?”

“Neither Summer nor Winter has fallen,” Josephine said, “but the war grows bloodier by the day. I imagine none of the royal ones have died, or that news would have spread quickly indeed, but one never knows...” Her ambiguity made my heart plummet – not knowing was almost worse than knowing. I saw my father in my mind's eye – fighting for Summer, a hero for the first time in his life – and my heart filled with fear. I forced the image out of my mind.

“And the wolves?” I pressed. “Do you know of the fate of the Wolf Prince, Logan?”

Josephine smiled. “He is safe,” she said. “Though wounded.”

“Are you sure?”

“See for yourself,” said Josephine. She beckoned us to follow, and before long we had reached a cave formed out of the side of a hill. She gave a great howl, her voice echoing throughout the cave, and a series of howls came in response.

“We can go in,” she said.

When my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, I saw Logan lying on a collection of cushions. He was surrounded by five or six women – all as tall and as striking as Josephine – kneeling around him, entirely naked. As, I noticed before averting my eyes, was Logan.

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. The shock was too great. I had never seen Logan like this before – surrounded by women, his body glistening as each woman applied what looked like poultices and ointments to his various wounds.

I blushed slightly as past memories of Logan and I came rushing in to fill my head. I have seen him like this before, naked in his magnificent muscular form. But not surrounded by beautiful perfectly-formed naked she-wolves! “Am I interrupting something?” I smoothly asked.

With a crash, Logan leaped to his feet, covering himself with a pillow as the women – evidently without a similar sense of human modesty – giggled and looked Kian up and down. He looked faintly amused – to my displeasure – although whether this was due to Logan's embarrassment or the proliferation of naked women I wasn't sure.