Summer of Frost (17 page)

When we reached the top of the mountain,
Drake lowered himself to the ground so I could slide down his scaly
skin with ease.

“Thank you,” I murmured, trailing my gaze
over the lonely mountain top.

Even though Drake was there with me as a
dragon, I still felt oddly alone knowing he couldn’t speak to me.
Looking around, there was nothing nice about my surroundings. I
could feel the dark magic plaguing the life of the land, making it
gloomy and dank. I shivered in response when I felt the darkness
float over my skin. There was no life, not even a shred of it as I
walked around the huge boulders. It was almost like everything
turned to stone … empty.

“Okay, I need to find the pile of rocks
Brokk mentioned. He said I’d be able to feel the dark magic and
pinpoint the scroll, but I can feel it everywhere. It’s hard to
pinpoint it when it’s surrounding you. I guess I could always try
my earth magic.”

Drake nodded his large dragon head in
agreement. With my natural ability being with the earth, I decided
to give it a try, to see if it would lead me to the scroll.
Kneeling on the ground, I placed my hands on the cold, stone
pebbles. I concentrated as hard as I could on finding the life
inside the mountain. It was there, just deep and buried. I could
feel its essence drawing up through the ground until it pooled at
my hands and feet. My hands tingled as the power flowed through my
body.

“Please … show me the way,” I pleaded.

The energy surged beneath my feet and it was
as if my legs had a will of their own; one minute I didn’t know
where to go and the next I was being pulled like a magnetic force.
My eyes were closed in concentration as I followed the invisible
path in my mind. Once the magic dissipated and the connection
broke, I knew I was where I needed to be. When I looked down, there
was a collection of rocks piled into a mound just like Brokk had
said.

“Drake, I found it!”

He came up behind me and hovered over my
shoulder. The heat he gave off was scorching, but what else was
there to expect from a fire breathing dragon. He winked at me with
his smoky gray eyes as I ran my hands down his snout, smiling.

“Here we go,” I began.

Rock after rock, I moved them aside until
there were no more. Nothing was underneath the rocks except dirt,
so I scooped it away—layer by layer—until I came upon something
hard. Smiling, I pulled the box out of its resting place, blew off
the dirt, and held it in my hands. It was made of wood, but had
symbols carved on all sides, symbols that I had no clue what they
meant. My hands hummed with energy, and it wasn’t the good energy
either. There was only a slight seal where I could see where the
box was connected together. I had an idea, and I was going to try
it.

“Oh, what the hell,” I said, picking up the
box. Raising it high over my head, I slammed it down on the rocks
as hard as I could. Over and over, I threw it on the ground and
rammed it into the rocks hoping it would open, but it never did.
There wasn’t even a scratch or dent on the surface of that dreaded
box.

Drake’s dragon eyes showed amusement as he
sat there watching me, almost as if he was laughing at me. “Hey, it
was worth a shot,” I told him. “I’m sure you would’ve tried the
same thing.”

Placing the box on a nearby rock, I wiped my
sweaty hands on my black, leather pants, and realized that soon my
silver and black armor would be traded in for the gold and brown of
Summer. All I needed was to get the scroll and go home, but first,
I had to pay the price; the price to save my people. By offering my
blood, I was willingly giving the dark sorcerer my power, and
willingly making him stronger. It sickened me to know that after
this he was going to have
my
power coursing through his
veins. I felt violated even though this was my decision, and my
choice to have my power taken.

Closing my eyes, I took a few deep breaths.
Drake nudged me in the side and made a small whimpering sound. He
hated that I had to do this. “I’m okay, Drake. It just pisses me
off that when I do this the dark sorcerer will have won another
round. I wanted to be different, to be the one he couldn’t get, but
that’s not going to happen. Instead, I’m offering myself up on a
golden platter. I just hate that whatever we do, he has a way to
change it and make us look like the fools.”

Drake growled in response, and I could tell
in his dragon eyes that he agreed and understood. I knew Drake was
in there, but it still amazed me how a dragon, dangerous and
lethal, could have love and understanding in its eyes.

“Okay, here I go.”

Not wanting to waste any more time, I pulled
my spear out from the harness on my back. The spear point was
sharp; a light scraping of the blade could drag deep down to the
bone if too much pressure was applied. Carefully, I ran my palm
over the sharp edge, instantly drawing a stream of blood. I placed
my hand over the box and let the blood flow freely. It coated the
outer edge and slowly ran down the sides of the wood. Nothing was
happening.

“I wonder how much blood it needs,” I
mumbled to myself and Drake.

I took the spear and sliced open my other
hand, hoping the extra blood would get it going. The pool of blood
surrounding the box had me shaky, and staggering to stay on my
feet. Blood didn’t bother me, but the amount I was losing did.
Drake hissed and began looking angry. He wanted me to stop, but I
knew I had to keep going.

“Just … a … little … more,” I sputtered
weakly.

My vision began to blur and I struggled to
stay on my feet. My legs gave out from beneath me and I collapsed
onto the ground. I clenched my hands into tight fists to stop the
flow of blood. Falling on my back, I closed my eyes, feeling too
weak to move. When I glanced up, Drake was staring at the box in
awe.
Was it working
? I wondered. I sat up slowly, and I was
amazed to see that the box was now glowing and lifting into the
air. Getting shakily to my feet, I brought up my hands and lightly
placed them on both sides of the floating box. The lid started to
open, and a bright flash of light burst from the inside,
momentarily blinding me.

When my vision cleared I saw the scroll, the
one piece of paper that could help save my land. It was a thick,
yellow piece of parchment rolled into a cylinder with a ribbon
wrapped around it. My heart thundered desperately in my chest, and
it was telling me to grab the scroll and run as fast as I could. I
took it out of the box and slowly unrolled it, not wanting to
jeopardize the paper in any way. There were so many ancient symbols
and texts that it was confusing to read. I could make out some of
it, but I knew there was only one person who could decipher the
full meaning … Elvena. We needed to get to her quickly.

I put the scroll in my leather pouch that
was secured to my armor belt. If I closed it in the box again I
took the chance of it sealing and never getting it out. I didn’t
want to do that. Drake was waiting patiently for me so I staggered
over to him and climbed up on his back.

“I’m ready to go!” I called out to him.

Holding the box securely in my hand, I held
onto Drake with the other. My palms ached, but the bleeding had
finally stopped. Drake flew off the mountain and into the wind,
heading straight down to the valley below where we left the horse.
If I wasn’t so drained I’d find the flight exhilarating, but
hopefully within the next hour I’d have my strength back. It took a
lot of blood to open that damn box.

When Drake landed and I slid off his back,
he immediately changed back. He was naked, but it didn’t stop him
from scooping me into his arms. “Are you okay?” he asked, sounding
worried, running his hands over my body.

“I am now,” I said, smiling weakly.

He laughed and kissed my lips before
fetching the clothes he left by the horse. After his clothes were
put on, he hastily took me in his arms again. “I was so worried
about you up there,” he whispered in my ear while breathing me in.
“I wasn’t going to be too happy if you’d let yourself bleed out. I
was two seconds away from knocking you out.”

“You wouldn’t dare, and anyway, I’m fine
now.” I pulled back and tucked the box under my arm. “Let’s go
home.”

“Not so fast,” a cold, dark voice echoed
behind us.

Drake and I both stiffened and turned around
slowly to see a man standing casually behind us. At first glance he
looked almost angelic, but it didn’t take long to know he was
anything but that. His shoulder-length brown hair was shiny and
straight, and the features of his face were sharp, but yet
ethereal. How could someone so evil look the way he does? He was
the epitome of a beautiful man, but the eyes … the eyes gave him
away along with the black aura surrounding his body. His dark gaze
was alight with extreme power, and it didn’t take long to recognize
it as mine.

“Alasdair,” I whispered.

He closed his eyes and groaned. “Hmm,
hearing my name cross your lips makes me think naughty things,
Princess. But look at you, and how you’ve changed. I think you two
have been doing some naughty things, am I right?”

“What the …” Drake started and lunged, but
my grip on his arm kept him in place.

The dark sorcerer waggled his finger at
Drake. “You have nothing to worry about, dragon. I don’t want your
princess. Although, I must say those Winter women definitely know
how to fuck,” he said, looking at me and licking his lips. “I
believe I’ve been that route once before with your friend, Breena,
if I’m not mistaken. Right, Princess?”

Ignoring the last question, I got down to
business. He was goading me and I wasn’t going to give in. “What do
you want, sorcerer?” I asked vehemently, even though I already knew
the answer.

His smile disappeared. “Don’t play dumb with
me, Princess. Hand over the box,” he ordered.

Drake grabbed my arm. “Don’t,” he hissed in
my ear.

Never taking my eyes off of the sorcerer, I
whispered lightly so only he could hear me. “It’s okay. Trust me.”
Slowly, I trudged over to the sorcerer and reluctantly handed over
the box, making sure not to touch his hands. I didn’t want to touch
pure evil.

“Well, that was easy.” He smiled, but then
narrowed his eyes at me. “But an empty box is
not
what I
want. I want the scroll.”

“How do you know it’s not in there?” I
asked.

He stared at me blandly and held out his
hand. “You wouldn’t have handed over the box so easily. Now give it
to me!” His eyes shifted to Drake, who had started slowly moving
away from me, preparing to do to something heroic no doubt, but the
sorcerer caught onto it.

“And before you decide to do something
stupid …” Instead of finishing his sentence, he caught us both off
guard by grabbing me in a lightning fast move. He now had me
trapped in his arms with a vial of something liquid and obviously
lethal close to my lips. I struggled against his hold, but his grip
tightened, keeping me caged against his body while he tormented
me.

He ran his nose through my hair and moaned
while trailing one of his hands over my breasts, down to my hip,
and finally to the inside of my thigh. “Fuck, you smell so good …
just like Summer. It brings back a lot of memories.”

“Ugh, you make me sick,” I hissed. Reaching
into my leather pouch, I sifted through it quickly until I found
what I needed, and held up the scroll so he could see it. “Dammit,
here’s your scroll! Now let me go! I’d rather die than be touched
by you again.”

Drake shook with fury, but before he could
charge, someone yelled out from behind the trees. It was Alston!
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.

“Ah, well if it isn’t the scorned lover come
to rescue the day,” Alasdair teased. “Or is he, might I ask?” He
tilted his head so he could address Alston. “You have nothing to
worry about, she’s all yours.” Startled, I gasped and he continued
gleefully, “That’s right, Princess. You didn’t know your ex-lover
schemed behind your back, did you? I was shocked when he came to
me. Most people want power in return for fealty, but not this one.
Oh no, he wanted you, and now I’m going to give you to him.”

“What?” I screamed, at the same time Drake
yelled, “Like hell you are!”

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, young
Prince. Because once I force this concoction down Sorcha’s throat
she’s going to forget all about you. You’ll be nothing to her.
She’ll only know of her life in the Winter Court before you ever
came into her life.”

Wide-eyed, my heart hammered in my chest as
I stared at Drake, who tried to hide his panic. “You lie!” he
yelled half-heartedly. “She’ll never be able to forget about me.
I’m in her blood, and no matter where I have to go or what I have
to do I’ll always find her and bring her back.”