Enchanted Frost (Frost Series #8) (A YA Romantic Fantasy Adventure) (10 page)

          And
then I saw it. Out of the corner of my eye. A shadow that moved just a tad too
swiftly. A shadow of a tree that began to morph and change, crying out without
sound as other shadows rushed to join it.

          I
felt their tug against my wings, pulling me to the earth, invisible nets that
seemed to catch at me and whip at me. I groaned with pain as one wrapped an
invisible chain around my ankle, pulling it tight. A purple bruise appeared as
I tried to kick the shadows away.

          “Unhand
me!” I cried, my voice echoing through the forest. “I am the Fairy King, Kian
of Winter, Emperor of Feyland, and I command you unhand me at once.”

          I
heard a low hissing sound in my ear. “Never,” it whispered. “You are second to
our Mistress, to the great Gail, the White Witch. You have no power over us. We
serve only the White Witch!”

          “Unhand
him!” A male voice in the distance rang clear as a bell. “Unhand the King!”

          I
looked up with shock as green sparks shot forth from the fingertips of a
beautiful youth, his shirtless chest glinting with sweaty strength in the
morning light.

          “What
the...” This was no Winter Fairy, nor no Summer Fairy either. Neither of us had
command of green magic.

          But
his second shot hit home, and a bolt of green lighting split apart one of the
shadows, sending it careening into a million pieces.

         
A
pixie?
I wondered. But no, it couldn't be – he didn't have the pointed ears
and sharp chin of the pixies, nor the small, lithe physique. This man was
broad, with powerful shoulders and a strong, strapping look about him. Almost
like...

          “It
cannot be!” I cried, as the man transformed into a Wolf before my eyes, his
body morphing into a proud lupine body in a matter of seconds. I looked up in
shock. “But...you're a Wolf! Wolves don't have magic.”

          “We
do now!” Another Wolf appeared, this time a half-naked girl with long dark
hair. “And we're prepared to use it.”

          And
with that, a whole pack of them had appeared, looks of utter glee on their
faces as they began to throw energy bolts of magic at the mysterious shadow
figures, attacking them again and again.

          “Look!”
one of them called, a note of surprise in his voice as a rope of emerald fire
appeared from his fingertips. It twisted in the air before thudding to the
ground, holding the shadow puppets tight. “Try it!”

          Soon,
all the Wolves had begun to make ropes of magic, binding the puppets, who
struggled wildly, their form contorting but never quite breaking the bond.

          “I
don't understand,” I went over to one of the Wolves, who had reverted to his
human form. “Are you some special kind of Wolf I have never met before?”

          “I
am a Wolf like any other,” he said, with a tone that bordered on proud. “And
like any other Wolf, I lived in denial of my birthright for far too long. But
now, I rejoice to say that magic has returned to me, as it has returned to all
the Wolves. The rumor is that the Wolfstone has been activated – that our magic
is back for good. That...”

          But
his voice trailed off as consternation spread across his face, along with a
look of fear. The shadow puppets were getting stronger, straining harder and
harder against the ropes that bound them, getting bigger and bigger.

          “It's
not going to hold them!” cried the other Wolf, but the warning came too late.

          The
Shadow Puppets had broken loose. And they were heading straight for me...

Chapter 12

I
t
was all over in the blink of an eye. My powers were useless against the powers
of the Shadow Puppets. The Wolves howled and roared, trying in vain to make
emerald-colored sparks shoot out from their fingertips once again, but
ultimately they could do nothing. The shadows ran circles around us, knocking
the breath out of our lungs, squeezing our bodies tightly until we choked for
air, kneading their dark contours around us until our hands were bound tight
and I was gasping, choking, spluttering, trying to inhale one final breath
before everything went black...

          I
awoke in another cell. This one was sturdier than the last – we were underground,
I could tell that much from the dank and moldy smell, and no lights shone
through any cracks in the walls. I struggled to free my hands from the cuffs I
had on, but it was all in vain. There was no hope. There was no freedom. There
was only Gail, sitting before me on a golden throne, a disturbing glint in her
eye and a cruel smile upon her lips.

          “So,”
she said, when my eyes had adjusted to the darkness. “You thought you could
escape from me – is that it?” She smiled darkly. “Silly boy – you ought to have
followed orders. You ought to have done as I said. Instead you grew proud, grew
risky. But now you will have to face the consequences of your actions.”

          I
screamed as black flames seemed to envelop my face, burning with an acid
darkness I had never experienced before.

          “That's
what you get for trying to escape,” Gail sneered. “And that's only the
beginning. You haven't even begun to experience the punishments I've dreamed up
for you. Not yet.” She laughed, the sound maniacal and terrifying as it echoed
through the cavernous chamber, making me shudder as it boomed from the ceiling.
“Your magic has only led you into ruin, Fairy King. The magic you have
exhibited has only led your land into more despair, more warfare, more hunger,
more famine. And now that the Wolves have magic, what use have we for yours?
What need do we have for Fey magic at all?” Her laugh grew louder, longer and
crueller as she raised her hands. “I'll tell you what I think, Fairy King. I
think we should see what happens if you have to do without it for a little
while, don't you?”

          She
pulled back her hands, as if tugging on an invisible rope. Immediately I felt a
strange, painful sucking sensation all around my body, as if the air in my
lungs were being inhaled by another, as if all of the power and the strength in
my body were being forcibly extracted from it. I cried aloud in agony as my
body began to shudder in the wake of this mysterious spell.

          “Stop!”
I cried. “Stop it! By order of the Fairy King!”

          “No,”
she said calmly. “You stop, Kian. I make the orders now.”

          I
fell to the floor with a sharp thud, my arms springing loose from the shadow
puppets' handcuffs. Immediately I put up my fingers, attempting to blast Gail
with a bolt of blue flame. But nothing appeared from my finger-tips. I tried
again, concentrating my magic, trying to focus every ounce of my being on
destroying her

          But
nothing happened. I remained still and useless before her as she began to
chuckle.

          “That
won't do you much good
now
,” she sneered. “You haven't got any magic any
longer, Fairy King. I've taken it.” She snapped, and blue fire appeared in the
air above her hands, taunting me with its sparkle. “Now you're no better than
an ordinary human, Fairy King. Than one of the mortals you used to mock. Now
Logan has the power of magic – and you are simply...average. Mortal. Human.
With nothing special about you. Soon you'll begin to age, and grow old, and
your hair will turn grey, and your many hundreds of years of life will
doubtless catch up with you before long...” She tossed her hair.

          “Fitting,
isn't it? That Breena should end up with a magical Immortal after all – and
that this immortal should be Logan, rather than you. How much time did you
think about Logan as no threat at all – because he had no magic? Because he was
not a Fey? How many times did you mentally dismiss him as inferior to you
because he did not make fire with his fingers? And now...the roles are
reversed. But perhaps it's what Breena would have wanted...”

          She
raised her magic mirror again, placing it in front of my eyes. My hands were
bound once more by the Shadow-Puppets; they held my face so that I could not
look away from the destruction before me.

          And
then I saw it in the mirror – the thing that hurt me most. The thing that made
my heart split in two. Logan and Breena, in bed together, caressing one
another, naked to the waist, tangled in the sheets I recognized all too well.
Looking at one another with looks of utter love in their eyes – overwhelmed by
their own joy – their gaze sparkling with anticipation and desire. I saw the
ring on her finger – the ring she had worn while engaged to Logan when she was
under the spell of the toad-like Wort, who had made her fall in love with him.

          And
yet knowing that it was a spell didn't make it any easier. The sight of Logan
and Breena, kissing and caressing one another, was enough to set my mind,
heart, and soul on fire. I could not stand the agony. Fire burned within my
veins, seeping through my arteries, setting my skin aflame in invisible
conflagration. I missed her; I needed her. And yet, as I saw her, naked and so
desirable, wrapped in Logan's arms, crying out his name over and over again in
rapturous ecstasies as he kneaded his fingers up and down her lithe, muscular
body, I felt myself torn – half of me lost in that same rapt longing, half of
me suffering from the most egregious of despair.

          “No!”
I cried, trying to shut my eyes, but the Shadow Puppets held them open,
merciless in their stillness.

          The
scene began to change before me. Instead of seeing Logan and Breena as they
were when they were engaged, under a spell, I saw them as they must have been
while growing up. Breena was wearing human clothes – those blue trousers called
jeans, cut off at the knee, and a tight blue shirt that emphasized her shapely
form. Logan too was dressed in human garb, and the two of them were walking in
the woods, laughing and joking. She looked so happy, then, so healthy, with
that starry pink glow in her cheeks and the smile that seemed so genuine, so
real, upon her lips. This was the Breena I loved, the Breena I most wanted to
see: a happy Breena, her happiness unadulterated by the stress of living in the
Fairy World. She and Logan were talking about such simple things – gossip from
their old high school, talk about Clariss, who was bullying Breena after
Biology class. They were mock-pushing and joke-shoving one another, playing
like puppies, their energy tireless and boundless. And I found my heart aching
more in the witnessing of it than it did watching the two of them kissing in
bed. It was one thing to know that Breena desired Logan physically, or that he
could give her pleasure. But to see them together like this made one thing
painfully – agonizingly certain.

          Logan
understood
her. They had shared so much, gone through so many struggles
together that they were like one person, one single being. Their souls fused as
one in a way even magic could not bind me to her. I would never understand
Breena's human side. I would never understand
her –
as much as I loved
her our love lacked a grounding in the small things, the intimate pleasures
that lovers know about one another. I barely knew what her favorite human book
was, let alone her opinions on mortal television shows, or whether or not she
followed politics back in Gregory – things that no doubt Logan could rattle off
at a moment's notice. He
knew
every part of her; he cared for her.

         
Oh,
Breena,
I whispered to myself.
I promise, if I ever get you back, I'll
never let you go again. I'll care for you – I'll do my best to understand you.
To learn more about you. To at last get to the point where you and I truly get
each other, in mind as well as in body. I want to know what books you like,
what food you eat, what mattered to you in the mortal world I still don't fully
understand. I'll do whatever it takes – just to be close to you again.

           
“Seen
enough yet?” Gail shoved the mirror into my face. “Or do you want to torment
yourself more?”

          I
was beaten. The pain was too great. I couldn't look a second longer into that
terrible mirror, which reflected back to me my own fears, my own insecurities,
which seemed to dig deep into my very soul. “No more,” I whispered. “Please, no
more...”

          “I
promised I'd end the pain, didn't I?” Gail took a step toward me. “And I will.
I do keep my promises – that much, at least, I can assure you. I can end all of
this pain, right now.”

          “What
do you mean?”

          “You
won't love her any longer...” Gail began to stroke my cheeks. “I will fulfil my
bargain with you.”

          “No,”
I cried. “I don't want that – not any longer. I'd rather die, loving her, than
live knowing I betrayed her, that I gave up on us.”

          “Too
late,” Gail snapped. “You gave up on her the moment you invited me into
Feyland.” She grabbed hold of my head. “Now drink!”

          I
coughed; I spluttered, but there was nothing I could do. The sweet liquid
forced its way down my throat, turning bitter and black in my throat as she
tipped the small glass vial onto my lips. I tried to spit it out but the liquid
kept on coming, tumbling down my throat, making me retch.