Enchanted Frost (Frost Series #8) (A YA Romantic Fantasy Adventure) (16 page)

          “Your
kind?” Rodney took a threatening step forth.

          “My
coven.” Gail smiled, showing sharp-fanged teeth. As she spoke, the numerous
shadows that had gathered around her feet began to morph, changing shape and
form and color, growing dark and solid. Each shadow transformed into a woman –
a woman young, beautiful, and terrifying, just like Gail. “We are the Witches.
Many of us were the servants and slaves of the first White Witch, but that was
a long time ago. Now, we are the ones who rule. You don't know what it is like,
do you, Breena? You were born to so much privilege. To a throne to which you
were entitled by virtue of simply being born, nothing more. To men who threw
themselves at your feet, overcome by...” she grimaced. “Love. To nothing more
than pure, blind luck.” She snorted. “You never knew deprivation. You never
knew servitude. You never
earned
your crown. But I did. I was born to
servitude, to destitution. The first White Witch thought I could be bossed
around, pushed around, that I was a nobody. But she was wrong. She learned her
lesson when I killed her.” She laughed, and as she laughed the other witches
laughed with her.

          “Now
it is I who rule as the White Witch over the Ancient Realms – and soon I will
rule, too, over Feyland.”

          “You
lie!” Shasta's eyes blazed with anger. “Breena has overcome more struggle, more
hardship, than you will ever know. She was the one who united the two Kingdoms
of Feyland, who restored the Suns...”

          Kian
said nothing, but only stared at the White Witch – confusion in his dazed
expression. Just looking at him hurt me, reminded him of his cold, cruel words.
But I couldn't let myself give into that pain. Not now. I just had to keep
telling myself, keep reminding myself, that it was a spell, nothing more. That
Kian's love for me had to be real – deep down. That somehow, he had to still
love me.

          “That's
not what the people think?” Gail began to smile maliciously, her teeth
glittering like stars. “Shall we ask them, though, just to be sure?” She waved
her hand, and instantly the tower seemed to crumble beneath our feet; we were
standing not atop the tower but rather in the center of the town square,
surrounded by villagers. They were looking at me with eyes full of hatred, of
loathing.

          “Behold
the False Queen!” One of them snarled. “The Betrayer! Breena the Unworthy!”

          “Depose
her!” Another cried. “She is no ruler of ours – Breena the Unworthy!”

          They
began chanting insults at me, screaming, hurling oath after oath upon me.

          “Can't
you see?” Logan thundered with rage. “You're under a spell – it's a lie! When
has Breena ever betrayed you, ever let you down? When has she ever done
anything but give her whole body, her whole soul, her whole life to Feyland!”

          “She's
a half-breed!” One of the villagers hurled a stone at me. “A
human
! A
filthy human!”

          “She's
a human who left behind her whole life, her whole world, to save us!” Rodney
took a step between me and the villagers, shielding me from their stones. “She
gave up all her dreams, all her plans, to bring an end to the war between
Winter and Summer. To bring food to us after the famine. To ward off the Dark
Hordes! She never needed to use Shadow Puppets to win your hearts and minds –
never needed to use spells or trickery to provoke discord among you in order to
gain power. She got her power by being a good ruler, by
earning
your
love, earning your respect!”

          “Nonsense!”
The villagers cried in a single voice.

          Shasta
took a step forward. “Can't you see what Gail has done? Taken away everything
good in your lives. Taken away your love for one another, your neighborly
feeling, your trust? Fostered hatred and discord. Separated families. Made you
hate everyone different from you – Wolves against Fey, husbands against wives,
rich against poor. Is this what you want from your world? Is this how you want
Feyland to be? A place where the most powerful prey on the weak and the
vulnerable, where whoever's shadow puppets whisper the most insidious gossip
rules over all of Feyland? This isn't the Feyland I grew up in, that's for
sure! This isn't the Feyland I believe in.”

          Her
words were greeted with a bitter murmur from the crowd. They fell silent for a
moment, as if made ashamed by her words.

          “You
see?” sneered Gail. “They don't want you. They don't need you. Now, you needn't
worry. I won't kill you. I don't like things to get messy. I'm giving you all
the opportunity to step aside. To go to the Ancient Realms, into exile, or else
to go back to those filthy Human lands, places where your love, your weakness,
might be welcome. For they are no longer welcome here.” She took a step towards
me, smiling at me with that chilling, convincing smile. “Come on, Breena. It's
easy. Just go home – go back to Feyland. Bring Shasta and Rodney with you. None
of you will suffer. You can live out your days in peace – back where you
belong.” She laughed. “And I'll even sweeten the deal. I'll re-enchant your
love, so that he falls for you once again. You'll finally have the man of your
dreams – and none of the responsibility that has weighed you down for so long.”

          For
a moment I hesitated, charmed by her words. Did she really mean it? That this
pain – this pain of losing the man I loved – could end? I could go home – go
back to Gregory – me and Kian, together. Ready to live out our days together,
happily married. I looked over at Kian, who was staring at me with a blank
expression.

          For
a moment I wanted to believe in Gail's words, willing to believe anything, to
do anything, to say anything, just to see the look of love in Kian's eyes once
more. Images of Kian ran through my mind – memories we'd shared, moments we'd
spent together, everything I loved about him. His beauty, his intelligence, his
kindness, his honor.

         
His
honor.
No, the real Kian, the Kian I loved, would choose the good of
Feyland over the callings of his own heart. He would choose what was right over
what was easy – what was right for Feyland over what was best for him. He would
never let love, not even the strongest love in the world, get in the way of the
greater love, the love we felt for our land. I felt that love surge through me.
Not love for Kian, not love for Logan, but love for Feyland, for its emerald
forests and sapphire seas, for its crimson sunsets and snowy peaks, for this
land to which I belonged, and which was an integral part of my being. No, this
was a love that could never be allowed to die, never be allowed to wither.
Giving up, giving in – all those things would prove my detractors right – prove
that I was the unworthy leader they said I was.

          It
was time to make the ultimate sacrifice.

          “The
Kian I love,” I said, “would never love a Breena who gave up on Feyland. And I
wouldn't love myself. I would rather fight for Feyland and lose everything in
the attempt than live in the shame of knowing that I didn't try hard enough –
that I let the land I love down.”

          My
words were met with silence. The townspeople looked at me suspiciously, eyeing
me with a wary gaze. They looked back and forth from me to Gail, letting my
words sink in.

          “See!”
Logan cried to the townspeople. “That is what a leader does! A leader who loves
her people. Don't let Gail and her Shadow Puppets fool you, trick you, take you
in. Don't let her fool you!”

          Kian
remained staring at me – gazing with increasing intensity.

          “Attack!”
cried Shasta, and Rodney and Shasta tried in unison to shoot bolts of fire and
ice from their fingers. But nothing appeared. The Witches' power was too
strong; our magic did not work here.

          Gail
scoffed. “You are powerless here,” she said. “This is my domain. Without your
magic, you see, you are nothing. You are powerless.” She smiled cruelly.

          “Not
so fast, Gail!” cried Logan. “You're forgetting something.”

          “What's
that?”

          “We
Wolves know how to deal without magic. We've been doing it a long time. And we
know exactly how to deal with your kind.”

          And
with that, he gave a long, loud howl.

          And
then the Wolves attacked.

Chapter 20

Kian

I
watched the Wolves come; I watched the Witches. I did nothing – but only stood,
and watched, and waited. Some voice in my brain, some part of my subconscious
stifled by the rest of me, was crying out for me to take part, to help my
sister, to help the woman I had once loved – but my body remained immobile,
sluggish. I was reeling with exhaustion, with confusion. I didn't feel like
myself. Something had happened – but what? There was something I was supposed
to do, supposed to feel – but what? I felt only a curious emptiness at the
bottom of my stomach, within my heart.

          I
watched as the Wolves began to attack the Witches, their bodies tensed and taut
as their animal instincts anticipated the Witches' every move. Logan nipped and
snapped at Gail's heels; Breena too was wielding a sword, buckling only
slightly under its weight without the power of her magic to sustain her.

         
Breena.
The woman I had once loved.
As I watched her fight, I felt curiously numb.
I was removed from her struggle, from any fears from her safety. Once, I could
remember, I had cared for her – once she had hurt me. But she was nothing more
to me than a human half-breed. I knew that, now. Gail's potion had made me see
the light.

          And
yet her words burned within me.
The Kian I love would never love a Breena
who gave up on Feyland.
I had seen her weep at my feet – regarding her with
a cold, distant eye – when I had told her that I had no longer loved her. I had
seen, had sensed her pain. This was a woman who had loved me, of this I had no
doubt. And yet, when Gail had offered to force me to return her love, she had
refused. She had chosen Feyland, chosen honor, chosen the battle over an easy
surrender. Against myself I felt admiration bubble up within me. I may not have
loved her, but she was without a doubt a force to be reckoned with – a true
daughter of Feyland.

          I
could not tear my eyes away from her as I watched her fight. She was beautiful
– made all the more beautiful by the intensity of battle. Sweat made her cheeks
turn rosebud in a blush; her eyes blazed with the passion within. I bit my lip
as I watched her raise her sword, clashing against the Witches, fearlessly
fighting to the last.

          I
remembered Logan's words about her. About her selflessness, her courage, her
vision. About all that she had done for Feyland – and all that she had
sacrificed. I saw the looks on the faces of the villager – the admiration that
had broken through their hatred of her, through their fear.

         
Were
those things true?
I thought back to what I knew of Breena, to what I
remembered, despite the blur that made thoughts of her run together in my mind.
I thought not only of her beauty – beauty that was painfully clear even now –
but of her courage, her strength. Of how she had saved me from Delano, King of
the Pixies. Of how she had fought to save her father, the Summer King, and
stood up to her stepmother, the Summer Queen. How she had saved Feyland, time
and time again.

         
Breena...
I
felt my lips whisper her name.

          “Fool!”
Gail was struggling against the Wolves. “You don't have the power to banish me
– nobody does, except the one who let me into Feyland!” She was weakened, now –
injured by Logan's savage bites – but glowing with a black fire, the fire of
magical strength. “You will be remembered forever as Breena the Unworthy,
Failed Queen of Feyland.”

          “No!”
My soul cried out before my mind realized what I was saying. “No!”

         
Not
Breena. Not the wisest, bravest, strongest girl I know.

            Not
the woman I love.

           
My
limbs seemed to snap to life; my whole body began to move, glowing in a
powerful sapphire light. I began to walk towards her, emotion washing over me
in waves. Memories of Breena – of the smell of her hair, of the sound of her
voice, of the tantalizing sweetness of her skin, of everything that I held so
dear – reminding me of how much I had loved her, needed her, wanted her, missed
her.

          When
I reached Gail, I reached straight through the fire. The black flames burned my
hands, but I barely felt the pain. I could feel nothing now but love – love
certain and true, strong and powerful, love for Breena that dwarfed any
physical pain in comparison.

          “No!”
Gail was crying out. “It's impossible! It cannot be! Nobody can break that
spell! Nobody can overcome my potion!”

          “Don't
you
ever
,” I snarled, “speak that way about the woman I love again.”