Reign of Ice (Forever Fae series) (25 page)

“ARE YOU OKAY? You’re not hurt, are you?”
Brayden asked.

Merrick and Bastian were both staring at me curiously, noses wrinkled in disgust. Since we were behind closed doors, I changed back into myself to make them feel more comfortable. It had to
be strange knowing the grotesque creature in front of them was me.

“No, I’m not hurt physically, but emotionally is a different story.”

“I’m sorry for what I did. I just had to know you were all right. Bayleon came to us today and told me about Bastian. Needless to say, I was not happy with what I heard.”

“He’s only trying to help me, and so is Merrick,”
I replied, feeling defeated.

“It should be me helping you!”
I could feel the anger flowing off of him and pouring through our bond. He was close to losing it and it was all my fault.

Gently, Merrick tapped my arm and asked, “Are you talking to him now?”

Sighing, I nodded and hung my head. “Yes, and he’s not happy with me, and especially, with Bastian.”

“Brayden, I understand you’re angry but I’m doing fine on my own. The sorcerer isn’t even here right now. He’s in the mortal realm getting his army. He’s planning on bringing them over tomorrow. I have to be here to stop him before he gets them all here.”

“What are you doing now?”

I glanced over at the corner where
Gothin’s ashes still remained on the dingy floor.
“If you must know, I’m staring at Gothin’s ashes that are scattered on the floor.”

“Isn’t that the sorcerer’s right hand man? Did you kill him?”

“Yes,”
I assured him.
“I killed him with the dagger. It was strange because when I pierced him with it, it devoured his skin like iron does to ours. I had never seen anything like it.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m in Gothin’s home hiding out with Merrick and Bastian … why?”

“That’s all I needed to know,”
he said adamantly. His tone made me pause, and if it wasn’t for the sinking feeling in my stomach I wouldn’t think anything of it. However, something wasn’t right and I could feel it as sure as I could feel my heart beating.

“Brayden, what’s going on? I think the question right now is where are you? What the hell are you doing?”
I waited for him to answer, but he never did.

My eyes went wide as Merrick jumped out of his seat and disappeared almost instantly. The air around us turned electric and hummed with the buzzing of power. Bastian felt it too and got
to his feet immediately, rushing to the door. I glamoured myself to look like Gothin again and joined him.

“Can you feel it, Your Highness?” Bastian questioned, eyeing the people in the village. They were on full alert; they could feel it, too.

“He’s coming …”

As soon as I finished saying that, the forest lit up with the heat and blaze of a dragon’s fire … my brother’s fire.
“Brayden! What are you doing?”
I screamed in his mind.

“I am getting you back, angel. You left me no choice. I told you I would always come for you and I am going to uphold that promise.”

I grabbed Bastian’s arm and pulled him out the door. “Let’s go,” I yelled, taking off toward one of the prisons.

It was the perfect time to get the prisoners out while the village was in disarray. The dragon roar from my brother sounded overhead, but then another battle cry screamed out in unison. It was
Sorcha. They were getting ready to swoop and attack. Stopping outside of the prison doors, I turned to Bastian and said quickly, “Go to the horses and grab my bag. I need you to bring it here. Hurry!”

He nodded and took off through the village. Merrick finally appeared again and followed me into the prison. I noticed that most of the people in the cells were women, and they cowered away from me when I opened the doors. “You’re free!” I shouted. “As soon as you get out of here run as fast as you can out of the forest. Help will come.”

“They’re scared of you, Ariella,” Merrick said. “They see Gothin when they look at you.”

Oh, no!
Merrick was right; no wonder they were shaking and terrified. Dirty and starving, I could tell some of them were from the Summer Court and some of them were from Winter.
Will they ever recover from this?
I wondered.

“Who?”
Brayden asked, interrupting my inner thought.

“These women in the prison,”
I said, frustrated.
“I’m freeing them. They are going to need help.”

Briskly, I transformed in front of their eyes and bent down to their level. I had no clue if they knew who I was or how long they had been there. They gasped and cried, but I cut them off, knowing we had to hurry. “Listen, I’m Ariella, former Princess of the Summer Court and now Queen of the
Winter. Please, I need you to get up and get out of here.”

“What about the sorcerer, and how did you come in here looking like that disgusting troll?” one of them asked, getting up on her shaky feet. I grabbed her hand and helped her, making sure she was settled before letting her go. 

“One of my powers is the ability to shift into other people. I killed Gothin so I could get to the sorcerer and kill him. So hurry, I need you to get out of here,” I ordered, pulling the others to their feet. They swiftly ran out of the cell and out the door, praising me with their thanks. I could only hope they made it to safety. It was a better chance than being locked away in the prison.

There was one woman, however, who wasn’t moving nor was she conscious. She was a
Winter fae, but with all the dirt and grime on her you could barely tell. I lifted her frail body in my arms and carried her to the door at the same time Bastian stormed in carrying my bag.

He dropped the bag and held out his arms. “Give her to me, Ariella. I’ll carry her.”

I passed her to him and bent down to open my bag. There was one thing I packed that could be used to my advantage, except the thought of deceiving the people I cared about almost made me not do it. The blue cloak from Brayden that I wore on our bonding night lay neatly bundled in my bag. I ran my fingers gently over its silky fabric as I remembered that night and how much I missed him.

Screams of death echoed outside and it brought me out of my thoughts. I grabbed the cloak and draped it over the woman in Bastian’s arms. If she woke up she would need her eyes hidden away from him or she’d be under his spell forever. Bastian understood why I covered her face and nodded solemnly. However, it wasn’t the only reason why I did it.

The ground shook like an earthquake was tearing our world apart, and then out of nowhere, my brother and Sorcha landed side by side in the middle of the village. That was also the moment when I saw … him. Sitting atop Sorcha’s red dragon skin, fierce and in full control, Brayden had his sword drawn looking like an avenging angel in his black and silver armor.

I wanted to run to him and never let go, but the other part of me wanted to beat the shit out of him for putting himself in danger as well as the others.
Calista and Ryder were both riding on Drake’s back, using their magic to help fight off the sorcerer’s army as they searched around the area. I knew who they were searching for … me.

The sound of arrows whizzing through the air made my blood run cold. One after the other, hundreds of arrows stuck through Drake and
Sorcha’s skin.

“No!” I screamed.

“Ariella, where are you?”
Brayden demanded.
“We need to get out of here now!”

Tears streamed down my face because doing what I was about to do hurt worse than an arrow piercing through my heart. Swallowing back the guilt, I leaned up against the wall, out of sight, and said,
“I’m in the prison with Bastian. We’re coming out.”

Quickly wiping away the tears, I grabbed Bastian’s arm and pushed him toward the door. “Go,” I shouted. “Get her out of here and somewhere safe. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Why do I not believe you?” he asked, eyeing me with skepticism.

“Because you shouldn’t,” Merrick snorted, even though Bastian couldn’t hear him. I ignored the jab and pushed Bastian out the door.

“Because you’re an ass, now go!” I repeated with more force, glaring at Merrick and then to Bastian.

He took off without another question and headed straight for the woods, away from
Sorcha and Drake. However, he didn’t get very far. As soon as Sorcha and Brayden spotted him they did what I’d hoped they would do … they took him. Sorcha extended a giant claw and wrapped it around Bastian’s body, securing him in her grasp. Back in Gothin form, I watched from the doorway as Drake and Sorcha prepared to take off into the black abyss, thinking I was the girl in Bastian’s arms.

Glancing quickly my way, Bastian pounded against
Sorcha’s claw and yelled, “No, Ariella. Don’t do this!” He kept fighting as Sorcha lifted up into the trees. I waved him good-bye and wished with all my heart that one day he would realize how sorry I was.

“We’ve got you, angel,”
Brayden murmured in my mind. I gave him one final glance as I watched him smile, thinking he had me in his grasp. Oh, how I would miss that smile. A smile he never let the world see until me. Would he ever smile again after this?

“Yes, you do,”
I cried.
“You will always have me.”

I watched as they took off into the trees and out of the inky blackness of my doom. They were gone in an instant, but at least it would give me the time I needed. The sorcerer would be back soon, and I had to make sure I ended him before he could strike back.

“I know that was hard,” Merrick whispered, coming to my side.

I collapsed onto the muddy floor of the empty prison and covered my face with my hands. Merrick wrapped his arm around my shoulders and rocked me back and forth, murmuring that everything would be all right in my ear. There were no thoughts or words that could describe the agony I felt deceiving them the way I did … especially Brayden.

I was where I needed to be, and alone the way it should’ve been from the beginning. I just wished my heart would stop feeling like it would rip out of my chest. I would rather face death.

WE SUCCEEDED. I got her back.

It wasn’t until nightfall that I saw the icy terrain of my court, the Winter Court. I breathed a sigh of relief and enjoyed the ride through the air on my sister’s back as she flew majestically through the night sky. Her red dragon skin almost glowed in the moonlight along with Drake’s green emerald glow right beside us.

Even though they took a few hits with the arrows, they still seemed to be going strong. Now that Ariella was back and all the secrets had been unveiled we could finally work together and fight together. This was the way it should’ve been from the beginning, but Ariella’s hard headedness got in the way. If only I knew sooner what she was going through.

The horns blared as we approached the palace and down below I could see everyone coming out to see if we succeeded. Circling around and descending lower,
Sorcha landed gracefully and so did Drake. I slid off of Sorcha’s back and climbed the rest of the way down her body. My father and King Oberon, as well as Meliantha and Kalen, were crowded around Sorcha’s claws where Bastian was slowly getting to his feet with Ariella in his arms. Calista and Ryder joined me almost immediately after they dismounted from Drake’s scaly back.

“Give her to me,” I snapped, glaring at Bastian and taking Ariella away from him. The cloak I gave her was draped over her face and body, and the moment I touched her skin I knew something was wrong.

“What the …” I started, but then stopped.

Immediately, I removed the cover from her face and my heart sank. It tore out of my chest and went right back to the Black Forest where I knew my angel was still in hell. She wasn’t in my arms; she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. She deceived me, and I had failed.

Coran was by my side in an instant and I passed the woman in my arms to him, glaring at Bastian the whole time. The air turned electric with both his and my power as we faced off at each other.

“What the hell is this?” I demanded angrily. “First, you defy my orders to bring Ariella back and instead you take her straight to the Black Forest. Second, you pull this stunt wanting me to believe you have her in your arms. If she didn’t care about you, you would be dead at my feet right now.”

“You are not the only one she deceived, Your Highness. I am just as angry as you are,” he spat. “I did not know she was going to do what she did.”

I scoffed. “Well, that makes us both fools.”

Calista jumped between us and pushed us apart. “That’s enough you two. There’s nothing we can do about it now. I’m sure what Ariella did was just as hard on her as it was on you.” She glared at us both before continuing, “It’s late, and we need to rest up before tomorrow. We attack at dawn.”

I turned away before I said or did something I’d regret and stormed into the palace.
“Ariella! Answer me, dammit!”
I exclaimed in her mind, my hands shaking with fury as I marched to our room. There was nothing but silence on the other end. She was still there because I could feel her, but in her mind there was nothing except floating colors and vague images. That could only mean one thing … she was sleeping.

I knew just what to do.