Reign of Ice (Forever Fae series) (5 page)

Slipping into my robe, I tied it at the waist and joined
Zanna in my bedroom. She already had my shoes picked out and was searching through my jewelry with her brows furrowed. “I absolutely love this necklace you have, Ariella. It’s just so …”

When she turned to acknowledge me, her mouth flew open and she dropped the necklace on the floor, covering her mouth with a shaky hand. Immediately, I flew around thinking there was someone behind me, but when I looked there was no one there. What was going on?
Is she looking at me like that?
I wondered.

“What is wrong with you?” I asked, picking up my dress. “I don’t look that bad, do I? I know I didn’t get much sleep, but I actually feel fine now that I took a shower.”

“Ariella?” she whispered, gazing at me like she’d never seen me before.

“Yes, it’s me. Who else would it be? Seriously,
Zanna, what is with you?”

Not taking her stunned gaze from me she pointed to the bathroom with a shaky hand and muttered anxiously, “You might want to go look at yourself in the mirror. Something’s wrong.”

Dropping my dress, I ran to the bathroom and ran a hand frantically over the fogged mirror, scared to see what Zanna saw but curious to know what was going on. The second my reflection came into view I stumbled back into the wall and screamed.

I ARRIVED TO the Summer Court early for Ariella’s guardian ceremony alongside my mother and father, Queen Mab and King Madoc. I had hoped to see her around before the ceremony, but no one had seen or heard from her all morning.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” King Oberon asked, smirking at me. “I know my daughter and it’s not just you she’s going to be furious at. She’s going to be angry
at me as well. This sort of thing has never been done before.”

I nodded. “I understand, and I’m willing to accept the consequences of my actions, but this is something I know I need to do.”

King Oberon sighed. “Very well, Prince Brayden. I grant you permission, but if we’re going to do this there needs to be some kind of compromise. I can’t have Ariella causing a big scene and walking away.”

And that’s precisely what she would do.
“What exactly would this compromise entail?” I questioned curiously.

King Oberon smiled and put his arm around me, steering me down the massive golden halls of his palace. “I have an idea, but it’s going to require you to put aside your pride. Can you do that just once … for
Ariella’s sake?”

I would do anything for her, whatever it took.

We continued down the desolate hallway until we came upon a door King Oberon stopped in front of. With his hand on the latch, he raised a brow and repeated again, “Can you do that?”

Without finding out what was at stake, I nodded my head and agreed, “Yes, I’ll do it for her. I owe her my life for the way I treated her.”

“Good,” King Oberon said, turning the latch on the door with a smirk on his face. As soon as the light filtered into the room I took a look around and groaned at the sight before me.

“Oh hell,” I mumbled. “If this doesn’t show her how serious I am then I don’t think anything will.”

The king clapped a hand on my shoulder and guffawed. “She won’t see it that way at first, but if you give her time she’ll come around. I heard how you left her at the Spring Court after you had the vision. She doesn’t forgive very easily, and I can honestly say she got that from her mother. I think a little humility is good for the soul.”

There was definitely going to be some humiliation tonight … mine. I was doing it all for Ariella even though she hated me for what I’d done. It was the first step to redeeming myself.

MY BEDROOM DOOR
burst open just as I collapsed on the floor away from the mirror, away from the sight of someone else’s eyes staring back at me.
What the hell is going on?
That wasn’t me in the mirror … it was Zanna looking back at me.

Kamden
stormed in the room all dressed in his Spring Court warrior gear and his sword drawn, ready for action. He ran to Zanna and searched over her, but then his gaze landed on me when she pointed in my direction. “What the …” he began. He approached me warily and tilted his head to the side, narrowing his gaze unsurely. “What’s going on? Who are you?”

“It’s me,
Kam. Now stop talking so I can concentrate,” I demanded impatiently.

Marching over to the bed, I collapsed onto it and took some deep breaths. I twirled the dark hair in between my fingers that was all
Zanna’s and immediately thought of my own, concentrating as hard as I could. And just as if I willed it, the hair between my fingers began to change colors; it was slowly going from black to blonde again. Kamden and Zanna both gasped as I ran to the bathroom and gazed hesitantly at myself in the mirror.

I was
me again, but how?

“Ariella?”
Kamden muttered, coming to the door. “How did you do that? How did you make yourself look like Zanna?”

Touching my face, I leaned closer to the mirror to inspect myself. Everything was back to normal. “I don’t know how I did it. All I know is that I was thinking about
Zanna and how amazing she was and then I changed. And just now when I was looking at my hair I was thinking about how mine was blonde and then it came back.”

Kamden’s
eyes grew wide and he bellowed, “Well, happy birthday, Princess. It looks like you’ve come into your new powers. I must say I’m a bit jealous. Just think of all the jokes you can play on people now. Are you going to tell everyone at the ceremony?”

Thoughts of what
Elvena and the others discussed came back at me full force. They were waiting to see how my powers progressed before they told me about what the scroll actually said. For some reason, I had the sinking suspicion that this gift needed to stay hidden.

Gazing back and forth from
Kamden to Zanna, I sighed and said, “No, I’m not going to tell anyone and neither are you two. Promise me you won’t say anything. I know it’s an amazing gift, but it’s something I don’t want anyone knowing just yet. Promise me.”

Zanna
nodded. “I promise, but what are you going to tell everyone when they ask what special powers came to you? You know they’re going to ask,” she responded incredulously. “The others had some pretty amazing abilities come to them and I know they will be anxious to hear what happened with you.”

I waved her off and grabbed my dress. “I’ll come up with something, but this is important. I can’t let anyone know that I can do this other than you two.
Kamden, you need to promise me.”

Kamden
smiled and shook his head. “I promise, Princess, but you know I would’ve figured it out once I became your guardian. I don’t think you could’ve hidden that from me.”

Sadly, I smiled and said, “You’d be surprised,
Kam. I’m pretty good at keeping secrets. But you seem pretty confident that you’re going to win. Arrogance can lead to mistakes if you’re not careful.”

“Don’t you worry about
me. I’ll be fine. You are the one who needs to concentrate on staying you so you can keep your secret. Now hurry up or we’ll be late. You still need to ask your father if I can compete.”

That’s right, I do, but I know he’ll say yes.

Rushing into the bathroom, I removed my robe and slid on my silver gown. My ice blue eyes stared back at me in the mirror, and I could feel the extra power flowing through my veins like a jolt of energy. Staring into the mirror, I called on my magic to make my eyes purple like Meliantha’s. Immediately they turned and I squealed in excitement.

“This is amazing,” I breathed.

I experimented with my hair color, my facial features, and even my dress. It wasn’t just my face I could change, it was my whole body including my clothes. I could be anyone I wanted to be and change at will. It was all starting to become clear to me as I stared at my changing form in the mirror.
This is how I’m going to trick the dark sorcerer.
I guess it was a good thing I was great at tricking people.

I experimented with my shifting way longer than I should have because I was already late for the ceremony.
Kamden and Zanna waited on me to finish because they were both going to walk me down to the Great Room where the fighting would begin. Before I could open my bedroom door, Drake barged in looking annoyed and agitated.

“It’s taking you long enough,” he snapped. “Everyone’s waiting on you. We need to go.” He glanced back at
Kamden and Zanna and said, “You two can go ahead and make your way down there. I’m going to escort Ariella myself.”

I held out my arm when they were about to pass me to stop them. “Wait, Drake. I need to ask father if
Kamden can compete with the other warriors for the right to be my guardian.”

Drake sighed and waved his hand impatiently for me to hurry. “I’m sure that won’t be a problem. It seems this ceremony has taken on new rules.” To
Kamden he said, “Just go down there and join the other warriors. If this is what you truly want and Ariella wishes it then so be it. Good luck to you.”

Kamden
grabbed Zanna’s hand and pulled her out of my room. He turned around once and winked. “I’ll see you down there, Princess.” Zanna waved at me and smiled before they both disappeared down the hall.

“What do you mean by the new rules?” I asked, taking hold of his arm.

Drake chuckled lightly and patted my arm. “Oh, you’ll see when we get down there. It’s going to be very interesting.” My heart pounded harder with each step we took. If Drake said it was interesting then there was something going on that I didn’t know about.

As we approached the closed doors of the Great Room, I stopped mid-stride and took a deep breath. I didn’t want to ask my next question, but I had to know. “Is Brayden in there?” I asked, tilting my head toward the room.

Drake pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. “You know, I don’t think I saw him out in the audience. I saw Queen Mab and King Madoc earlier, but I never saw Brayden.”

If I thought his absence wouldn’t bother me I was sorely mistaken. With such an important event in my life, I figured he’d want to be a part of it since he we was bound to me … but I guess not.

Forcing a smile, I turned toward the door and said, “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m sure I’ll be just fine without him. Let’s go.”

Drake chuckled. “Whatever you say, Ariella. Tell that lie to someone who believes you.”

I scoffed, but before I could say anything in my defense the doors to the Great Room opened. Drake took my hand and linked our arms together so he could walk me inside. With each passing step, my heart thundered in my chest. There were so many people here, much more than what I had anticipated.

My mother and father were waiting for me on the dais, both with smiles on their faces, but their presence didn’t help my frazzled nerves at all. What made it even more peculiar was that the warriors all had their armor and gear on, but they also had their helmets on as well. I looked up at Drake questioningly, but he just smiled and elbowed me in the side. I wasn’t going to be able to tell who was who in the fight.

When I reached my father, Drake let me go. My father took my hands and kissed my cheek before escorting me to the chair beside his. When I sat down, I leaned over to whisper in his ear, “What’s going on with the helmets? Why are they wearing them now when they’ve never had to wear them before?”

“No, they didn’t have to before. However, if you would’ve graced us with your presence earlier, and on time like you were supposed to, then you would have heard the story King
Madoc told all of us about Sorcha’s ceremony. It appears someone lost an ear during that fight, so we wanted to avoid that and any other facial injuries that could occur. I’m sure you understand.”

My eyes went wide and I grabbed his hand. “Oh, of course I do. I was just curious. I would never want our warriors to get hurt like that.”

“I know, little one. Well, are you ready?” he asked. “I think our warriors are getting a little restless. I also see that we have an extra one competing with us today.” He glanced over at Kamden in his Spring Court armor and smiled.

“Yes, Father, we do.
Kamden wanted to fight and I agreed. Is that all right?”

His smile grew wider and he nodded his head, except it seemed like he found something else humorous as well. “Of course, it’s all right. However, he’s got some pretty strong competition out there. I’m curious to see who wins.”

Me too,
I said to myself. It was going to be interesting.

My father stood up from his throne and walked to the edge of the dais so he could address the crowd. Everyone was there, including:
Calista and Ryder, Meliantha and Kalen, Sorcha and Drake, Durin, the leader of the dwarves, Queen Mab and King Madoc, and also Aelfric and Rhoswen of the Elvish kingdom. I glanced quickly at them, acknowledging them with a nod of my head before focusing back on my father.

“Good evening all honored guests and friends. Tonight we celebrate my youngest daughter’s twenty-first birthday along with her guardian ceremony. I wanted to thank you all for coming and to also wish our warriors the best of luck. Afterwards, we will have an amazing celebration to honor both Ariella and her guardian.”

My father raised his arms toward the warriors and motioned for them to get in position. The only person I knew in the crowd was Kamden because his armor was different from everyone else’s. It was a good thing, because now I would be able to spot him in the fray.

The warriors took up their stances; their swords poised in the air and their muscles ready. My father’s booming voice echoed across the room, “Warriors, you may begin!”