The Ice Diamond Cuff (Custodian Novel #4) (13 page)

"Stuffy now, am I?" Faen asked, obvious glee
in his voice.

Faedra wriggled about on the bed, erupting
into fits of giggles. She knew she could stop his onslaught with
the merest slip of her self control, but she had never seen this
gorgeous creature be so playful before, and she wanted to soak in
the look on his face for as long as she could bear it.

Another knock on the door. Faen ceased his
attack and they both looked at the door.

"See what you do to me?" Faedra asked. "I'd
totally forgotten she was there."

Faen gave a nonchalant hitch of one very
muscular shoulder.

The person behind the door cleared her
throat. "My Lady?"

"Yes, Erin."

"Um, no one is dying, My Lady."

Faedra closed her eyes and smiled at the
seriousness of the voice coming from the other side of the
door.

"Well, that's good to know." Faedra peeled
herself out from underneath where Faen was now straddling her and
smoothed down her nightdress. She absorbed the chiseled muscle of
Faen's chest one more time before saying with a cheeky grin, "I
better let her in. Cover yourself up, I don't want the help ogling
my husband."

A wry curve tugged at the corner of his
mouth. In the blink of an eye, a loose cotton tunic covered Faen's
torso. He positioned himself behind his wife who was sitting
crossed legged on the bed in amongst the disheveled bedding.
Wrapping his arms loosely around her waist, he rested his chin on
her shoulder.

"Come in, Erin," Faedra called.

The door opened slowly and the young maid
peeked her head around the door. Her gaze dropped to the floor as
soon as she saw the newlyweds still sitting on the bed dressed only
in their nightclothes. Faedra she had seen many a time in her night
clothes. Faen, not so much.

"So," Faedra continued. "What is so urgent
that you deem it necessary to disturb my husband and I the morning
after our wedding night?"

Erin's cheeks flushed flame red, and she
lowered her eyes again.

"Begging your pardon, My Lady."

Faedra could feel the young maid's
embarrassment emanate around the room; she felt mean for speaking
so abruptly. Faedra knew all too well it would not be Erin's
decision to disturb them, she was just the messenger. But, Lord
help her if she couldn't take out her frustration on someone.
Couldn't she enjoy just one lazy morning in bed with her new
husband before duty called? She inhaled a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, Erin. That was mean of me.
Please, tell me who sent you."

The maid hesitated a moment before bringing
her eyes up to meet with Faedra's again. She offered her mistress a
small smile. "If you please, My Lady. Your father is requesting
your presence." She skittered a glance to Faen before returning it
to Faedra. "Both of you, My Lady."

"And what could possibly be so important that
he needs me at this moment?"

"The Alsians. They will be arriving
presently, and Ambassador Zaven requested the princess and her new
prince be present when they arrive," Erin explained.

Faedra narrowed her eyes. "Did he now?" She
turned her head around and brought her palm to rest on Faen's
cheek. "I thought we'd have a bit more of a honeymoon than this
before duty called."

Faen smiled. "The tournament will be over
before you know it. Then we will have all the time in the world."
He leaned in and planted a kiss on the tip of Faedra's nose.

"Do you need my assistance with dressing, My
Lady?" Erin asked, pulling Faedra's attention back to the young
maid.

"No, thanks, Erin. I'm sure my husband will
be more than happy to help."

Erin's cheeks turn scarlet once more.

"Tell my father we will be down
momentarily."

Erin bobbed a quick curtsy before scuttling
out of the door.

Faedra scooted herself off the bed, turned
and took Faen's hand. "Well, Husband," she said as Faen scooted
himself off the bed after her. "Want to help me get dressed?"

Faen raked his eyes down the length of
Faedra's body before grabbing a handful of satin nightdress on
either side of Faedra's hips. "Got to get you out of this
first."

***

"You wished to see us, Father." Faedra said,
as she and Faen strode into the king's study dressed in their
official engagement finery.

Her father looked up from where he was
pouring over some paperwork on his desk and smiled.

"Ah, my dear. You look radiant this morning.
Marriage obviously suits you."

Faedra felt her cheeks burn. She could hear
Faen shuffle his feet beside her, his energy letting her know he
felt suddenly disquieted by her father's statement. She gave his
hand a squeeze and turned to look at him, giving her husband a
supportive smile.

When she turned back to face her father, the
knowing grin on his face almost caused her to burst into flames. It
might be a well-known fact around the castle that she had done what
every other woman in history had done on her wedding night, but did
everyone really have to blatantly flaunt the knowledge in front of
her? It was embarrassing, for goodness sakes. She took in a deep
breath and faced her father with the blankest expression she could
plaster across her face.

After a moment of quiet, the king broke the
oppressive silence in his study by putting his fist to his mouth
and clearing his throat. "Sorry I had to disturb you this morning,
but I wish for you to accompany me when we greet the Alsian
contingent for the tournament. They will be arriving any time now,
so we should make our way to the lake post haste."

Faedra scrunched her eyebrows.

"You will see when we get there," the king
said, noting his daughter's confusion over their destination.

The king stepped out from behind his desk and
swept past his daughter and new son-in-law. "If you would be so
kind as to follow me," he said.

"Well, here goes our first royal engagement
together," Faedra whispered to Faen as they turned and followed the
king out of the study.

When they arrived at the expansive body of
water that nestled just outside the castle walls, Faedra noticed an
eerie mist hovering above the water. Ambassador Zaven was already
standing at the water's edge. He turned and greeted them with a
polite incline of his head.

"Ah, Prince and Princess. I am glad you could
make it," Zaven said.

Faedra bit back a sarcastic retort about not
having a choice in the matter and being dragged out of her bed the
morning after her wedding night, but thought better of it and
offered the Ambassador a sickly sweet smile instead.

The sound of cracking distracted the new
arrivals to the lake and they all turned their attention to the
water. Faedra watched as the edges of the lake crusted over with
ice. The ice spread inward, quickly glazing over the liquid surface
of the water until the entire lake more resembled a perfectly
smooth skating rink. She looked up at Faen, who returned her
confounded expression with one of his own. Obviously, he hadn't
seen this before, either.

A crack like lightning made Faedra jump
almost out of her skin.

"It's quite all right, Your Highness," Zaven
said with obvious glee at her discomfiture. "This is all perfectly
normal."

To whom?
Faedra thought. It certainly
wasn't normal in her realm of imagination. But then again, she
decided, a re-evaluation of her realm of imagination was probably
way overdue.

A crack appeared in the center of the lake
and created a deep fissure that extended to the shoreline in front
of where the welcoming party was standing. As it got wider, Faedra
could swear she saw steps forming deep into the belly of the lake.
She craned her neck forward allowing her to look into the deep
frozen opaque pit of what was once, just a few moments ago, a
crystalline clear pool of water.

She could see the steps continue to form,
until the darkness at the bottom of the newly formed chasm
swallowed them up. Then she heard it. No, surely not. Footsteps?
Lots and lots of footsteps all resounding off the ice in uniformed
synchronicity. Who exactly was down there?

She didn't have to wait long to find out.

Twinkling lights bounced off the frozen walls
at the bottom of the staircase. Faedra craned her neck even
further. So much so, she felt Faen's grip on her hand tighten,
holding her back so that she wouldn't inadvertently fall down the
gaping hole.

Then she saw them. Surprised, she stood up
straight, as row upon row of Alsian men marched up the frozen
staircase towards them. All of them perfectly shaped like their
Ambassador with only an opaque ice cloth protecting their modesty.
As they reached the top of the steps they split in two and marched
across the frozen lake, forming regimented lines as they came to a
stop.

Faedra rubbed her arm as the temperature
around them plummeted several degrees. She sent fire throughout her
veins, instantly warming her skin. Her breath misted in front of
her face. She scanned the rest of her party. Faen and her father's
breath did the same. Unsurprisingly, Ambassador Zaven's did not.
Faedra turned a wary look to her husband. Something in the pit of
her stomach told her these people could not be trusted. And on a
bone deep level, she just didn't like them.

Faen cast her a warm smile and squeezed her
hand again. The supportive gesture did nothing to allay her fears.
She glanced at her father. His expression was stoic, unreadable.
Inexplicably, at that moment, Faedra wanted to throw all of her
fire at the lake and melt it... reduce it back to what it should
be. She flexed her fingers, pushing the thought back.

Row upon row, Alsians emerged from the depths
of the frozen lake.

"This is beginning to look more like an army
than a tournament contingent," Faedra whispered to Faen.

Faedra noticed Zaven tense.
Crap, he heard
me. Well, that's just great, Faedra,
she chastised herself.
Way to go. Insult the Ambassador on your first royal engagement
out of the gate.

To her surprise, the Ambassador turned and
offered her a smile. "It does look that way, doesn't it, Your
Highness. We encourage all of our young warriors to compete in the
tournament. It just so happens, we tend to have quite a few more
than the other realms."

Like that was supposed to make her feel
better? Faedra offered the Ambassador a tight smile but kept her
mouth shut.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Faedra carried on watching as the Alsian
contingent continued to emerge from the depths of the frozen lake.
Finally, when the last one had joined his 'teammates', the surface
of the lake cracked and groaned as the fissure closed in on itself,
covering the steps until the surface was smooth once more. In one
fluid movement, the gathered participants moved forward. They came
to a stop a few feet from the shoreline. In another fluid movement,
they all bowed towards the welcoming party lined up on the shore.
Faedra inclined her head, then inwardly smiled at how quickly she
had become accustomed to the idiosyncrasies of this realm. She
would never have thought to incline her head in greeting before. If
she did that in the World of Men, her friends would take the mickey
mercilessly.

A single member of the group stepped forward
and looked toward the king. "With your permission, Your Majesty. We
would like to commence the construction of our camp."

"Permission granted."

The single member stepped back and joined the
rest of the contingent. When he was in line with the others, they
all backed up a few steps and dispersed. Faedra watched as they
gathered into groups, standing in separate circles across the
surface of the lake. Loud cracking noises ensued moments later.
Faedra's mouth dropped as she saw gaping holes appear in the middle
of each circle. An Alsian from each group held their hands over the
hole, then drew water up from beneath the ice with whatever power
it was they possessed.

As the water came up through the hole, the
person controlling it, sent it out towards the others standing in
the group. Each member of the group took hold of the water, molding
it as they worked it into various ice sculptures. Before long, an
entire camp had been molded from ice. There were accommodations,
complete with furnishings, now covering the entire lake.

Zaven looked down at the princess who was
finding it hard to hide the wonderment she felt at having witnessed
an entire village built from ice in a matter of minutes.

"Impressive, is it not?" Zaven asked.

Faedra dragged her gaze away from the camp
and looked up at the Ambassador...speechless.

"We make our camp on the lake because to live
on the land would kill anything that grows on it," Zaven explained.
"We are, essentially, made of ice, and ice kills most living
things. Or, at least, will make it dormant for a long time."

Faedra gave the Ambassador another tight
smile. No wonder the people of Umor considered them dangerous, if
that's what they could do with water. Faedra made a note to keep a
very close eye on their newest guests to the realm. She remembered
Jalia's words.
Fire melts ice
. Faedra sure hoped she would
never have to use that card.

***

"Where's father? Shouldn't he be opening the
tournament?" Faedra whispered to Faen as they presided over the
opening ceremony for the Seven Realms Tournament. They were seated
in the royal box that overlooked the spectators seated around the
tournament stadium. The participants had not yet entered the
grounds.

Faen quirked his lips and cast his eyes
skyward. Faedra followed his line of sight and sucked in a breath.
High above the stadium, Draconis was circling, his wings flapping
with graceful ease. A roar of fire shot from his mouth, which
prompted 'oohs and ahhs' from the spectators below. This scene
alone would not have had Faedra gaping open mouthed. The fact that
her father--the royal one--was sitting astride the powerful beast
was what had her mouth agape.