Chapter 18 Khiona
Something about the food unlocked Andar’s secret ability to carry a conversation for hours. Sometimes my mind stayed with him; other times, it returned to the moment he kissed my knuckles and the flutters that small gesture sent across my chest.
“You won’t see the same kind of plum trees once we pass the Summer Chasm,” Andar said, “but there will be other plums and fruit trees you’ve never seen before.” Apparently he wasn’t mad about the fact that I’d never traveled this far south before, and he was now educating me on the experience.
“I’m not attached to plum trees,” I told him.
“Oh? Aren’t they a symbol of your kingdom?”
“Yes, but not because we can’t live without them.”
For the first time all afternoon, he stopped talking and walked quietly next to me, on the wide path that cut through my southern forests.
His silence felt like an invitation, so I explained more.
“Plums are the only trees that bloom without magic in the middle of winter. They are beautiful and strong and resilient, traits the winter fae admire and aspire to.”
“Traits you have.” Andar didn’t miss a step, but the compliment rolled out of him as easily as if he were commenting on the pine trees around us.
My cheeks heated. Again. I had never blushed so many times in one day in my life.
Andar’s lips turned up into a smirk. He liked making me blush! I would get him back for that.
* * *
I finally got my revenge on him for embarrassing me at bedtime.
I’d tried to bait him into an awkward embarrassment all day, but his emotions were too controlled. He allowed himself amusement, but I couldn’t catch a hint of any other feelings.
Until we were preparing for bed.
I’d made another ice castle for the night, and we’d both retired to our rooms, separated by an ice wall.
As I replayed the events of the last few days, I realized Andar’s weakness: he was protective.
He’d saved my life moments after we’d met and constantly tried to protect me from dangers and inconveniences.
If I was going to embarrass him, I’d have to catch him off guard—and his protective nature would be the way.
Giddy at my epiphany, I sat up in bed. Without taking the time to think it through more thoroughly, I let out a blood-curdling shriek.
Before I finished screaming, Andar rushed into my room. His untied doublet swished around his undershirt as he careened up to my bed with a wild look in his eyes. He threw his hands out, using the bed to stop his movement, and swung his head around the room.
Seconds crawled by. His chest heaved as he stared at me. “What happened?”
My lips twitched upward, attempting to smile without me telling them to. “I…” What was I supposed to say? I’d clearly surprised him—he was standing here vulnerable and unrestrained—but not embarrassed.
And suddenly, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to embarrass him. Nobody had ever come running to rescue me before, and I didn’t want him to regret it.
“I missed you.” True words, but not nearly as cruel as the Got you back! I’d originally planned.
“You missed me,” he deadpanned, settling his brows into a skeptical line.
I nodded and clutched a handful of ice while my heart crawled into my throat. What had I done? “I… wanted to see you one more time before I went to sleep,” I stammered out. “And now I’ve seen you, and… I don’t want you to miss out on any sleep—”
I cut off as he rounded the end of my bed and sat down next to me, changing the ice into a wooden bed with a down mattress and soft blankets.
He cradled my head in one hand and brushed loose hair over my shoulder with his other.
“You’re trouble,” he whispered, his voice lowering into a throaty rumble.
He traced a thumb along my chin, and I closed my eyes.
The sensation ran like lightning down my neck and all the way into my fingers.
I squeezed the blankets in my fists, wishing he would just kiss me and end all my questions about whether or not he cared for me.
I hated not knowing, debating if this was all for the bargain he’d agreed to or if he might feel more—
“So much trouble.” His words were barely more than a hoarse growl.
He wrapped his free hand around the back of my head and tipped it down, settling a kiss on the top of my forehead.
Heat from his lips pressed into my skin as he tightened his hold on the back of my head.
The world burned away, and I froze in his grasp, wishing this moment might last for eternity.
But also wishing it would end because I wanted more.
He tipped his own head down, meeting my forehead with his.
“You are a plum blossom,” he breathed. “Beautiful. Precious. Powerful. Bold. Fragile. No matter what happens with me, do not forget this. You deserve freedom too.” My heart exploded at his words, crashing against the magic that contained it.
Who could resist such tender affection from someone as powerful as Andar?
He kissed my forehead again, carefully wrapping my head in his hands. He tucked another lock of hair behind my shoulder, and then he silently walked out of the room, ending the fountain of attention as abruptly as it had erupted.
I flopped backward onto my bed, reeling with thoughts and—
And feelings.
My heart pounded and emotions seeped through thin spots in the walls surrounding it, teasing at my thoughts and tempting my hopes. What if he actually cared about me? The possibility thrilled and scared me at the same time.
What if he wanted to stay with me, even after I killed the humans?
What would it be like to be so wanted?
I touched my forehead with my finger. I knew there was no mark, but I felt branded by hope—a feeling I shouldn’t have been able to experience seared into my flesh.
What had he meant by it?
My mind was still spiraling in a dozen new directions when a shadow stepped away from the wall nearest my bed.
Not a shadow.
Another fae. Tall, dark hair, dark clothes that highlighted a lethal grace, and an earring that reflected a hint of moonlight.
I summoned magic to freeze him, but he deflected it with no effort. I opened my mouth to scream, but he spoke first.
“I’ve already blocked all sounds from leaving this room. The fae you travel with will hear nothing.”
I folded my arms, sitting up in bed. It had been a long time since I’d had an assassin sneak into my room, and this one was unusually chatty. “Perhaps the lack of noise will alert him to a problem.”
The intruder shrugged. “Then he will have to deal with the protective wards I’ve set around us before we are interrupted.”
I tried to get a better view of him, but the night was too dark. “Most assassins prefer the element of surprise. Why tell me all this?”
“I am not your enemy.” He didn’t say he was not here to assassinate me. He might not consider me his enemy, but I was not safe.
“What are you here for?” I used a direct question so he could not skirt around it with an indirect answer as easily.
“I am here to decide if you are a threat.”
“A threat to what?”
He stepped closer, not threatening as much as ramping up the intensity. “A threat to Kalshana.”
Now I rolled my eyes. This was the most pathetic assassination attempt I’d experienced. “I am Kalshana’s queen. That is the opposite of a threat.”
His voice was cold and forceful. “Your last reign was marked by cruelty and detachment. Your disappearance left chaos and fear. I am Prince Bylur, and I am working to solve all of those problems. I believe our kingdom will be better off if you do not return.”
I threw off my blankets and stood in front of him, gripping ice daggers that I formed as I rose. It was a good thing I’d been sleeping in fighting leathers. “Then you are here to kill me.”
A violent pounding shook the wall behind him. If it hadn’t been warded with magic, the ice would have shattered. “Your Majesty!” Andar had discovered the intruder.
The prince shook his head slowly. “I don’t intend to kill you tonight. Do you intend to stop my work?”
Did I? Not right now—I had some humans to take care of first. And if this prince did manage to unite all the nobles, taking charge of them would be easier than if they were all still pursuing their own agendas.
I parroted his words back at him. “I do not intend to stop you tonight.”
Andar yelled again and pounded on the ice walls.
Bylur smirked. “And how long will I have before you decide to undermine my efforts?”
I gripped my dagger, bracing for the moment he decided to drop the diplomacy and attack. “I can’t say.”
He pursed his lips. “I’m not opposed to working with you. Would you consider working with a council of the noble lords?”
The icy wall behind him turned red and started radiating heat. Andar was fighting magic with magic. And he was doing it for me. The thought warmed my entire chest.
I lifted my chin. “I don’t negotiate with people who break into my bedroom.”
The red ice melted, thinning enough that I could see Andar’s furious face focused on Bylur, that protective streak making him look even more dangerous than the fae who’d trapped me in my own room.
“Very well,” Bylur said. “I hope we can meet again in conditions you find more conducive to discussions.”
I clenched my jaw and tightened my fingers around my dagger hilt. If only it were a solid bone hilt, wrapped in leather—something my fist could settle around instead of the ice I’d formed with magic.
Bylur did not wait for an answer. He stepped into the shadows of the wall to his right and…
Disappeared.
At the same time, the wall separating Andar from me shattered, bursting into millions of shards of ice. A gale-force wind caught them all in the air and dumped them in a pile where the wall had been.
Andar leapt over them and rushed into the shadows where Bylur had disappeared. When he did not find the shadow-loving prince, Andar strode across the room to me.
He gripped my upper arms, carefully, but securely. “Your Majesty. Are you… hurt?”
I met his anxious gaze and shook my head slowly. “No. He— It was Prince Bylur.”
Andar’s gaze darkened. “Did he threaten you?”
“Not exactly.” I could not lie. The words would not form on my lips.
I could either tell Andar the truth or leave him in the dark.
And when I saw the concern in his face, I could not leave him worried.
“Bylur said he wanted to discuss working with me and a council of nobles to correct the chaos in the kingdom. He claimed we were not enemies, but he also refused to say he would not kill me.”
Andar’s grip tightened on my shoulders—not uncomfortably, but enough that I let my daggers dissolve into the air, and I collapsed against his chest. He’d removed his doublet, but his soft undershirt was warm and comfortable.
He wrapped his arms around my back, holding me firmly against him with one hand and rubbing my back with the other.
There was a safety in his arms—a safety I’d never felt before.
“I was so worried,” he muttered. “When I felt the extra layer of magic surrounding you and realized I couldn’t reach you. And then I saw him in here. And I told you I’d protect you as long as our paths crossed—”
“I’m fine,” I said, snuggling into him. How long could I get away with this hug? “Bylur seemed more curious about me than anything. I won’t worry about him until after we take care of the humans.”
Andar’s hand froze in the middle of the path it had been tracing across my back, as if I’d reminded him that we did not have a relationship of comforting hugs.
Or at least, not a real one. We might have had a pretend relationship that would have encouraged him to embrace me like this if we had an audience.
But here, nobody saw. He didn’t need to perform.
He let go of me, walking closer to the shattered wall. “I’m glad you’re safe. Maybe we should leave the wall down between our rooms so he can’t come back and trap you again.”
The space he put between us hurt more than anything Bylur had done. I missed Andar’s hug, his warmth, and his concern. I shook my head, and he stepped over the broken ice.
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Get some sleep.” I shot my magic at the crystal shards, swirling them in the air until they reassembled into a solid ice wall.
Then I patched the crystals in the wall around my heart as well.