Chapter 2
Kai
Hot trepidation ran down my spine as my heavy leather boots thudded against the cool gray stones. The icy wind whipped across my face, and the smell of blood and smoke clung to my hunting leathers.
I strode through the fortified steel palace gates, my younger half-brother, Ashren, beside me, his brow furrowed and his cheeks chafed red by the wind.
His bow was slung across his back and his quiver still half full.
I was relieved that we’d had a successful hunt, having brought down two ice boars and a mountain goat.
Servants were now dragging the carcasses to the kitchen while others tended our caribou and the hounds.
The final rays of light were fading from the indigo-black sky.
My blood thrummed. In each daily cycle, my court and I used our magic to stretch dusk out as long as possible, but though it came to our court last, night always arrived.
At least the stars were out, shining bright silver-blue and confirming that there was no sign of a powerful attack from the Night Court.
Yet.
But give them time. They’d attack soon, either with a blunt display of force in which their magic blotted out the stars, or by a sneak attack, built up slowly over the nights to avoid triggering any alarms.
Something was happening though, and I was unnerved. I couldn’t strategize against unknowns.
Awareness prickled up and down my spine and tightened my shoulders as my stomach flipped again. It had been building inside me all day, and now I wanted to crawl out of my skin.
The air turned bitter, and another odd sensation tugged at my chest. I stopped short.
That something had changed.
Shouts of surprise rose from the inner courtyard. Metal clanked, and boots thudded.
I exchanged looks with Ashren and hurried toward the reinforced doors that separated the inner courtyard from the outer.
A portal couldn’t have opened, could it?
There were only four courts and three main portals that connected the others to Dusk.
We'd cut off the Night Court, the Day Court was dead, and everyone in the Aurora Court was still sleeping.
If the Aurora Court had awakened, there would have been other signs.
I thrust the doors open and strode through. The guards had all clustered in the center of the courtyard, and one of my men—Folge—was holding a sword aloft as a woman with wavy blonde hair thrashed in the hold of two guards.
My legs continued moving, despite me not giving them permission to. What in the frozen barrens was this fresh hell? “Halt!”
Folge’s shoulders jerked, and he lowered his sword. His brow lifted, but he nodded, then sheathed the sword.
“Bring the intruder here,” I ordered. The tugging sensation intensified as the guards hauled her upright, and I got a better look at her. My stomach dropped, and my heart skipped a beat.
The woman staggered, wincing as one of her hands clamped over the other’s bleeding palm. Folge motioned the guards holding her forward. The other four guards fell in behind them, ready to act if needed.
Her eyes lifted…and my world stilled. Her irises were hazel and flecked with gold, and her defiance shone through them despite the bruising on the left side of her face. My entire body drew tighter than a bowstring.
Shit.
By Fate, this could not be.
Centuries of being alone, and my mate shows up now? Why? And why was she dressed so peculiarly?
I hated Fate.
The last thing I needed was a distraction. The current situation demanded all my focus to protect my people from the Night Court, Bram, and his treachery.
“What are you?” I hardened my voice. It took all my strength to thrust down the urges that choked me. I tried to study her in a detached manner, but I wasn’t sure I was pulling it off.
Her hair and eyes suggested her parents might be of the Aurora or Day Courts. More than a few survivors had found their way to Dusk cities and towns, though there were far fewer Aurora Fae refugees than Day, because the Night King kept abducting them.
Her jaw tightened. “Cold. Bleeding. Confused. And not answering your stupid questions.”
Ashren’s mouth twitched. “I like her.”
I shot him a silencing glare, then turned back to her.
She wore an eye-burning, annoying pink shirt and blue trousers made of some coarse material.
The shirt fascinated me most, as it stated she was with someone.
“Where is her ally?” I demanded, looking around the courtyard.
“Did she enter through the portal? Did others accompany her?”
“What?” She scowled and pushed her hair out of her face. The wind picked up again, and she shivered. “I didn’t come with anyone. I fell through a damn mirror.”
“So who is this Stupid who accompanied you and to whom your shirt confesses?” I hated that I had to know the answer.
Was it a suitor? No, she wouldn’t refer to a suitor or lover as stupid.
But still—I wanted to know. She was a striking woman, and it would be strange if she had no suitors at all.
My blood burned at the mere thought, and my fists clenched.
I braced my hands against my belt to keep from showing any further signs of agitation.
“Huh?” Her nose wrinkled. She looked down at her shirt, then huffed. “It’s just a funny shirt. Not a confession.”
I raised an eyebrow. “So you wear clothing to insult strangers, friends, and passersby? Then this is a slight. Are you implying that my men and I are stupid?”
She lifted her chin and folded her arms over her breasts. “If the shoe fits.”
I stepped closer. “The way my boots fit has absolutely nothing to do with this conversation. Now answer me plainly, woman.”
A smile curled her lips. “You’re about as sharp as a bowl of mashed potatoes. Maybe this is why Aunt Maureen told me to stay away from that iron box. My mind has snapped.” She frowned and looked down at her hand. The bleeding had stopped, and that seemed to surprise her.
The cut itself hadn’t looked too bad, from the brief glimpse I’d gotten of it.
“Anyway, the shirt is just meant to be funny and poke fun at someone who deserves it. No one takes it seriously. If I were going to insult you, I’d call you stupid to your face.”
My eyebrows arched, and Ashren bit back a chuckle.
Damn this wretched wench. She smelled like apricots and magnolias, and I wanted to smash her against me. “What is your name?”
“Hannah.” She tilted her head and stared at me with unabashed defiance. “And who are you?”
My heart pulsed as if yanking at me to get closer to her, and annoyance flashed through me. Murmurs of surprise rippled among the guards behind her. Folge scowled, deep lines forming in his brow.
Ashren stepped forward, canting his head. “You don’t know the Dusk King when you see him? Where exactly did you come from that you do not know King Kairos?”
“Tennessee. And no, I don’t know who he is.
For that matter, I don’t know who any of you are.
But if you open that mirror back up, I’d be more than happy to fall back through it, or however the hell it works.
” She huffed and muttered to herself, “That dagger must have had some drugs on it, or I’m asleep or something. ”
She scanned the guards, the walls, and then the sky above while pinching herself. “Ouch!” She dropped her hand back to her side, then inhaled and wrinkled her nose. “Not a dream. Got it. Aunt Maureen clearly knew how to pick some drugs then.”
My stomach twisted, and my head spun as I breathed in more of her scent.
The edges of my mind were fraying. Clenching my jaw, I braced myself.
There were dozens of other questions I needed answered, but I could hand her over to Folge or Bren, and they would find out the basics.
Yet the thought of any man other than me having any contact with her made my blood boil.
“Are you all right?” Her voice cut into me like a hot blade. Despite the sharpness of her tone, she sounded almost concerned.
Fuck.
This was bad. I needed to get myself under control.
No one would keep me from my purpose. Not even my Fate-damned mate, and certainly not my ice-cursed needs.
We needed to get away from each other, but I had to make sure she wasn’t carrying any weapons or tools that might assist in her escape.
Ashren or Folge or even Bren could search her, but that wasn’t happening, and I forced myself not to acknowledge why. “Are you carrying any weapons?”
“Only my razor wit and my smart mouth.” She arched a brow. “I didn’t exactly come here for a fight.”
“We’ll see about that.” I could imagine her doing more than a few things with that mouth that would be tantamount to a threat. I stepped closer—close enough to feel the heat radiating off her skin and breathe in her scent more fully. I grew dizzy.
Her cheeks brightened as well, and she took in a quick breath. Her gaze held mine and, for a moment, my lungs no longer worked.
My heart squeezed. Fate above, damn you! “I’m going to search you.”
“The hell you are!” Her mouth twisted, and her voice sliced through the haze of my mind.
I grabbed her by the waist and ran my hands up and down her sides, patting her down briskly, ignoring the way my skin buzzed from touching her.
“Hold still, or I’ll shove you in a cell so far from the surface you won’t even be able to dream of light.
” And even that might not be far enough away to grant me peace.
Her eyes narrowed, and her mouth set in a tight line. Some sassy response was brewing behind those gorgeous hazel eyes, but she kept it contained. She didn’t seem to recognize the significance of this tugging sensation between us. Perhaps she didn’t even feel it—but that was fine with me.
Fuck.
Her whole body was perfection.