26. Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Enemies
Gerta:
S malls and I successfully drag Kay out of the ice palace even though he starts resisting the moment we reach the ground floor.
Biggs is waiting for us with the rope.
Kay frowns when he sees it. “If you think that’s going to elicit true love’s kiss from me, you’re sorely mistaken. The handcuff earlier was merely a necessity; not an accessory.”
Keeping a hold of Kay while Biggs ties his wrists, Smalls frowns at me. “Do I have your permission to trounce him once we’ve escaped?”
“I’ll consider it.” I glance back at the palace. The trickiest part of this plan was Wolf being able to disengage Prince since the Queen will likely be on their heels.
“Done.” Biggs moves away from Kay. “Now let’s go.” Without a backward look, he hurries down the stairs.
I turn back to Kay, more bound now that I’m rescuing than when I captured him. But in his own words, failure isn’t permitted.
So, this is what we have to do. Catching Smalls’ gaze, I nod for him to follow .
Before he can obey, though, Kay suddenly pivots, knocking his head into Smalls’ jaw.
My dearest friend cries out and yanks away. Kay uses his imbalance to trip him, so he falls forward, face planting in the snow instead of falling off the mountain.
Kay steps back when Smalls doesn’t rise. I hurry to the latter’s side, trying to roll him over so he doesn’t suffocate on snow.
Suddenly a pair of bound hands are next to mine, helping me to heave Smalls to the side and then onto his back. The man’s snores slice through the air.
I frown as I glance between him and the palace. There is no way I can get him down the mountain, even if I call Biggs back up. We’re trapped here until he awakens— especially since I’ll have to make sure he remains warm enough despite the too-small dress clothes he’s wearing. Though, my stolen gown is surprisingly warm beyond just the fur shawl.
“Now, what do I do with you?”
Turning, I find Kay still crouching in the snow beside me. He studies me like I’m the puzzle that needs to be solved and not our escape. His bound hands are in front of him, even though I’m pretty sure Kay had them secured behind his back.
“We were trying to help you,” I whisper, horrified over the consequences that will rain down once the Snow Queen comes for us.
Kay holds up his bound hands. “ This is helping me?”
“I wanted to free you.”
“ This is freeing me?!”
I huff. “I thought . . . I thought—”
“You thought you loved me.” Kay shakes his head at me as he stands. “You didn’t love me while I was your neighbor. Why would you think that changed now that I am your enemy?”
“I don’t know! I honestly feel as though nothing has changed at all except that I’m not a child anymore. Not that I believed in true love even then.” I turn away from Kay, as foolish as that is from a strategic point of view. Instead, I stare down at Smalls’ face as I wait for our fate.
“If you don’t believe in true love, how can you think that you’re my true love?”
Snow is fluttering down, and I brush it off Smalls’ face. “I don’t know. I suppose I don’t believe that; not really.”
“Then why on earth would you risk your freedom and the hearts of your entire rebel cell to come kiss me, of all things?”
I still can’t look at him as my heart grows heavier with every moment it waits to become frozen, too. “Because I thought your freedom was worth a try.”
“A try ? You fool— you risked everything .”
A single tear slips down my face, and I wonder how long it will last before it’s frozen, too. “I did what I would’ve wanted you to do for me if our roles were reversed. But they weren’t because of you and—” I choke on a sob.
Before I can even think of how to finish my statement, strong hands grasp my waist and pull me to my feet. Then I’m twisted around to face Kay, who studies me like I am his next mission objective.
Kay releases me, and then suddenly his bound hands are behind me, caging me in and pulling me closer against him. Then they reach to cradle my head, tilting my face upward.
“What—?”
He answers my question by pressing his lips against mine.
Kai:
Back at the Academy of Blood, I was trained in no fewer than a dozen ways to disarm a hostile. I practiced until I could accomplish each step, even if I was awakened in the dead of night and thrown into a mock fight.
And that was just disarming maneuvers. There were dozens of other moves for specific combat methods against estries, gysts, and werwolfe— in all known forms. I spent an entire month training on how to take out multiple combatants at once.
For all this, they only briefly touched on the art of seduction. Yet, that has proved to be the most useful of all my covert training thus far.
When I enlisted, I had no idea what I was signing up for, evidently.
Unfortunately, now that I have pulled Gerta into my embrace, I am unsure how to proceed. The seduction class was really quite succinct and included the warning to avoid letting it get to mouth-on-mouth contact. Apparently, that can be just as disarming to us as it is to the target.
They aren’t wrong. But they also neglected to train me how to properly comfort a sobbing woman, so here we are. Specifically, here I am with my hands threading into Gerta’s braid, while her hands cling to my open collar.
As for the kiss itself, I tried to keep it cold and calculating. But my rage for what she’s driven me to intensifies. For a moment, I wonder if mayhap my frozen heart is healed after all, for how could I have any ice within me while fire moves through my veins?
Gerta, on the other hand, behaves just as ferociously as might be expected, meeting my rage with a crazed fervor all her own.
True love is a desperate thing when found between two enemies desperate for unconditional love.
For a moment, I’m afraid we’ll topple over Smalls and plummet off the mountain. So, I unweave my hands from Gerta’s hair, grasp beneath her arms, and carry her closer to the ice palace.
When I set her back down, though, she pulls away. Her gaze immediately falls to my chest, and she runs a finger over it.
I should shudder at her icy touch, but my chest is already so cold on its own.
“It . . . it didn’t work.” Gerta gapes in horror before lifting her gaze to mine. “After all that— it didn’t work !”
Pulling my bound arms away from her, I step back. I suppose I am meant to be the Snow Queen’s servant and not Gerta’s prisoner. “You did all you could. Now you can leave with your guilt assuaged.” As for me, I’ll be left with only the taste of her to haunt my days and nights. The confounded woman.
Gerta glances toward where Smalls is stirring. “Oh.”
“I suppose I should thank you for trying to set me free and attempting to restore me to the man I used to be, but you need to leave before you nullify my sacrifice. And I must return if there is any chance that I can still secure this promotion . . .”
She nods, not meeting my eyes. “I’m sorry I could not heal you.”
“I forgive you.” And, strangely enough, though I still feel some fire simmering in me, I find that it’s true in the depth of my frozen heart. I forgive her for tormenting while she was a child who knew no better. I absolve her of abducting me both times, considering I have no stones to throw. And I cannot hold it against her that she could not heal me when my own magic cannot cure me of this curse.
Some struggles exist as an entity all their own, and those trials are what ought to be blamed, not the mortals who come alongside you to help in their own foolish ways.
Turning toward the palace, I feel her hand touch my elbow.
I glance down as Gerta takes a blade to my binds .
“This is where we part,” she whispers, just as I once said to her. “You have no need to fear me; just know that what comes next for you will be a consequence of your own choices like the freedom you love so much demands.”
For a long moment, I stare down into the sorrow filling her gaze, not sure what to say.
Since I find no words, I turn away just as Gerta leans closer, stretching as high as she can. In my peripheral vision, I watch as she presses her lips to my cheek, just brushing the corner of my lips.
There is no passion in her touch now; only bittersweet farewell as she sets me free from her expectations.
Gerta pulls away and turns her back to me. I turn back toward the palace and take a step before staggering a sudden pinching sound pierces my chest. Then a new sensation follows like heat, but not quite. No, this is a gentle warmth like I once knew before the Snow Queen stabbed me.
Glancing down, it almost looks like the blue circling my chest is fading. Am I . . . thawing ?
Before I can ask a second opinion, though, the palace doors fly open.
The Snow Queen strides out— walking on the actual snow instead of floating like she seems to prefer.
“Where is he?” she demands of the elements. “Where is he? Where is my future king?!”