Chapter 2 – Neve
NEVE
The hares were gone, and we were down to less than two days’ worth of small, portioned meals.
As a blood slave, I’d been fed regular meals and while I’d never starved, I’d also never received as much food as I wanted. Often, I’d go to bed hungry, but this hunger was different. A stronger beast gnawing at my belly. And yet, I didn’t dare complain.
What would be the point? The hunters shot three hares and then went back and found two more. The meat hadn’t gone far, but it was something, and they were trying their best.
In our situation, every little bit counted.
“Take this.” Vale held out a cooked bit of hare.
“That’s yours.”
“Between cracking the ice repeatedly and building shelters, you’ve been using a lot of magic. You need it more than me.” He extended the still steaming chunk of meat again. The savory, charred scent made my mouth water, but I made no move to take it.
Vale sighed. “Neve, please. I want you to have it.”
Something in his voice broke my resolve, and, swallowing, I took the meat. It was little more than a bite, but Fates alive, it was delicious.
“Thank you,” I whispered after I’d swallowed it down. “I don’t deserve someone as good as you.”
“You deserve more than me.” Shadows crawled over his dark brown eyes.
Not this again.
Since learning that he was a Riis by blood, Vale had fallen into periods of moodiness.
When we’d been busy with finding Roar, Vale had been able to accept that we were together.
But with too much time to think during our journey, he dwelled on the fact that he was a bastard-born fae, and I was a trueborn princess. An inappropriate match, or so he said.
He seemed to have forgotten that he’d been willing to marry me—a former blood slave—to save my life.
More than that, I could tell he wanted me.
Vale might be falling in love with me, and I was falling for him too.
We hadn’t said as much, but I sensed the changes between us.
That our marriage of safety, of honor on his part, had taken a turn.
Is it time to find a quiet place and talk?
I looked up at Vale. “Night is upon us. Would you like to make good on your earlier promise?”
His lips twitched and that sadness in his eyes vanished. “I’ll tell Caelo to keep watch.”
My stomach fluttered as he walked away. The journey so far had been long, exhausting, and offered no privacy.
Vale and I had stolen kisses, but a hotter desire hung like a weight over us at all hours.
I hungered for every part of him, as well as a chance to tell him how I felt.
Hoping we might be gone and lost in one another for some time, I scanned the area around the lake.
The sun had set, and our horses were bedded down, sleeping together by the fire and covered with what wool blankets we could spare. Most of the humans had already disappeared into their ice shelters to sleep too. A few remained outside, mostly the younger ones.
I spied Ronaldo, one of the best hunters in the group, talking to Stephanie and Lei.
Both young women were listening, wide-eyed, and though they were far away, I caught a few words.
Ronaldo was boasting to the girls about his hunting experience.
No doubt he wanted to impress Lei, a raven-haired beauty about his age.
I thought that, if she liked him back, they would be a good match.
Other humans trusted Lei, and she was interested in healing, a valuable skill in any realm.
Ronaldo was a handsome man and turning into a provider for their group.
Give him a couple more turns, and I could see him being a leader one day too.
Not that this was any time to play matchmaker. I needed to focus on getting all three of them to safety.
“Caelo is on watch. Anna too,” Vale said, alerting me to his presence once again.
I took his hand in mine, and as we left the lake behind, I exhaled, a quiet peace settling between us deep within the trees.
“There’s a certain weight to leading,” he said.
“Yes,” I agreed. “One of the heaviest is never getting you to myself.”
He smiled, drawing me in closer and under his large fur cloak as we walked.
Snow and frost clung to every tree limb, glittering prettily in the moonlight and weighing the branches down until the lowest ones grazed the earth.
Above, a star-filled sky churned and blinked, making me feel so small in such a big world.
When I was a slave, I hadn’t thought about the dead gods living among the stars—or maybe the gods were them, according to some sources.
During our journey south, I’d decided that if we lived through this, and if we returned to a shelter where there was a library, I’d do well to research the dead gods.
After all, if I was to go through with the desire burning in my heart, I might very well need the help of those same dead gods.
“What are you thinking?” Vale murmured, his voice warming me from within in a way no one else had ever managed.
“About the stars. The gods.”
“Oh, is that all? By the look on your face, I thought it was something important.”
I swatted his barrel chest. “It was more me thinking of all that I don’t know. I'd like to learn more.”
He didn’t reply, and I had a hint as to why. We hadn’t discussed what we’d do after we saw the humans to safety. What few options would be open to us? Few knew my true identity and fewer still knew Vale’s secret parentage.
Vale was waiting for me to make my choice first. To speak it out loud and claim my blood right.
And then there was the matter of the Ice Scepter, a lost Hallow of Winter’s Realm. One that could have the power to change so much, if only I could find it.
From reading Brogan Lisika’s note to Roar, I learned that their parents had seized the Ice Scepter during the chaos of King Magnus’s Rebellion about two decades ago.
The Lisikas had then taken the Hallow on a journey with them south and then west—in the direction of Myrr, where House Balik reigned.
A journey that had ended in the deaths of Lord and Lady Lisika and their young heir. The Ice Scepter’s disappearance too.
But if I found the Hallow, I might use my magic to heal this land. In doing so, I’d be primed to claim the Crown of Winter’s Realm, and no matter how I looked at that choice, it was terrifying.
“Did Caelo find the fiddler?” I asked, wishing to stray from the seriousness of what lay before me. Tonight was supposed to be about pleasure. For getting lost in one another. For us. As soon as we were far enough away from camp, I didn’t want to talk at all.
“No.”
“Did he go all the way to the road?”
“He did. There was no one there, but there were footprints and sleigh marks.” Vale shrugged. “If a fiddler traveled the road, they’re long gone.”
The air turned white and misty with my breath.
The explanation made as much sense as any.
We hadn’t checked on the roads often, but each time we had dared to do so, there was not much sign of life.
According to Vale and Caelo, people didn’t move about as freely in this part of the kingdom.
If they did, it was to go toward Guldtown or east, not closer to where the Red Mist Mountains and the Ice Tooth Range collided.
Few fae lived and lurked in these mountains, which made them both dangerous and the best place to hide the humans.
We only hoped no monsters had taken over Dergia.
Vale seemed to think it was unlikely. That we weren’t leading these people into more danger—that the one place where they might find peace in this world wasn’t closed off to them too.
“That tree looks cozy.” He pointed to an enormous pine, so large that at one point, an earth fae, or many, had to have helped it grow.
The lowest branches were up high, so high that they cleared Vale’s head.
Perhaps once upon a time someone had used this tree for shelter and shaped it in the process.
“Should we get a closer look?”
The heat in his eyes told me we were on the same page, and we trudged through the snow, closer to the tree. When we reached the outer branches, the snow began to thin and slope downward. I gripped Vale’s hand, our gloves a barrier between us, but hopefully not for long.
At the base, I leaned against the cold bark, felt snow flutter into my hair, which was a rat’s nest after days of travel. I preferred not to think of that, though, especially not when I had my handsome husband in front of me.
“Finally, alone.” I wove my hands around his neck.
Vale responded, coming closer so that his thick cloak covered me as well as him. No matter how much space we’d put between us and the group, Vale was a possessive fae male. He wouldn’t want anyone straying upon us and seeing the female he was with.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself.” He dipped his head so that our lips met.
The cold brushing over my lips thawed at Vale’s touch. One hand splayed at my back, he drew me closer, and my breasts ached for his touch. There was far too much material between us for my liking, so my hands slithered up the muscled plains of his torso, sliding his tunic up with them.
“Up,” Vale whispered, and before I could process, his hands dipped to my arse.
I laughed, breaking our kiss as he lifted me. My legs wrapped around his waist, seeking closeness.
Secure around him, he eased me back into the tree and his wings wrapped around me to make a sort of seat.
My eyelids fluttered. Vale, besides being one of the best males I knew, was kind and strong and miraculously made.
Possibly in the image of some dashing dead god.
Feeling up his chest, I rolled my hips into him, wanting to be closer. Together, in every sense.
Vale groaned, the rod in his pants now pushing into me, making me wet. Loving the sound of his want, I ground against him again. The ache between my legs grew, and I peppered kisses along his strong jaw as I sought a rhythm with my hips.