Chapter 2 – Neve #2
“Stars Neve,” Vale murmured, his face nestling into my hair. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
“Death isn’t the plan, Vale. Though I may want it to seem like that.” My lips found his again, and I gave him a searing kiss. “Right up until the moment we both find ecstasy.”
He laughed, low and rumbling. “We should have found a cave.”
“Hmm?” I kissed his jaw again.
“Warmer. I want you spread out before me. Want to feast on you, and I’d like for you not to freeze as I delight.”
I shuddered at the image, and though what he wanted sounded delightful, there was no way we were stopping now. “Next time. Tonight, we can make our own heat.” I rubbed against him once more. The way his face softened, and his eyes glazed over when I did that made me feel so powerful. So sexy. “I—”
A female scream cut through the night shrouded land, then two, then three. Different pitches. I froze, my legs still wrapped around Vale’s middle. He grew rigid, and his hands, which had wandered beneath my shirt, stilled.
“The camp,” I said upon breaking a kiss, that sumptuous ache between my thighs fizzling in an instant.
He set me down, and I whirled to run, but Vale gripped my shoulder.
“Fly. The snow will slow us.”
He was right, of course, and it took me less than a minute to tease my wings through the slits in my thick fur cloak. The frigid air brushed across the sensitive membranes, which was slightly painful, but I pushed past it and beat them to rise.
Walking deep into the woods had taken a fair bit of time, but with our wings spread and catching air, we soared above the trees, spotting the camp fires right away.
Fires still burned and, thanks to Vale’s air shields, they hadn’t dimmed.
The horses were fine then. I squinted. From what I could see, a few people poked their heads out of the ice tents, looking for the source of the screams too.
“The lake,” Vale yelled into the wind. “Screaming stars, it’s a n?kken!”
“A what?” My attention veered into the center of the lake and found a white horse standing on the ice. I hadn’t noticed it before, for most of the camp was dark and the horse blended in so well with the surrounding snow. “That horse, you mean?”
“A n?kken is a freshwater creature. It lures people, mostly females and younglings, into the water and drowns them. It can shapeshift into a horse or—fates!—a fiddler.” Vale let out a stream of curses.
My heart rate sped up. As we got closer to the lake, I could see better. Not so far from the horse was a hole in the ice, and a young woman thrashed.
“I think that’s Lei!” I wished that we’d brought weapons. Especially when five more women drifted toward the ice as though sleep walking. Men tried to hold them back, but a supernatural power controlled the women, giving them the strength to move forward. What if they couldn’t stop them?
My stomach dipped as a more dire thought slammed into me. What if Lei wasn’t the first? We’d heard three screams.
Ahead, Ronaldo and Caelo sprinted for the lake, both armed with bows and arrows. They reached the edge of the ice, positioned so they would not hit the humans, aimed, and let their arrows fly.
The n?kken stepped out of the way of both arrows, unbothered as it glanced down at the hole in the ice. The screaming had stopped, and Lei’s body remained in the hole, still as death.
“Neve, I don’t want you landing,” Vale said as we soared over the first ice hut—seconds from the lake at this pace. “You might be susceptible.”
“Vale, I—”
“Please Neve!”
The desire to respect his wishes fought against that of helping defeat the creature, and compromising, I soared for the stars, hoping that if I went high enough, I’d stay out of the creature’s sphere of influence.
Appeased, Vale scooped up a bow and arrow, leaning against an ice hut and soared for the monster. High above, I followed, heart hammering. Before my husband got there, another arrow flew, and the n?kken didn’t see this one coming.
It struck the creature in the side, blood blooming over white hair. The monster shrieked. The chilling sound was nothing like a horse would make, but rather human-like. Another arrow, Ronaldo’s, came at the n?kken, then Caelo’s joined. Both hit their marks, and finally, the creature fell.
When it hit the ice, the creature shifted into a dark black beast with the face of a human and a wispy body cloaked in sodden, filthy rags. Yellow eyes blazed in the n?kken’s face for a second before that fire dimmed.
I plummeted, hoping to get to Lei in time.
Seeing as he was already so close, Vale reached the hole first. He plunged his hand into the ice and gripped Lei’s arm, still clinging to the ledge.
I joined him, feet hitting the ice, jarring me. Hard. Her arm looked so hard and cold.
My stomach churned as he pulled Lei from the hole. A small amount of relief flooded me as I watched her suck in air, but it was dashed a moment later and my entire being filled with dread. Lei hadn’t been the only one in the frigid water.
Samantha had grabbed onto Lei’s ankle, and her hand remained stuck in that position, allowing Samantha’s body to bob below the surface until Vale broke her grip by pulling Lei from the water. Her eyes still wide with the terror she’d felt when she died, Samantha sank.
I dropped to the ice to help, plunging down to my waist. Reaching. Reaching. Reaching.
My skin tightened. Stars, it was freezing! Far colder than the river I’d thrown myself into to escape the vampires who hunted me. That river bordered the vampire and winter fae kingdoms, but this lake lived in the heart of Winter’s Realm and filled with water from the mountains. Far more frigid.
“Vale! Neve!” Caelo’s garbled voice hit my ear through the water.
Someone grabbed my feet as my fingers wrapped around Samantha’s hand. I pulled back and the person who had a hold of me helped. When my head broke the surface, I gulped down the cold air.
“Neve! What were you thinking?!” Vale growled.
“I couldn’t leave her!”
He said nothing, but the set of his jaw told me that Vale didn’t agree. I ignored his ire, and he helped me pull the girl’s body to the ice, next to Lei, who was breathing shallowly.
“Get Lei to the fire,” I instructed. “Wrap her in blankets and put her between horses. As warm as she can get.”
Ronaldo picked up the young woman and ran for the fire.
I stood and wavered. Vale caught me, though he, too, shivered.
“We need the fire too.” He swept me off my feet and tucked me against his chest, which was wet with lake water.
“I’m fine right now,” I protested. “What about Samantha?” I cast a glance at Caelo, saw the sorrow in his blue eyes and knew my suspicions had been right.
“Too late for her,” he said. “She’s gone.”
I swallowed.
“The monster is too.” Anger brimmed in Anna’s tone.
I jolted. I hadn’t known Anna was here, and belatedly, relief cut through my sorrow and swept through me. What if she’d been caught in the n?kken’s thrall? I hadn’t considered such a thing.
“Are there more?” my best friend asked.
“They’re solitary. One to a body of water,” Caelo replied. “That was sharp shooting. Good work.”
“You made the first shot!?” I met Anna’s upturned eyes, brimming with pride.
“I did,” she said. “I was relieving myself, but something told me to go into the woods armed. When I heard the screams, I came back and saw the horse. It didn’t look right, and I had to get closer to make the shot, but I managed.”
“You certainly did!” I breathed, in awe of my friend.
“I’m glad you did not get too close, though” Vale said.
“Being a slower walker has some benefits then.”
I snorted a laugh. Anna was always one to look on the bright side.
“Does anyone know if there are others it has already lured?” Vale asked. “Usually, n?kken's victims go silently to their deaths. We’re lucky that Lei survived.”
“We’ll gather everyone,” Caelo said. “Do a headcount.”
“Anna, you do that. We’ll be right behind.” At Vale’s command, Anna left. “Caelo, dispose of the n?kken’s body, and bring Samantha back with you?”
“Of course.”
With that, me still in his arms, Vale strode for the fire where Lei sat. Ronaldo had followed through, covering her and placing her between two horses. Her eyes were already open, and they were locked on me.
“You saved me.” It sounded like it hurt for her to speak. Like her throat was thawing out as much as the rest of her.
“A group effort,” I said, as Vale set me in front of the fire too, removing my cloak, portions of which had dipped into the lake.
He took a wool blanket from the horses and wrapped me in it, then took one for himself, pressing his body to mine.
We should have been changing into dry clothes first, but the fire felt so good I did not want to move.
Lei sniffled and met my gaze. “We wanted to get another horse for the group, but we didn’t recognize the shapeshifter for evil. I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry.”
I offered her a small smile. “You did what you thought was best. Remember, things here are not always as they seem.”
“Status on the numbers?” Vale asked as Anna approached. My husband seemed to have snapped into his military persona.
All the blood had left Anna’s face, and I wondered how she’d worked so fast. Peering past her, I had my answer.
From the looks of it, Ronaldo had been of the same mind.
After setting Lei by the fire, he’d moved quickly and rounded up most of the people.
One shouted loudly that their wife was missing, which made my throat tighten.
Anna cleared her throat. “On first count, more are missing. Ronaldo is doing another count now, but people are starting to lose it.”
“How many are still missing?” Vale asked.
“Fifteen,” Anna said, her voice small. “Sixteen, including Samantha.”
Fifteen souls. Maybe more. I looked up at Vale. Many humans sobbed and wailed at the realization that they’d lost more on this night.
“Are you good to be left?” Vale asked.
“Yes,” I breathed.
“Then stay here and warm up. I need to help Anna and Ronaldo.”
“You’re wet too.”
“Trust me, I’m fine. You stay here and warm up.”
I nodded, my stomach full of lead as he left.
“That monster got them all?” Lei asked, her voice was stronger than seconds prior, a good sign.
“We can’t be sure,” I said. “But I’m willing to bet it lured others before it got to you and Samantha. You shared a tent?”
“That’s right. We went to bed when you and Prince Vale left, and everyone else except Ronaldo had gone to sleep. Ten minutes later, Samantha got up and walked out. I followed, saw the horse, and said we should capture it. After that, I remember little.” She met my eyes.
“Back home, I always pictured the fae as smaller, but mostly, like you: beautiful and kind and spreading pixie dust or some shit.” She shook her head. “How unbelievably wrong I was. There are all kinds of fae, and they’re just as likely to be monsters as they are like you, aren’t they?”
Lei differed greatly from the humans I’d grown up alongside.
The other blood slaves knew of fae and vampires and the other creatures in this world.
Countless vicious beings. But Lei and many of the humans we traveled with weren’t from this world.
Their lips uttered different stories of fae.
They held different perceptions, some of which could get them killed.
We’d taught them much along the way, but tonight drilled into me how much more they have to learn.
“Fae of my race, faeries, can be monsters too. Anyone in Isila can. You have to remember that.”
She stared into my eyes before dropping her gaze to the fire. “I’ll never forget.”
Guilt crashed down on me. Vale and I left for half an hour and we lost so many lives.
Could I lead these people to safety or were their lives the price I had to pay for the night Prince Gervais had ripped out Anna’s throat and I’d made a bargain with the powers that be?
Secretly, I feared that was true, but couldn’t bear to think that any power above, be it the dead gods, the Fates, or the Faetia would be so cruel. They wouldn’t punish so many people because I’d made a deal to save Anna . . . right?
All I knew for certain was that I’d failed to keep two hundred humans safe. If I couldn’t do that, did I really have the ability to reclaim, lead, and protect Winter’s Realm?
I didn’t know, but it seemed to me that the odds weren’t in my favor.