Chapter 15
I raid the well-stocked larder to create a feast for the queen and Kai. Roasted meat so tender and savory the aroma alone makes my mouth water. Vegetables cooked with spices and glazed with honey. A soup course, which only reminds me of the reason I won’t be partaking in this meal.
For myself, I make a simple stew from my own supplies. I’ll never touch fae food again. I count out the rations I have left. I can make it a few days, perhaps a full week, if I stretch what little I have left in my pack.
I call Kai’s name into the hallway. A flurry of snow bees rushes off. In minutes, almost as if he was waiting for my call, he comes striding down the hall like a thundercloud. “What’s taken you so long?”
“Cooking. It takes a while. You wouldn’t know that, though, would you?
” I remove my apron and assemble the platters on a wheeled cart, ignoring his sneer.
He doesn’t help me push the heavy cart down the ice halls, although he is forced to assist me in maneuvering it up a set of stairs without spilling everything.
Back in the icy portion of the castle, he leads me down grand halls adorned with elegant crystal sconces lit from within by what I assume are magical lights like the ones Christabel used.
We roll on and on. “Where are we going?” I ask.
“To the Queen’s dining room.”
It’s taking so long to get to our destination that the food will be cold by the time we arrive.
I seriously hope my presence here isn’t dependent upon my ability to serve a fine banquet.
It seems like the kind of thing she would do, though.
This is some kind of test, or demonstration. I’m not sure which.
“Your room is…” I trail off, staring straight at the gleaming chafing dish as heat rushes to my cheeks. “Where?”
“Down there.” Kai points. A tiny smirk tugs at his mouth. “Are you planning to visit me later?”
We both know I’ll be coming to his room tonight. Anticipation clenches low in my belly. Still, I can’t let him think I’m a sure bet. Even if it does make me a liar.
“I’m not sure.” I would toss my hair, but both hands are occupied with steering the cart. “Depends upon your behavior at dinner. If you’re a complete prick, you can sleep by yourself.”
He laughs. I hate the way I heat up inside, hearing it. I hate that part of me likes going toe-to-toe with his cruelty. Maybe I haven’t made him a better man, but he has certainly dragged me down to his level.
We enter a grand room with the highest ceiling I’ve ever seen.
The floor is as slick and shiny as a mirror.
The Queen sits regally in a huge throne at the head of a long table crafted entirely from frost. A crackling sound underfoot prompts me to look down, where a thin film of spiderwebbed ice gives me enough traction to walk but makes the cart rattle like its wheels are about to come off.
Wordlessly, I set tableware before the two royals seated at either end of the table. I place a taper in the center and carefully use a piece of tinder to light it.
“Put it out,” Kai growls. “The fire. Douse it.”
The Queen inclines her head. The only color in her face are pale blue eyes and ruby-red lips. She gestures for me to continue. I pinch the flame, extinguishing it, and wordlessly finish setting the table. “Sit. Join us.”
A frozen chair appears behind me. It scoots forward, bumping into the backs of my knees and forcing me to obey. I twist to place my bowl of stew before me.
“You do not partake of your own cooking?” asks the Queen.
“I do not trust fae food. I’ll only eat from my own stores.”
Kai saws into his meat and takes a large bite, only to choke, his face turning red as he spits it out and glares at me.
“It’s hot.”
“Yes, Prince. Food is typically served warm,” I remind him.
“Not here.”
He shoves the plate away. The Queen waves her long fingers. A tall goblet filled with shimmering powdered snow appears before him. Kai picks up his spoon and digs in with relish.
“Stop,” I warn sternly.
He halts with a scoop partway to his lips, glaring at me.
“Don’t eat fae food. It gives them control over us.” I glance warily at the Queen, who looks amused.
“Is it true?” he demands.
“I am impressed by your clever little scullery maid.” She beckons to him. Kai slides out of his seat and goes to her. The lady offers her hand. He bends to brush his lips across her knuckles.
We’ll have words about that later, in private. She is taunting me. Showing how she keeps him, like a pet.
“Go now, my darling. I wish to have a few words with Gwendolyn alone.”
For once, Kai doesn’t instantly obey her direct order. He hesitates.
“The food she made will be cold enough for you to eat when she returns,” says the Queen.
That won’t be happening. I’ll give him mine and see if that affects her spell over him. When his footfalls fade, the Queen tents her long fingers and contemplates me. I’m hungry, so when she says nothing, I start eating my own, now-cold, stew.
“You are a fascinating girl, Gwen,” she says. I shrug. “I didn’t think you’d come after him.”
“Princess Christabel told me you chose Kai because you knew I would fight for him. Taking him was merely a test of my love.”
She tilts her head and sighs. “Ah, Christabel. Princess of Light, Aurora’s heir, Protector of the Silverbirch Forest, and all-around thorn in my side. She chases away my wolves and melts my ogres. And so, I stole her beloved knight.”
The Queen rises fluidly and goes to one of the statues placed around the perimeter of the room. She cups one’s face almost affectionately.
But I realize upon closer inspection that they’re not statues. They are people. Men. Each one of them frozen in time and place.
“Sir Edvin didn’t want Christabel to come searching for him.
The brave, stupid man threw himself into my mirror lake and froze himself so that I could not use him to tempt her into a trap.
” She whirls away from the unlucky knight, her midnight-blue skirt flaring out.
“Ah, love. It is such a useful emotion in humans.”
“Fae don’t feel love?”
“Only the fools do.” Dark emotion slashes across her delicate features, there and gone.
“Then why seduce all these men?”
“They aren’t all men. Look around you, child. There are princesses and queens, even lowly servants like yourself. People from all walks of life come to me, chasing the illusion of love.”
“This is all a game to you.” I feel sick. Killing Kai’s father and brothers was nothing to this twisted woman. Part of a game, to maneuver him into a position of power. She cared nothing for their lives.
Yet it’s clear that she is fascinated by us. The warmth of our hearts might burn her frozen soul, but she is entranced by our emotions nonetheless.
She runs her fingertip down the chest of a burly statue. “I have to entertain myself somehow. Do you think you’ll visit Kai tonight?”
A surge of hatred catches me off-guard. My ears burn. That’s not her business. I don’t like that she knows. Clearly, this palace hears everything that happens within its walls.
“You really do love him, don’t you?” she says with seemingly genuine pity.
Hot, bitter tears burn my eyes. A shuddery breath wracks me. I nod. “What can you possibly offer Kai that I cannot give him?”
But I already know. She can give him forever. I can give him nothing but a few minutes of physical release.
“I do not require warmth. Or love. Only companionship.” She gestures airily to the frozen figures that dot her mirror lake. “They last such a short time. I do enjoy them while they can still speak. Eventually, the ice claims them.”
“They aren’t immortal, then.”
“They yet live. Frozen in time and place, but alive.”
She glides across the glassy ice and cups one man’s cheek tenderly.
He was handsome—is, I suppose, if what she says is true about her prisoners being alive—but there’s a haunted aspect to his dulled eyes as if he had remembered someone he lost the instant before he was encased in ice.
His skin was once a deep shade of umber with plump lips and neat braids that end at his shoulders.
“Your Kai will make a handsome addition to my collection.”
“What can I do to make you let him go?” A sniffle betrays me. I came so far to save him.
“I am a sporting woman.” The Queen taps her chin, pondering. “If Kai succeeds in spelling the word I have assigned him with shards of ice, I will release him.”
“What about the others?”
She quirks one eyebrow. “You like high-stakes gambling, I see. I will release them all if you can guess the word I gave Kai. He will not tell you what it is.” Her bright-red lips stretch into a smile.
“I demand an equal risk from you, Gwen. If you fail to guess the word, you must join my collection of ice statues, too.”
My throat constricts. I regret parting with Nana on such poor terms. But I don’t regret chasing after Kai. He needs me, even if he doesn’t remember it. I have no way home, and therefore nothing to lose. Either way, my life is forfeit.
Why not take the chance?
I’m sorry, Nana.
“Agreed.”
The Queen swirls her hand. The snow bees form an hourglass shape. Every few seconds, one slips through the thin section into the bottom like sand.
“You have three days. Once this runs out, you and Kai will be mine forever.”
I flee, leaving the dishes, the cart, and everything behind.