Ice that Burns
All too quickly, I found myself standing in front of Varyn. I didn’t miss the hungry look that crossed his face before the princely smile fell into place.
“You look absolutely stunning, Naci,” he said as he offered me his hand. “Purple is truly your color.”
He hadn’t known that it was my favorite. Or maybe he did. He did seem to “know things,” as he liked to say.
“Thank you, Your Highness,” I said with a smirk, exuding more confidence than I actually had. It felt good to tease him.
I took his hand, and we headed toward…I wasn’t exactly sure where. The butterflies in my stomach multiplied and were flying around as if caught in a raging storm.
“I’m glad the dress fits.” He was skirting around any mention of the slip, but like hell would I be the one to bring it up.
It was interesting, though. I recalled how mad I had gotten when Fadric offered to buy me new clothes. It was infuriating and insulting. But coming from Varyn, it felt okay. Acceptable. Generous.
Maybe I just needed new clothes that badly now.
“It does. You look quite handsome yourself, V.”
He chuckled, that grin I liked so much on display. “I thought you’d never say so.”
All teasing aside, he did look good in his fitted black pants and coat with silver fastenings at the wrists and down the chest. If purple was my color, then black was his—somehow the darkness made his blue eyes glow more.
We walked through the castle at a leisurely pace, my hand planted firmly on his arm. His muscles were distractingly strong and flexed with every small movement.
The conversation was light but flowed easily, and I found both my nerves and the butterflies had settled—for now.
We left the castle through a side exit I hadn’t yet seen. It led us directly into a smaller, more private garden, but in my eyes, one far more beautiful than the manicured hedges, rows of flowers, and trees across the grounds.
Everywhere I looked, there were roses blooming full, and in every color imaginable—deep pinks, light purples, bright reds. Soft white, electric pink, even light blue, and pinkish orange. They were all intermingled, giving off an impression of colorful chaos. It was just my kind of garden.
There were even smaller roses growing on vines, weaving their way across the archways that stretched overhead every few feet down the main path. I didn’t even know roses grew on vines.
And the scent—gods, the smell. Roses thick in the air, sweet and heady. Next to honeysuckle, this was my favorite floral aroma.
“This is my favorite of the gardens around the castle. Most are trimmed, clipped to perfection, and grown with precision. Here, the roses grow as they please. It’s beautifully wild.”
He was looking at me when he said the last part. My heart stuttered.
“It’s… I don’t even have the words. It’s wonderful.”
“I’m glad you approve. Because we’ll be dining here, under the stars and blooms.”
He nodded toward a table set for two at the end of the path. Candles lit the area, some on the table, some hanging from the archways, some just…floating. Fae magic could be beautiful, I thought secretly, though I didn’t want to admit it.
The sun was setting, and the stars were coming out in the darkening sky. The scene was exquisite, bringing a smile to my face. This was the kind of scene you’d read in romance books. I’d thought surely things like this never happened in real life.
Yet here I was, in a real-life fantasy.
He pulled a chair out for me, and I took my seat.
He remained standing as he opened a bottle of dark-red wine and poured a glass, first for me, then for him.
I watched him above me and thought vaguely that this was a position I might like to find myself in at the end of the night. Him, over me, and me…
Gods, I hadn’t even had a sip of wine yet. The slip I was wearing under my dress clearly had the sexual tension wound tight within me.
He sat down across from me at the small, intimate table, mere feet away from me, eyes twinkling in the candlelight. “To you, Naci.” He raised his glass and flashed me that princely smile. “To hoping that you’ve found both your stay at the castle and my company enjoyable.”
Then he took a long drink from his glass.
I took a longer one.
The wine was divine. Not too sweet, but a perfect balance of spices and fruit.
“Have you learned anything about your mother since your arrival?”
I took another sip to give myself some time to think about my answer. No matter how much I wanted to trust him, I couldn’t forget who his father was—the man who had brutally murdered the leader of the rebels and possibly held my mom prisoner.
“I haven’t.” That was what took me so long to think of?
Had I wrinkled my forehead? Oh gods, he was looking at my forehead. He knew I was lying.
He hesitated for a long moment, which set my heart racing. “That’s a shame,” he finally said, leaning back in his chair, crossing an ankle over one knee. If he knew, he was letting it slide.
“So tell me about your magic, Prince. I know you’re a wolf shifter, but do you have an elemental ability too? Don’t all fae have elemental abilities?”
He gave a quick smile, as if he knew I was changing the subject on purpose. But he indulged me anyway. “They do. I have ice in my veins alongside the wolf in my bones. Often the elements complement a shifter’s vey.”
“Vey?”
“A Veythryn’s shifted form is their vey.
Mine is a wolf. And the ice element complements it beautifully, since a wolf’s thick fur and warmer blood protect it from the cold.
Just like many avian Veythryn have the air element.
It was rumored that the dragon Veythryn had the fire element, but one hasn’t been seen for a very long time. ”
“Dragons are real?”
“Dragon Veythryn were, but pure dragons have only ever been a myth in our realm. The only recorded dragons belonged to the gods and didn’t roam the living realm of Caelia. Only the gods’ realm.”
“Whoa.” That was it? All I could say? Maybe the wine was making my brain a little fuzzy. I was drinking too fast, but gods, I needed the courage.
The prince chuckled, and I noticed his cheeks were slightly pink. Maybe he was getting a little fuzzy too.
“So an ice wolf… What’s it like being in your wolf, I mean, your vey form?”
“It’s freeing, incredible. It’s…indescribable.”
The look on his face was boyish, almost giddy. For the first time, probably ever, I imagined what it would be like if I could turn into an animal at will and run, fly, as far and as high as I desired.
With my luck, my vey would have been a chicken or something ridiculous.
“It feels like you can go anywhere, do anything. It’s…” He trailed off, lost in thought.
“You shouldn’t hesitate. You sound like a cat’s got your tongue,” I said and chuckled, mirroring our first conversation when he’d told me the same thing.
He laughed, small at first, but it grew into a full, clutch-your-stomach, close-your-eyes kind of laugh. And I couldn’t help but join in.
He was so easy to be around. He made me feel normal. And maybe that was why he enjoyed spending time with me. He’d said the nobles were stuffy. Maybe this was as close to normal as he got.
As our laughter faded, a servant brought out our dinners and placed them before us.
I didn’t know how to feel about being served by a mortal when I was a mortal servant of the castle myself. The thought was a sobering reality check.
The prince started on his roasted chicken and potatoes, and I sat watching for a moment, torn between shame and embarrassment for the mortal. And for myself.
“Is the food okay for you? Too hot?”
“Why am I here?”
He paused with a bite halfway to his mouth before putting it back on his plate, contemplating me for a moment.
“Because I want you to be. Because I enjoy your company. Because—”
“But why me? I’m a mortal. A mortal servant of your father’s castle. I’m not pretty, I’m not proper or noble, and I don’t even know all the ways of your world. Of the fae. And unless I’m mistaken, I don’t think fae princes make a habit of befriending mortals. Isn’t that what you said?”
“Do you remember every word I’ve ever said?”
“Pretty much.”
This was dangerous—all of it. But the danger felt like warmth, like the first spark I’d felt in years.
Other than the one I had taken to the face.
His face hardened just for a moment, and then he huffed out a breath. Not as if he was frustrated, but like he didn’t know why himself. As if he didn’t have a suitable answer and really had to think about why. That didn’t make me feel great.
The angry beast in my chest didn’t set my blood ablaze, but it definitely lifted its head, waiting for what could happen next.
He stared at his nearly empty wineglass for a moment, twirling it by the thin stem. I could have sworn something in his eyes flickered, but it came and went so fast it could have been the flickering candles reflected.
Finally, he looked up. “Because it’s stifling being a prince.
Because the king forces every noble female on me every chance he gets, wanting me to marry.
Because they’re insufferable. All day, all anyone ever does around me is say what they believe I want to hear.
But you? You talk back, you speak your mind.
When you laugh, you laugh without care, and I find myself wanting more and more to make you laugh.
You’re real. Far more real than the court and the nobles.
” He quickly tossed back the rest of his wine, then leaned in toward me.
“And don’t ever let me hear you say that you’re not pretty again. ”
I was stunned. The mask was completely off, and he was so much more beautiful without it. No one had ever said anything like that to me. It was all I could do not to give my heart away with reckless abandon right then and there.
He looked away, back at his now-empty glass.
I hoped he didn’t regret what he’d said.
“Nothing to say, Ignacia? Come on, I know that feisty tongue is dying to let loose.”