Chapter 40 - Snow in Spring
Callan
It was still dark when I woke, sweating from the heat of Wrenora’s body nestled against mine.
Her perfect tiny snores pulled a grin onto my lips.
All I could see of her was a mess of copper curls poking out from the blanket, but my mind turned to the memory of her whimpering my name as she came.
A flutter of heat sank deep into my core at the thought of restraining her against the back of my sofa, memorizing every curve of her body with my tongue, fucking her again and again.
I pushed myself up and sat on the edge of the sofa, glancing over at Fynn as he slept on Wrenora’s feet, rolled into a tight ball of fur.
The quiet of my study was soothing after the roar of everything that had happened.
The wisplights had completely extinguished, leaving a moody blue cast to the light filtering through the dome ceiling.
Perhaps my fortress knew we needed a moment of calm before we thrust ourselves back into the chaos of the world.
I took a deep breath. We were alive. She was safe.
This was what peace looked like. Something I never truly thought I’d have.
But it was fleeting. We couldn’t stay here in my study forever.
We were safe for now behind the ward, but I hadn’t created it with all the necessities for long-term living.
I had never thought I’d have to hide in it from an uprising.
I’d only wanted a place I could go and guarantee I wouldn’t be interrupted.
I glanced at the door. It had let Wrenora in without my permission.
This last time could be explained. I’d brought her through with me, but the first?
All at once, a thought spread over my mind like a warm hand smoothing over my skin.
She was my Soul Tied. Our souls were literally connected.
Perhaps the ward could not distinguish between us, and to refuse her entry meant to refuse me as well.
My Soul Tied.
Did she know? I knew she felt the same pull I did.
She’d spoken of it before. I would need to discuss it with her, but a piece of me knew now was not the right time.
We needed a moment of true peace so I could properly express how I felt and what it meant.
And I wasn’t sure how she’d feel about being tied to me.
I was her enemy once in every sense of the word.
Looking back, I understood all the moments of hesitation and longing so much better.
I gazed down at the lump of blanket behind me, my heart aching.
How was I going to keep her safe? Being with me was perhaps the most dangerous place she could be.
I wanted to send her home, but I knew even that wouldn’t be enough.
A border wasn’t going to keep anyone from finding the one person I truly cared for in this world.
Plus, if I was right...
I leaned my head back, gazing up at the moon through the translucent ceiling. The clouds were gone. The air was warmer. Winter was changing. There was only one explanation. I looked back down at her again.
My Wrenora.
I swallowed hard. Perhaps I didn’t need a suppression gem, or to find the frost elves. Perhaps I only needed her. That only she could melt my heart. That it was her imbuing magic—powerful, but calm in its fiery strength—that would cancel out the violent ice of my frost.
A plan was forming in my mind, but there were many things I wouldn’t be able to tell her. Not right away. I’d made a decision on where we’d go first. Once we were safe for a time, I’d tell her everything and hope she didn’t hate me for keeping it from her.
I reached for my pants, which had been discarded at the end of the sofa.
The memory of her hands on my skin sent another flutter through my chest and into my core.
How could I satisfy this ache to bury myself between Wrenora’s thighs?
But I knew the answer. There would never be a time I wouldn’t want to claim her as my own.
My Wrenora. My Soul Tied.
She was my summer, my fire. She was the cure to the winter blight. She was the other half of my magic, warm and calm and life. And I was snow in spring.
––––––––
I found the sapphire outside my study. It had been on Magdala’s person when I’d frozen her, and now it was permanently mounted in her ice corpse, glowing through the translucent facets of her dress as I drew closer.
I tried to drag my eyes from her face, frozen in an anguished scream.
I had done this. My magic, my anger, my hatred.
I swallowed hard. I still didn’t forgive her.
She’d had a chance to do the right thing; the destruction of that which had torn Telrain apart for centuries.
Instead, she’d chosen the same route my father had always chosen—needless death and violence.
I shook my head, wishing I could go back to the day my father told me I was to be wed. But what was done was done.
Voices echoed up the stairs, and I reached for my sword, fingers curling around the handle.
They weren’t angry voices, and I was suddenly very interested in who among my guards and servants had managed to escape the carnage of the day before.
Or if these were more rebellion fighters.
With a deep breath, I pulled my magic to the surface of my skin, the air around me shimmering.
It was time to set things in motion.