Chapter 17
“Are you going to walk all the way to Raspberry Crest naked?” I asked as we walked, my eyes trained on Percy’s tight ass in front of me. “Not that I’m complaining…”
Percy’s butt muscles flexed as he threw a wicked grin over his shoulder. “Why? Is it distracting?”
I hummed as my eyes drifted up from his butt to the muscles lining his back before settling on several scars there. They were old wounds. Claw marks.
“Parting gift from the pack,” Percy answered my unasked question.
I forced myself to look away from the scars to the back of his head. A burning rage swelled inside me for the shifters. If I didn’t have other priorities right now, I would go back to the outlands and freeze them all.
I stopped, my fists curled tight at my side. Junior paused at my side, bumping his snout against my arm, and I patted him absentmindedly.
It took Percy a moment to realize I wasn’t following him anymore. “Bianca? What is it?”
“I had never understood it until now.” I stared down at my hands, where my powers created a layer of ice around my clenched fists.
Percy moved toward me like I might attack at any moment. “Understood what?”
Lifting my hands up, I uncurled them, the ice cracking and refreezing. “The kind of rage it must take to want to freeze the world. The kind the Ice Queen had. The kind my grandmother had.”
Percy clasped my hands in his, not even flinching as the ice started to creep over to his skin. “You’re not her.”
“But I could be,” I murmured, drawing the magic back inside of me before it hurt him. “Just now, thinking about how they hurt you… You were just a child and they hurt you so much. I wanted to kill them. To freeze them all. And I wouldn’t have even felt bad about it.”
Percy leaned down and kissed my forehead, before putting his head against mine. “What your grandmother did was out of a selfish desire to control the world. What you’re feeling, that rage is for vengeance for an innocent? To avenge a wrong? There’s nothing selfish in that. You are not the same.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and nodded before breathing out. As I opened my eyes again, I offered him a weak smile. “And yes, you’re very distracting.”
“Good.” Percy let out a dark chuckle. “Good. As long as you’re thinking about me.”
I shoved him away with a laugh. “Come on. I need to send Tara a message so she can meet us. I want to get this over with.”
We walked the few minutes it took to get to Raspberry Crest. The white snow slowly morphed to a dark pink hue until it covered every inch of the ground. Holes littered the sides of the mountain of different sizes.
I’d made many things, but I hadn’t made those holes. One day, I came up here, and they had just appeared. To say I was surprised by the intelligence of my creations was an understatement. It made what I had to do all the harder.
“Where are all these things you made?” Percy turned in a circle, a hand above his eyes as he searched the area.
I smiled slightly and put my first two fingers in my mouth, sending out a shrill whistle.
The ground rumbled slightly, and little voices chattered as my creations started to come out of the holes – their homes.
I wasn’t really thinking of any creature in particular when I made them. At the beginning, I’d just been playing around. I started with snow people, little ones not much bigger than children. Then, as I got more confident, I made some that looked like animals. Rabbits. Squirrel. A deer. Eventually, I got really experimental and made some of them into mixtures of animal, man, and monster.
“Creator.” Ackle, one of my creations with a rounded humanoid body but with antlers and a tail, walked toward me with a broad smile on her mouth. Her face was round on top and then narrower as it went. “We have missed you.”
I shifted from foot to foot. The name they’d given me always made me uncomfortable.
Percy arched a brow at me with bemusement.
“Ackle. I told you to call me Bianca.” I tucked a hair behind my ear, my cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
The deer creature smiled and nodded, and I knew she wouldn’t stop calling me creator.
“You made all of them?” Percy asked, kneeling by some of the little ones. He poked them in the belly, which made them laugh. The snow creatures grew more confident, and several of them started to crawl all over him.
I covered my mouth to hide my laugh.
Junior rolled around on the ground, puffing his stomach up and down while a couple of them bounced with glee. My insides warmed watching them, and then I remembered why I had come here. Everything came crashing down on me.
“I need to send a message,” I commented, more to myself than to anyone else.
As I moved away from the crowd that had gathered to check out the new person, I cupped my hands together. Pouring ice into my hand until there was a reflection, I muttered a few arcane words. Magic swirled over the surface for a moment before my house came into view.
Tara stood by the cauldron, lifting a large glowing ball in her hands. I didn’t want to scare her, so I cleared my throat. Her head snapped up and glanced around.
“Tara, over here. The window pane.”
Her eyes searched the windows until they landed on me. Carrying the orb with her, she stopped in front of the window. “Bianca. Where are you? Did you find Percy?”
“Yes.” I nodded and then licked my lips, my heart thumping loudly in my chest. “I’m up at Raspberry Crest. One of my creations had gotten out, and I had to bring him back. Can you meet us here?”
“Of course, I can.” Tara frowned not leaving right away. “Are you alright? You’re looking a bit pale…er.”
“Yeah, just not feeling great about all this.” I jerked my head toward the village. “I’m basically their god, and I’m about to blow them up.”
Tara’s brows furrowed. “It’s not exactly the most ethical thing to do, but what other choice do we have?”
“Right. Yeah. You’re right.” I swallowed thickly and nodded. “Just get here quickly.”
“On it. Be there in a jiff.”
I broke the connection and shook the ice off my hands. Turning back toward the village, I watched as a bittersweet feeling swelled in my chest.
Percy smiled and laughed with one of my creatures when they pointed at his dick. One of the snow people brought out a large cloth and handed it to Percy.
When I’d seen they’d started building homes, I figured they should have things too. Things not made out of snow and ice. I wasn't sure what they did with most of the supplies, or if they even knew what they were. But apparently they did know that Percy shouldn’t be standing around naked.
Instead of turning the snow peoples’ gift away, Percy graciously accepted and wrapped the cloth around his waist, tying the ends so it stayed in place. When his gaze found mine, my heart melted and I couldn’t hold back the tears that had built up inside of me.
I didn’t want my creations to see my sadness, so I quickly walked away until I was on the edge of the village. There, alone, I leaned against a large mound.
“Bianca?”
I wiped my nose and blinked rapidly. “Hey. I saw you already won them all over.”
“Yeah.” Percy looked back at them, then at his makeshift skirt. “They’re pretty great.”
“Yeah, they are.”
Percy placed a hand on my arm. “Then why are you crying?”
“Oh.” I gave a weak smile. “No reason. Just getting emotional. Been a crazy few days.”
Percy returned my smile with a chuckle. “Yeah. I almost got killed by the villagers. We almost got killed by the shifters to get the pot ash for your bomb and then—” He paused and his eyes widened.
I turned my face away. I didn’t want to see his reaction.
“Bianca. The bomb… it’s not for them, is it?”
I stared into the darkening sky. “There’s no other way. If I don’t destroy them or pay the fines, they’ll take them away, Percy.” I slouched and gripped myself tightly. “And that would be worse than death.”
Percy's hand moved from my arm to cup the back of my neck, then turned me to look at him. “I can't imagine what you’re going through. This can't be easy for you.”
I huffed a laugh. “No shit.”
Percy was quiet for a long moment. Just sitting there with me. Not trying to make it better or worse. He didn’t condemn me for my choice. He was there for me.
“Tara’s going to be here soon. I don't know what to do. Do I tell them?” My eyes swept over my creations, their lives so full of joy. I hated having to take that from them.
“I wish…” I started, licking my dry lips. “I wish there was a way to save them. Give them somewhere they could go that no one would bother them. Some place where the council couldn’t find them and they could just live their lives. For however long that is.”
Percy rubbed my back in slow circles until he stopped all of a sudden. “Wait. I know a place.”
I looked at him, eyes wide in surprise. “What?”
His eyes lit up as he grabbed my hands. “I know a place they can go.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Percy. Seriously, I’m dying here thinking about what I have to do and, if you’re fucking with me, I swear I’ll kick your ass.”
Percy practically vibrated in place. “No jokes. I promise. This is a real place. Away from the Candy Forest. They can go there.”
My mind whirled as I tried to wrap my head around what he was saying. If there was somewhere they could go, somewhere they’d be safe from the council, I couldn’t very well say no, now could I?
“Alright, Percy.” I squeezed his hands. “I trust you.”