I liked that. I took her gloved hand in mine and said, “We should hurry up. Before it gets dark.”
She squeezed her hand in mine. I liked how it felt— like there was no other person I’d rather have by my side right now than her.
When we got to the pond, we sat on a fallen log and slipped on our skates. My one skate was specially made to fit my prosthetic. It wasn’t much more than a blade that fastened onto the prosthetic, in the area where the foot would be. I could interchange the foot and the blade so I didn’t need to remove the whole prosthetic in order to skate. It’d had a nice price tag, that was for sure. I thanked the gods I was a prince and could afford it. I couldn’t imagine if I was poor and didn’t have the money to pay for a specialized prosthetic so I could skate again. If I couldn’t play hockey, I think I’d wither up inside.
As I fastened on the blade, Emma glanced over in interest before she ducked her head. She wanted to see how it worked, yet desired to give me privacy.
I wanted to show her. But at the same time, I wasn’t ready. So I just fastened the skate onto the prosthetic and tested out the pond before I skated onto it. I gestured for her that it was safe to follow.
Emma carefully stepped out onto the pond. Once her blades hit the ice, she grinned. She instantly took off, though not as fast as she did on a clean surface. The pond was rough, unlike the rink’s even edge. Still, she did jumps and spins like it was absolutely no effort for her whatsoever.
She was so beautiful on the ice. I loved watching her. It was so clear that skating was where she was meant to be.
I skated toward her and extended my arms. She didn’t see me coming as I wrapped my arms around her waist, picking her off the ice and spinning her around. Emma laughed as I lifted her upwards, carrying her around the pond in my arms.
“Put me down, asshole.” She slapped my chest and laughed again.
“Not so fast.” I spun a few circles before I let her back down. I took her hand, and she twirled in a circle underneath it, like some kind of fairy tale princess.
The snow was so dense. It made a veil in Emma’s red hair and coated her eyelashes as it came down. She leaned back and caught them with her open mouth, giggling.
“Watch this.” I lifted my hand. My magic began to form an illusion. The snowflakes falling in the air formed together into figures. All around us, hundreds of ice dancers made of snow took form on the pond’s surface. Snow men and women danced in each other’s arms, performed lifts and twists on blades that were made of ice just like the pond’s surface. Emma’s mouth opened in wonder as the skating couples twirled and leapt around us in a dazzling display.
I took Emma in my arms and began to copy them. We spun together, my arm wrapped around her waist, her hand in mine as we made our way around the pond, whirling with the snow dancers.
“You know how to ice dance?” Emma asked in surprise.
“A bit. I took a few figure skating classes. In Malovia, it’s required for all hockey players. Teaches you to have better balance and to skate faster,” I told her.
“The hockey players back home think figure skating’s for girls,” Emma remarked.
“That’s because they’re wimps. Figure skating is a very difficult sport. Why do you think I chose hockey?” I laughed.
“Probably because you like hitting people,” she suggested.
“You got me there.” I let her go and changed into a wolven. I backed up several feet, then ran at her full-speed and pushed my head into the small of her back. I picked up the pace, my nails digging into the ice, and Emma squealed as she glided ahead of me. I ran until we were going circles around the pond, the trees flying by in a blur. We blasted through the ice dancers sending them exploding into nothing more than snow dust.
As I slowed to a walk, Emma turned in place. She took my face in her hands and said, “I’m so glad I’ve finally found someone who likes being on the ice as much as I do.”
I stared up at her. She appeared radiant. This was her element. Nothing bad could touch her here, it seemed. Nothing bad could touchus. It was like we were in our own little world when were were on ice.
I changed back into a human, and we skated around for an hour or so before Emma started to get tired. I noticed she was almost panting as she performed spins and jumps. We held hands as we lapped the pond a few times, but at this point, I was pretty much pulling her along instead of her doing the gliding. What was wrong with her?
“We should get off,” I said. Emma’s efforts to stroke around the pond had gotten considerably weaker in the last fifteen minutes or so.
“Get yourself off, then. I’m not horny,” she said between gasps. Her joke fell flat amongst my concern.
“Emma, that’s not what I meant. You look exhausted,” I said.
I thought I was going to have to drag her off the ice, but Emma obliged me and skated toward the edge of the pond. We sat on the log and took off our skates. The wind had picked up, and the snow was falling faster than before.
“Do you mind if I ask a question?” Emma asked tentatively as we unlaced our skates. I unfastened the blade on my prosthetic and reattached the foot in its place.
“Go ahead. I’m an open book,” I said.
Emma hesitated, before she asked, “When you lost your leg, was it hard to learn to skate again? Or did it come easy to you?”
I thought about it for a moment. No one had ever asked me that question before. “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “There were so many things I had to relearn when I lost my leg. Walking. Running. Fighting. Even regaining my balance. It was hard stepping back out on the ice, at first. I didn’t think I’d ever play hockey again.”
