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“We leave soon,” she says, leaning her head on my shoulder. When she pulls her sweater tighter, I turn up the heat across my skin and she nestles into me. I thought Winter Fae loved the cold more than anything else, but she has always appreciated a warm bed. I lay a kiss on top of her head. She’s braided her hair with golden rings. I don’t know where she got them from, but she looks beautiful.
“Would you like something to eat?” She murmurs into my neck.
Food. My stomach grumbles in response.
“Yes, that would be excellent. Just please tell me it’s not fish. I’m serious; at this point, I would rather just go veg—”
“Relax,” she smiles mischievously, “it’s venison.”
Great. Gamey, chewy venison.
“I’ve changed my mind. I would much rather eat something else.” I deadpanned and waited for her to work out my words.
Her eyes widen before she flushes, leaving me feeling quite proud until she covers my face with snow. I stagger back, spitting out half-melted ice crystals.
“Honestly, can’t you be serious for two seconds?” She crosses her arms, and a twinge of guilt hits me.
“I… well, I don’t think I will be useful on this brief excursion. We were captured the last time I went to save you anyway.”
Her brows furrow as she looks at me. “Wait, what?”
I shrug, trying to seem like I didn’t just admit something incredibly personal. “All I’m saying is that I seem more of a problem than a solution.”
She studies my eyes intently, adjusting herself so she is directly in front of me. “Nathan, you saved me. More than once. You’ve killed for me, and you still don’t think you are enough?”
I rub my neck viciously, trying to avoid answering. “That was all luck,” I start and immediately stop when I see the muscles in her jaw dancing.
“You killed Henrick and Akron... technically, you almost killed me.” Her voice is quiet, even.
I scoff. “Come on, you don’t count. You let me stab you. Sorry about that, again, by the way.”
“Okay, fine, maybe I don’t count, but the other two? How do you write that off? Do you know why you won against them?”
I don’t respond.
“Because you are something new. They were waiting for someone to attack them in the ways they already expected. They were expecting someone like them, with their minds and strategies, to try to hurt them.” She brings her icy hand to my face. “You aren’t anything like them, you are much better. That is why I love you, because you have something inside of you I recognized instantly. A gentleness and a compassion that I never realized was possible.”
I look over her head, out at the stunning whiteness in front of us. The Winter Solstice will happen in a month or two, and the rich evergreen pine scent excites me. This, combined with her words, brings a lightness to me.
She turns around, her hand falling from my face, and she looks out at the expanse as well. “For this reason, you will be an excellent consort to these people. This place is beautiful but dying.” She grabs my hands and snakes them around her waist, hugging herself with my arms. “Be my consort; breathe life into this place just as you have breathed life into me.”
I nuzzle into her neck and kiss the smooth skin where her throat meets her shoulder.
We stay like this for quite a while.
* * *
After the leadercomes to get us, and I am sufficiently stuffed, Elva and I shift into our bird forms.
We are now soaring over the expanse of white, and my head twitches back and forth, monitoring how the Were, Vampires, and Daemons darted through the trees. They don’t have the gift of shifting, but they make do. We have made this trip before, and the journey here seems shorter than usual. In what seems like no time, we reach the edge of the forest and stare at the Ice Castle. Calitha holds up a finger, instructing us to stay. We perch on two separate branches. My small bird heart is pumping so fast I am unsure how to calm it down.
Like small, white snowflakes, the resistance charges the castle gates. Even from here, I can see how ridiculously easy this is. They are cutting down soldiers like weeds; I even see some kneel and hold their hands up high.
What the hell is happening?
They have gotten in so fast, I am not entirely sure what this means for the plan. I shift my weight nervously and look up at Elsa. She is as still as a statue. I tug on our bond, and she looks down at me. She shakes her head as if to say, ‘Not yet.’
The tension in the surrounding air is killing me. Five minutes pass, no screaming, no shouts.
