Chapter 3

Hanna

Thorne strolled up to the locked gates, unbothered by the archers on the rooftop watching us. When the gates swung open, he was greeted by several soldiers who bowed respectfully, fists over their hearts, but with lit up faces and enthusiastic calls of, ”Lord Thorne! You”ve returned.”

”Terin!” Thorne answered, clapping one on the shoulder as he passed. ”Luic! How”s your son?”

As we headed past them and up the stone roads toward the castle, he asked me, ”Why are you looking at me like that?”

”You know the names of all the guards.”

”Not all of them,” he disagreed. ”There”s a lot of them.”

”Still.” I hated to admit that Kaelan was always on my mind, but Kaelan was always on my mind. ”Kaelan is horrible to the servants.”

”That”s not his fault,” he said. ”His father has used the servants to punish Kaelan before. The less he cares, the safer they are.”

The memory of Elinna, on board Kaelan”s ship, implying that Kaelan”s servants were unlucky had an entirely different shape now.

I felt a lurch of regret, knowing that Elinna never made it back off that ship. And Edric certainly hadn”t cared.

”Tell me why Edric is still alive, again?”

He touched his finger to his lips. We were in Thorne”s city, but Edric was still king.

It was amazing to me that despite Edric”s ability to walk through Kaelan”s mind, these men had kept their brewing rebellion a secret. It was a testament to how well they all worked together.

And to Kaelan”s deviousness, though I felt less enthused about that, given how I”d been dragged into the ice kingdom under somewhat embarrassing circumstances as his unwilling bride.

The city was cramped, the buildings towering over us oppressively. But then, space was limited within the walls. There were tents set up in alleyways, or even makeshift houses built between walls, with rickety roofs slanted at angles between the stone walls of the stout houses from the old city.

”I wish I could show you the way Caer Far looked before. It was beautiful.”

”These changes are recent?”

”The Snake Queen was obsessed with the Grey kingdom for a long time. But once King Kallus of the Grey kingdom died, she turned her attention here. Lucky us.”

”Ah.” My sister had played a large part in that particular death. ”I”m sorry.”

”She”s trying to drive us out of this area,” he said. ”To encroach on this part of our territory and make it hers. There are mines--you can”t see them from here--that she would very much like to control.”

”But she hopes to avoid open war?”

Thorne nodded.

I blew out a breath. ”The Ice Fae kingdom and the Isle combined would be strong enough to defeat her! We have dragons!”

”Perhaps,” Thorne said. ”But I”d rather avoid war.”

It didn”t sound like a typical Thorne statement, and when my gaze flickered to his, he added, ”We could just assassinate the Snake Queen.”

”I”m in,” I said without hesitating.

”I wish I thought you were joking.”

”Oh, are only the men around here allowed to be bloodthirsty psychos?”

”Behave,” he said. ”You”re about to meet my mother.”

I sighed. Dawn was just streaking the sky, and I would have chosen better clothes rather than scooping mine off the floor of Kaelan”s room if I”d known I was going to meet Thorne”s entire family.

”Then what?”

”Then we grab a few hours of sleep while Alys does her work,” he said, and to my questioning look, he added, ”You”ll see.”

”I feel pretty nervous about sleeping while a supposedly bloodthirsty Kaelan is trying to track us down.”

”It”s a thousand miles. It will take him all day and well into the night to get here.”

”If you”re right.”

”I”m right. We”ll be long gone.”

We entered the castle, where more servants greeted Thorne with the exuberant respect that surprised me. The servants absolutely fussed over him---and over me as well.

”I thought you were an asshole when we first met. How did you win over all the servants?”

He gave me a look. ”You think I”m an asshole now.”

I pretended to think about it. ”Fair.”

”Thorne!” A woman stood at the top of the stairs, her long, wavy hair loose around her shoulders and reaching almost to the floor. She looked elegant even in her bathrobe as she swept down the stairs.

”Mother,” he said, his voice polite, but then any questions I had about how he felt were settled when he hugged her so hard her toes lifted off the marble.

She laughed at him, gripping his shoulders as she set him down.

”This is a surprise. Almost as much as you bringing a woman home.”

”Please don”t mock me in front of her,” Thorne said.

”What kind of mother would I be if I were too nice to you?” she asked, patting his cheek affectionately.

”The kind whose son chooses to visit home voluntarily?”

But she was already moving on to me. ”Hanna. Such a pleasure to meet you.”

She was smiling at me so warmly, as if she already knew me---and liked me---and it made me feel odd.

”Oh. Yes, you as well.”

”You”re surprised I know your name?” She arched her eyebrows at Thorne meaningfully, then turned to me with a smile. ”Even as far out as we live, the word of your exploits has reached us.”

”Ah,” I said, because it”s always uncomfortable when your...whatever”s... mother refers to your life so far as ”exploits”.

”And Thorne has mentioned you,” she said with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, the words obviously intended for Thorne. ”Once or twice.”

”Is that so?” I asked.

Thorne was exceptionally grim faced and stoic in response to teasing, and I put my hand on his thick forearm, unable to resist messing with him when he was so perpetually unresponsive.

”He”s very thoughtful,” I told his mother. ”You did a good job.”

Her lips parted, but whatever she was going to say next was lost as the door opened and a man clumped in, his boots heavy on the marble floors.

The tall, bearded man came to her side, and she slid her arm around his waist despite the sweat-stained tunic he wore. He was obviously coming in from training this early in the morning. He was barrel chested with chestnut brown hair and beard, and he looked nothing like Thorne.

”It”s good to see you again,” the man said, clapping Thorne”s shoulder. ”I assume you need Alys?”

”I do come home for other reasons,” Thorne protested, though his mother raised her eyebrows. ”But yes.”

”I”ll have the servants rouse her.” His mother said.

”She”s going to hate me,” Thorne said. ”She doesn”t enjoy early hours.”

”She generally pretends they don”t exist,” his mother agreed. ”Do you two want breakfast? I”ll send her in.”

Thorne led me to a cozy dining room with seating for four before the crackling fire. But we were on our own.

I counted the chairs, knowing there were two sisters who lived with Thorne”s parents. So there was no chair for Thorne. But then, he wasn”t there often... still, something about it nagged at me. ”Your father seemed...quiet.”

”I”m not his,” Thorne explained. ”Did you hear Kaelan call me a bastard? The man”s kind, he”s polite, but I”m not his. I haven”t lived under his roof since I was seven.”

He shrugged, but I had the feeling there was far more feeling than he admitted about having never truly known a father.

”My father was Kaelan”s uncle on his mother”s side,” he told me. ”That”s how we are cousins. Which is why Edric can”t invade my mind, thankfully; we aren”t blood related. He keeps me around as a show of legitimacy, I think. That he is so certain of his rightful place on the throne that he welcomes his nephew who might have a claim on the throne.”

”So generous of him,” I said.

A dark-haired young woman swept in, looking rumpled. She was dressed in street clothes, but they looked as if she had slept in them. ”Rude, Thorne.”

”So happy to see you again too.” He rose and hugged her.

A young girl came in on her heels. She hugged Thorne gleefully, and he picked her up, spinning around with her as she let out a bubbly giggle.

”I”ve missed you,” she told him, as he set her back down. For the first time---now that they weren”t spinning---I could get a good look at her face. Her dark hair was in wild curls, and freckles spilled across her round cheeks and nose. She had to be around Briden and Lysander”s age, nine or ten or so.

“I’ve missed you too, Coril,” he told her, resting his arm gently on her narrow shoulders as they turned to face us.

Alys scoffed. ”I should make you wait for hugs until I”m fully awake.”

”I”m in trouble, I need you.” Thorne said unapologetically.

His littlest sister hooked her arm around his waist, the two of them standing there together.

Alys glanced at me. ”Coril only likes him so much because she barely knows him. He”s never here.”

”You miss him too,” Coril told her. She glanced up at Thorne. ”Ignore her. You know how she is.”

”I do,” Thorne agreed.

”I haven”t missed you and your habit of getting in trouble so soon after sunrise,” Alys grumbled. ”Fine. Tell me what”s going on.”

”Kaelan is under an enchantment.”

To me, she said, ”Congratulations, by the way. Everyone wanted to marry the ice prince and I thought---”

”He”s not enchanted to adore her. He”s enchanted to kill her,” Thorne interrupted while I was still trying to process their conversation.

”Ah, that doesn”t make for the happiest marriage. What do you know about the spell?” Alys threw herself into one of the chairs and sprawled there in a way a noble girl is raised not to.

But then the door opened and a few servants trooped in, carrying a breakfast spread they lay out on the buffet. We all fell silent as the scent of freshly baked muffins and sizzling bacon filled the air. Thorne and Coril took seats at the table, and I joined them.

Once the servants were gone, I leaned forward, eager to unravel whatever had happened with Kaelan. I still hoped that Thorne was mistaken.

Alys raised a hand to beckon Thorne. ”Get me tea, please.”

Thorne sighed. ”You are relishing this, aren”t you?”

”I”m not bullying you,” she said innocently, just like someone who was indeed bullying their brother. ”I can”t think properly without tea.”

Thorne got up, and to his credit, he came back and served us all tea. As he was pouring, he said, ”The spell was set by the Snake Queen ambassador. Seraphine.”

”So the enchantment would likely have been developed in the Snake Queen”s poison garden. Unless Seraphine has gone rogue,” she said.

“That’s what I fear,” Thorne said. “That we have two Snake Queen enemies instead of one now.”

”You”re going to need to track down what exactly they used on Kaelan in order to undo the spell.”

”How am I supposed to do that?”

”You”ll need something of his. I could try now if you”d come properly prepared,”

”Something of his. Like a sock?”

”You know it”s not a sock. I”m talking about blood. Hair. Something that will carry the enchantment.”

”I brought something, of course.” Thorne reached into his pocket and pulled out the blood-soaked rag.

The one he”d used to wipe the blade after he cut Kaelan.

”You didn”t lead with this?” Alys asked skeptically. She shook a napkin out so she could use it to take the bloody fabric gingerly from her brother. ”How”d you get it?”

”It”s not important.”

”I need to know the age and character of the blood, Thorne.”

”It”s not one of our collected pieces. It”s a few hours old.”

”Collected pieces?” I asked.

Thorne ignored me. ”Is that blood fresh enough, then?”

Alys nodded.

”Collected pieces?” I demanded. ”As in, I should hang onto something of his in case he”s ever enchanted?”

”Yes,” Thorne answered. ”And I do the same for Dare. Who does the same for me.”

A chill rushed through my veins. Two sudden terrifying thoughts presented themselves to me, one after the other. The first had to do with blood curses. ”If Kaelan has your blood, then you”re in danger...”

”He doesn”t,” Thorne said. ”We never told Kaelan. If he knew, Edric might know.”

”Why wouldn”t Dare tell him now?”

Thorne merely sipped his tea. He seems completely unconcerned, which was especially grating when my heart raced on his behalf.

He was so damned sure of everyone. It made me feel nettled, as if I were an outsider with these men and always would be, but I pushed on. ”You always thought the Snake Queen might enchant you...”

”I always thought Edric might,” Thorne corrected. ”It makes no sense to me that he talks about having Kaelan take the throne. We all know Edric is a bloodthirsty monster who would never willingly cede power.”

He leaned back, drumming his fingertips on the tabletop. ”I don”t understand what Edric”s end game is. But I don”t trust him.”

”Wonderful then that you”re leading Kaelan---and therefore Edric---right to our door by running here, isn”t it?” Alys demanded. ”As if you haven”t put Mother through enough---”

”I”m pretty sure you”ve put Mother through quite a bit too, driving away a dozen suitors.”

Alys clucked her tongue. Then, almost in unison, Alys and Coril said, ”I”ll marry when I find a man who can match my intelligence.”

Cori grinned at her own cleverness, and Thorne didn’t try to hide his smile.

Alys glanced at Coril. ”You are very annoying.”

”And you are very predictable.” Coril sipped her tea.

”I”ll run some tests,” Alys said. “I might not be able to tell you what the poison is, but I can send you in the right direction once I know where it originated.”

”We”ll get some rest,” Thorne glanced at me.

”Good,” Alys said. ”I”ll delight in waking you up, then.”

Thorne was still watching me pointedly.

”What?” I demanded.

Thorne said, ”I would prefer if you slept where I can...protect you. If anything happens.”

”If anything happens? As you”ve already assured me...won”t?”

”There”s always a small possibility of an unforeseen event. But we should rest while we can. This is the safest we”re going to be for quite a while.”

”That is such a comforting thought. So you want to share a room?” I met Thorne”s gaze directly, amused to see that he looked uncomfortable for once. ”A bed? I”m still furious with you, Thorne.”

”I know,” he said.

”I don”t know if this story about an enchantment is even true. What if I broke Kaelan”s heart for no reason?”

”I wish I were wrong,” Thorne told me without hesitation. ”I”d rather that you”re safe. Even though I know he would banish me---at best---for stealing his bride.”

”Maybe you should worry about me, not him,” I disagreed. ”I”m the one who”ll be sleeping next to you tonight. And you lied to me.”

”As long as I”m worrying---” Thorne said, then swept me up off my feet.

”Thorne!” I objected.

Coril let out a giggle. ”They”re so cute together!”

”Is that what this is?” Alys looked skeptical. Or at least, I thought so. It was hard to read her face as Thorne turned.

Thorne carried me down the hall. Upside down.

”You are such a jerk,” I said, slamming a fist into his upper thigh.

Thorne”s knee buckled from the blow and he lurched forward a step with me. ”Not on the stairs. I don’t want to trip and hurt you.”

He slapped my ass. Hard.

”I”m going to kill you,” I told him.

”No, you aren”t,” he said, sounding far too confident. ”You”re going to insult me, maybe slap me, possibly try to stab me.”

”You say that like you don”t mind.”

”I say it like I won”t be surprised.” He smacked my ass again, the other side this time. His big hand sent heat washing across my ass… and through my body.. ”I know you, Hanna.”

”No, you don”t,” I disagreed.

”I got to know you through Kaelan”s mind.”

This was far too serious a conversation to have when I was hanging upside down over his shoulder with a rather dizzying view of the marble floor.

Then we were through a doorway and into a bedroom, dimly lit by the dawn light filtering through the curtains.

Thorne slung me down onto the bed and then, wisely, backed away.

I pointed a finger at him. ”First you trick me into leaving my husband, you take me all the way across the ice kingdom without even asking, and then you dare to spank me?”

”I wouldn”t call that a spanking,” he disagreed.

The threat was implicit in the way he said that, though there was an unexpected glint in his eyes.

”I don”t need one more reason to murder you in your sleep, Thorne.” I could still feel the stinging warmth of his hand on my ass--in a way I would”ve enjoyed if he hadn”t just fucked up my entire world. ”Not when I still need you.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. ”I need you. To unravel the spell. To save Kaelan. To let me protect you both.”

He said the words so simply. As if he would cross oceans and risk death for the people he loved---and as if Kaelan and I were those people.

And all my rage was undercut by his conviction.

”I don”t understand why you”re so obsessed with me,” I told him, because he didn”t need to know anything might dull my well-deserved anger. There had to have been another way that didn”t hurt Kaelan so much.

I rose to my knees on the bed so I could pull off the clothes I”d worn. He started to turn, then his gaze swiveled back to me, as if he couldn”t resist.

He watched me hungrily as I pulled off my shirt. The look of desire written across his face lit an answering hum in my body.

I felt a surge of two emotions. Lust. But also power.

Thorne”s desire for me was something I felt through my body.

”I”m sure you”ll realize eventually,” he gritted, turning away. He pulled off his shirt, his powerful body rippling with muscle as he undressed.

I ignored him.

”You”re welcome to sleep on the floor if you can”t bear to sleep next to me,” he offered, his back still to me.

”So gallant, Thorne.”

”I just sacrificed my life for you. I”m not sacrificing a good night”s sleep as well.”

In response, I shucked off my pants---and threw them at his back.

He twisted, his face going tight and stoic when he saw me naked except for my panties, as I wiggled down between the thick, soft covers. I paused with my breasts still above the blankets, even though the air was cool enough to have hardened my nipples. I tucked my arm behind my head, making myself comfortable against his pillows.

”Neither am I,” I said.

Let”s see how well he could sleep with my tits above the blankets, given the way he looked at me like he was starving and I was a whole forbidden feast.

He let out a growl and stalked toward me. Desire ignited between my thighs, but I narrowed my eyes at him.

”I just married the love of my life yesterday,” I reminded him. ”And you fucked up my wedding night.”

He ignored me and pulled the blankets aside. His tall, muscular body weighed down his side of the mattress and it dipped toward him, making me roll his way. I resisted.

”Be quiet so we can sleep,” he told me.

I could. Or I could sing a little song to myself.

Because I was not following orders.

He threw one huge, tattooed arm over his face and tried to ignore me.

But no matter how much I teased him, I was comforted by his presence when the two of us were laying side by side.

Not that I could let him know that.