Bite Of Winter (Fae's Captive #3)(29)

“Stop it, mister. You aren’t dodging the subject.” She turns around, but she’s breathless.

I want her so badly I fist my hands, then relax. “It will only be for a short while.”

“Why?”

“It’s for your protection.” Gareth rides up next to us.

“That doesn’t make sense. You and Leander go nuts whenever I’m out of your sight, so why would Leander let me wander off into the winter realm without him?”

The pearly wall between realms appears before us, a garrison of summer realm soldiers standing guard along a stone parapet set back from the shimmering magic. The barrier is thinner between two stone turrets that flank the opening on either side. The crossing.

“Holy shit.” Taylor presses a palm to her face. “How is this even possible? It’s snowing over there. Snowing! Like, fifty feet away. I’m this close to breaking a sweat over here.”

“I’m going to need a coat.” Para looks down at her crimson dress. She and Cenet argued a bit more before they parted, but she seems steady now.

“Snow.” Taylor shakes her head. “How?”

“Magic divided the lands in the ancient times. To maintain balance, it created the realms of summer and winter. There are other realms across Arin, night and day, spring and fall—but they’re far away beyond the Ocean of Storms. I have enough troubles on this continent to worry about others, though we do have infrequent trade with them.”

“That’s great and all, but there’s snow!” She points.

“I think you broke your changeling.” Beth grins, but I can sense she’s more than a little awed as well with the way she stares across the barrier.

I look beyond the shimmering wall. Shadows ease from the wooden structures of the small town on the winter side. They coalesce along the main road, members of the Phalanx armed to the teeth and ready to bleed for their king. Some of my tension releases. No threat can stand against them. I ignore the feral’s rejoinder of “we can.”

“Now I must wait here.” I throw a leg over Kyrin and drop to the dusty cobblestones. The soldiers are bored, most of them playing dice while others drink and carouse. Only a couple of them watch us, and they focus solely on me.

“You never said why I have to go without you.” She reaches out for me.

I take her hand. I always will. “Just in case my feral gets a little too strong when I cross. I don’t want to … hurt you. You see?”

“Oh.” She bites her lip, then says again more quietly, “Oh.”

“Yes. It’s for your safety.” I squeeze her hand. “But it won’t be for long.”

“Do you promise?”

I close my eyes, a promise between mates being an aphrodisiac all its own. “I promise I will follow you into the winter realm and wherever you go from now on.”

The zing of magic shocks between us, and her eyes open wide. “Wow.”

“That’s nothing.” I kiss the back of her hand but dare not do more. Not when I’m this close to the winter realm, the feral howling just beneath my skin.

“Gareth.” I turn to him. “She is in your care.”

“I will keep her close, my king. You have nothing to worry about.”

I’ll worry all the same. But I’ve put my life in Gareth’s hands more times than I can count. He won’t let me down.

“I’ll watch out for both of them.” Beth pats Gareth on the knee. “He could use some direct supervision.”

Gareth’s usual scowl reappears.

Para pulls her dress closer around her throat.

I meet her gaze. “Don’t worry. There will be furs aplenty once you cross. Hospitality is the way of the winter realm.”

She gives me a curt nod and looks away quickly.

I still hold Taylor’s hand. I have to let go. Looking up at her, my heart constricts when I see the wetness in her eyes. I can’t leave her like this.

One pull and she’s in my arms, my mouth pressed to hers. The feral be damned. She wraps her arms around my neck, her feet dangling off the ground as I kiss her with all the love I possess. Her tongue searches mine, both of us lost in each other. My worries fade as I taste her sweetness, and I want this moment to last forever. But, too soon, it must end. She has to go.

When I break the kiss, the feral rakes its claws down the inside of my chest.

“Go, now, before I change my mind.” I set her on Kyrin, her tears still salty on my tongue.

“Leander.” She wipes her eyes and straightens her spine. My queen. “I’ll see you on the other side.”

“It’s a deal.” I slap Kyrin’s flank, and he takes off through the barrier.

Gareth and the others follow, but I don’t take my eyes from Taylor, not until she vanishes in a swirl of snow while surrounded by my warriors.





14





Taylor





The cold seeps through my clothes and plays along my skin with frigid fingers. A row of soldiers in silver armor line the road on either side of us. They’re stationed like the ones on the other side, but they are far more formal and verge on scary. They don’t look at me. Their eyes are forward, hands clasped behind their backs.

Snow coats everything, fat flakes falling all around as ice dangles like fancy earrings from nearby trees. “Narnia,” I whisper and rub my arms against the cold. Gareth doesn’t seem bothered by it as he rides slightly ahead then stops in front of a line of fae. Four of them, each looking at me with thinly veiled curiosity.