Reign of Ice (Forever Fae #4)(10)
And that’s precisely what she would do. “What exactly would this compromise entail?” I questioned curiously.
King Oberon smiled and put his arm around me, steering me down the massive golden halls of his palace. “I have an idea, but it’s going to require you to put aside your pride. Can you do that just once … for Ariella’s sake?”
I would do anything for her, whatever it took.
We continued down the desolate hallway until we came upon a door King Oberon stopped in front of. With his hand on the latch, he raised a brow and repeated again, “Can you do that?”
Without finding out what was at stake, I nodded my head and agreed, “Yes, I’ll do it for her. I owe her my life for the way I treated her.”
“Good,” King Oberon said, turning the latch on the door with a smirk on his face. As soon as the light filtered into the room I took a look around and groaned at the sight before me.
“Oh hell,” I mumbled. “If this doesn’t show her how serious I am then I don’t think anything will.”
The king clapped a hand on my shoulder and guffawed. “She won’t see it that way at first, but if you give her time she’ll come around. I heard how you left her at the Spring Court after you had the vision. She doesn’t forgive very easily, and I can honestly say she got that from her mother. I think a little humility is good for the soul.”
There was definitely going to be some humiliation tonight … mine. I was doing it all for Ariella even though she hated me for what I’d done. It was the first step to redeeming myself.
MY BEDROOM DOOR burst open just as I collapsed on the floor away from the mirror, away from the sight of someone else’s eyes staring back at me. What the hell is going on? That wasn’t me in the mirror … it was Zanna looking back at me.
Kamden stormed in the room all dressed in his Spring Court warrior gear and his sword drawn, ready for action. He ran to Zanna and searched over her, but then his gaze landed on me when she pointed in my direction. “What the …” he began. He approached me warily and tilted his head to the side, narrowing his gaze unsurely. “What’s going on? Who are you?”
“It’s me, Kam. Now stop talking so I can concentrate,” I demanded impatiently.
Marching over to the bed, I collapsed onto it and took some deep breaths. I twirled the dark hair in between my fingers that was all Zanna’s and immediately thought of my own, concentrating as hard as I could. And just as if I willed it, the hair between my fingers began to change colors; it was slowly going from black to blonde again. Kamden and Zanna both gasped as I ran to the bathroom and gazed hesitantly at myself in the mirror.
I was me again, but how?
“Ariella?” Kamden muttered, coming to the door. “How did you do that? How did you make yourself look like Zanna?”
Touching my face, I leaned closer to the mirror to inspect myself. Everything was back to normal. “I don’t know how I did it. All I know is that I was thinking about Zanna and how amazing she was and then I changed. And just now when I was looking at my hair I was thinking about how mine was blonde and then it came back.”
Kamden’s eyes grew wide and he bellowed, “Well, happy birthday, Princess. It looks like you’ve come into your new powers. I must say I’m a bit jealous. Just think of all the jokes you can play on people now. Are you going to tell everyone at the ceremony?”
Thoughts of what Elvena and the others discussed came back at me full force. They were waiting to see how my powers progressed before they told me about what the scroll actually said. For some reason, I had the sinking suspicion that this gift needed to stay hidden.
Gazing back and forth from Kamden to Zanna, I sighed and said, “No, I’m not going to tell anyone and neither are you two. Promise me you won’t say anything. I know it’s an amazing gift, but it’s something I don’t want anyone knowing just yet. Promise me.”
Zanna nodded. “I promise, but what are you going to tell everyone when they ask what special powers came to you? You know they’re going to ask,” she responded incredulously. “The others had some pretty amazing abilities come to them and I know they will be anxious to hear what happened with you.”
I waved her off and grabbed my dress. “I’ll come up with something, but this is important. I can’t let anyone know that I can do this other than you two. Kamden, you need to promise me.”
Kamden smiled and shook his head. “I promise, Princess, but you know I would’ve figured it out once I became your guardian. I don’t think you could’ve hidden that from me.”
Sadly, I smiled and said, “You’d be surprised, Kam. I’m pretty good at keeping secrets. But you seem pretty confident that you’re going to win. Arrogance can lead to mistakes if you’re not careful.”
“Don’t you worry about me. I’ll be fine. You are the one who needs to concentrate on staying you so you can keep your secret. Now hurry up or we’ll be late. You still need to ask your father if I can compete.”
That’s right, I do, but I know he’ll say yes.
Rushing into the bathroom, I removed my robe and slid on my silver gown. My ice blue eyes stared back at me in the mirror, and I could feel the extra power flowing through my veins like a jolt of energy. Staring into the mirror, I called on my magic to make my eyes purple like Meliantha’s. Immediately they turned and I squealed in excitement.