Reign of Ice (Forever Fae #4)(20)

Taking my chin in his strong grasp, he slammed my head against the wall and held me firm so I couldn’t turn away. He looked straight into my eyes and hissed, “Is this better?”

I could feel his dark magic spreading its evil tentacles across my skin as the form of one of my best friends slowly disappeared and was replaced with someone else. Instead of the short, black hair and hazel eyes of my friend it was interchanged with shoulder-length brown hair and the evil looking gray eyes of the sorcerer.

I could feel the power in his strength and in his body as he pressed it against mine, leaning close to breathe me in. I knew there was no way I could fight him off without a weapon. It angered me to know that I was caught off guard by his intrusion and that I was defenseless.

Groaning in my ear and still holding my face in his firm grasp, he used his other hand to glide his fingers down my body. First, he trailed a finger down my neck to my breasts, and then down my stomach to my waist where he squeezed tightly, digging his fingers in sharply. I hissed with the pain as his fingertips cut into my skin, drawing blood.

“Brayden! The dark sorcerer is in my room!” I screamed in his mind. I felt his panic almost immediately.

“What! No!” he yelled in reply. “Dammit, I’ll be right there. Stay calm, angel.”

Through gritted teeth, I spat angrily, “You better be glad I don’t have a weapon right now or I would’ve already chopped off your hands. And possibly other protruding parts if you don’t back off.”

He laughed, a loud noise that grated my already raw nerves. “Ah, there is still hope for you yet, Princess,” he chided with a smirk on his face. “You may be bonded to the Winter prince, but your body still doesn’t belong to him. From what I’ve heard he discards more women than me on a daily basis. That’s pretty impressive. He’ll get tired of you like he does everyone else.” He tilted his head to the side and bit his lip. “I think I may need to get pointers from him on how to f*ck women since he obviously has so many. Then again, you will see that for yourself soon.”

“Screw you,” I sneered. “Your words mean nothing to me.”

“Ah … that’s where you’re wrong, Princess. You can’t lie to me. I can see the doubt in your eyes.”

Footsteps thundered from beneath us and I knew it would only be a matter of seconds before Brayden stormed through the door. Alasdair clucked his tongue and scolded me like a child, narrowing those evil gray eyes of his, “Now, now, Ariella that wasn’t nice using your bond to get your prince in here. I see we will have to delay this visit for another time.” He released my chin and flashed to the door in a matter of seconds, morphing back into Kamden in the process.

“There’s not going to be another time,” I growled, rubbing my aching chin.

He glanced over his shoulder at me and smiled. “Yes there will be, Your Highness. I can promise you that. It’s not going to matter where you are or what you’re doing. I will always have a way to get to you.”

And I will soon have a way to get to you, I thought to myself, and with that last thought, he disappeared.





When Brayden stormed through the door to my room, his body shook with pent up rage and worry as he scooped me up into his arms. Ryder and Kalen burst through the door behind him, swords drawn and ready for battle, but when they saw Brayden holding me their mouths flew open in surprise and they lowered their blades.

“Are you okay? There were so many things going through my head on the way up here. I didn’t know if he was going to take you, or try to kill you. All I knew was that if he did take you I would hunt him down until the end of time to find you. I would’ve failed you not only as your guardian, but as—”

“Brayden, I’m all right,” I interrupted him, pulling out of his arms to get some distance.

His closeness confused me because I wanted it; I wanted him near. However, I couldn’t stop the ping of jealousy in my gut after what the dark sorcerer said about the many women Brayden had occupied his time with. It was basically the same thing Kamden told me before about him as well. Was I going to have to deal with other women falling at his feet, wanting him to have sex with them?

Deep down I knew Alasdair wanted to plant the seed of doubt, but it still didn’t change the fact that Kamden said the same thing. He wouldn’t lie to me. My sisters’ never had to worry about other women with their men, well … except Meliantha when Kalen was about to bond with Breena when he thought she didn’t want him. From what I heard he had his fair share of women also, but I saw the way he looked at my sister at the Winter Solstice Ball. It was the same way Ryder would watch Calista. Why did I have to get the one who screwed around all the time and liked to keep his emotions hidden? Granted he was getting better at it, but still …

“I can feel your tension and anger, angel. As much as you try to shield that I can still feel it, which means it’s of copious proportions. Talk to me,” he pleaded.

“We can talk later,” I remarked verbally, heading out my bedroom door. “Right now I need to talk to the others. This needs to end.” Brayden followed quickly on my heels, along with his brothers and several of his Winter warriors. Their armor made clanking sounds as we briskly walked down the golden halls toward the Great Room where I knew everyone would be.

I could hear Ryder whispering to Brayden behind me. “Don’t worry, brother. She’s exactly like Calista. When she’s pissed or worried just leave her be. The more you provoke her, the angrier she gets.”