Reign of Ice (Forever Fae #4)(24)

“What did she say to upset you?” he interrupted, a scowl on his face. When I glanced over at Queen Mab she lifted a brow in question, but then realized what we were doing. She then smirked and sat there, watching us in amusement.

I huffed and rolled my eyes at Brayden, except a part of me couldn’t help but notice how sexy he looked riding on his horse. His muscles bulged in his arms as he held onto the reins and his body also moved gracefully along with his horse’s as they galloped along beside us. Stop it, Ariella, I chided myself.

Through the bond, I groaned. “Calm down, caveman. She didn’t say anything ill toward me. She told me something about my mother, something that made me realize how happy I am to be away from her.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Would you like to talk to me about it later?”

“Are you going to actually talk to me or are we going to stare at each other and do this mind to mind mojo shit?” I asked, a hint of a smile tilting the corner of my lips.

“As soon as we get to our place I’m all yours. You can talk to me as long as you want, angel.”

“Our place? What do you mean our place?” I shrieked.

Brayden winked at me and rode off, leaving me hanging. “You’ll like it when you see it, Princess. Don’t worry … I’m not going to ravish you against your will. I’m going to wait until you beg for it.”

“Not going to happen,” I muttered quickly, watching his backside as he left.

“We’ll see,” he teased in his deep, seductive voice. “We will see …”

Queen Mab spoke up, taking my mind off of Brayden’s wayward thoughts. “So what is my son saying to you?”

I rolled my eyes and sighed, hoping to keep the blush from spreading to my cheeks. “Oh just the usual caveman stuff that he’s been known to spout out.”

Queen Mab doubled over, laughing. “I do believe you two are going to be a great match for each other. You are certainly going to keep him on his toes.”

“Yes, I am,” I agreed wholeheartedly, and then to myself I mumbled, “And he’s going to keep me on mine.”





WHEN WE ARRIVED in the Winter Court, I was expecting to feel the bite of the cold breeze against my skin, but it never came. I bent down to grab a handful of snow, and smiled when it didn’t freeze my fingers or turn them blue. No wonder the Winter Fae could walk around in just their bare skin. I gazed around in awe at the white covered terrain and the gray clouds above dropping thousands of giant-sized snowflakes. I caught one in my hand, expecting it to melt, but it sat there, whole and still together.

“This is fascinating,” I breathed, filling my lungs with everything Winter. “It feels like …”

“Home?” Brayden finished, sidling up beside me.

I looked over at him. “Yes, it does. It feels like I’ve always belonged to the Winter.”

His brown eyes softened as he moved closer. “It’s because you have, angel.” I searched around quickly and noticed that we were alone on the palace steps. How could that be? There were people out here just a few seconds ago.

“Wait! Where did everyone go?” I asked. “They were just out here not too long ago.”

Brayden chuckled and shook his head. “Yes, they were, but that was about an hour ago.”

“Oh, wow,” I laughed. “I guess I got carried away with being here.”

I gazed up at him, our eyes locking with mutual desire. I wanted him to kiss me—hell, I wanted him to do more than kiss me—but I knew it would be selfish to do so. He looked down at my lips and started to lower his head. My heart thumped wildly in my chest and all I wanted was to take what was mine. Even though we hadn’t known each other long, he was mine … if only for a short while.

Giving in to my selfish desires, I let Brayden close the distance. His lips hovered over mine for an instant before they claimed me. He pulled me closer against his body as he deepened the kiss, and opened up the connection to his soul.

“I will prove to you that I’m worthy,” he whispered in my head. His fingers ran circles over my back, making my skin tremble and shake under his touch.

My hands went straight to his short brown hair, which had grown a little longer over the past few days, and then down along the roughness of the stubble along his chin. I could just picture myself running my hands through his dark tresses while we made love, and feel the hair across his face rubbing along the tender flesh of my breasts. I shuddered just thinking about it before I remembered where we were. We were in front of the palace where anyone could see. If the dark sorcerer saw then everything could be in jeopardy. If he keeps thinking I hate Brayden then that should definitely buy me some time.

Pulling away abruptly, I took a couple of steps back and said, “We have to be careful, Brayden. We can’t do this out in the open.”

He lifted his eyebrows slyly and smirked. “Yeah, I don’t think we should either, considering what you had going through your mind. I see you aren’t going to make things easy for me, are you? If you didn’t want to be with me then why were you thinking about—”

I slapped a hand to his mouth to keep him from saying it out loud. “First, I don’t do anything easy,” I challenged. “Second, you can’t just expect me to fall into your arms anytime you want like I’m sure you’re used to with other women.” His smile disappeared but I continued, “Third, if Alasdair can get to me easily like he claims then that could mean he’s watching us. If he thinks we are getting close to finishing the bond then he’s going to come for me. He could tell we weren’t fully bonded when he sniffed me out. We have to watch ourselves and not get carried away.”