Reign of Ice (Forever Fae #4)(54)
“It feels great,” I answered honestly. “Why are you all here?”
“Meliantha and I are here to help lend our magic to make your home, and the warriors are here because they choose to be allegiant to this Winter Court and follow Brayden. We also had a meeting last night about our plan of attack, and now that you and Brayden have completed the bond we wanted to discuss it all with you.”
“What did you come up with?” I asked hesitantly.
She smiled and shook her head, but that smile didn’t touch her eyes. “Let’s talk about that later. Right now we need to get your home built. You don’t want to stay in your little ice house forever do you? Where would you put all your kids?”
The thought did bring a smile to my face, imagining all the children Brayden and I would have, but it was just a dream and Calista knew it. Her eyes misted over, but I took her hand in mine and pulled her to the forest edge. “No tears, Calista, you understand me?” She nodded, but didn’t say a word. “Let’s use your magic and get this palace built.” Meliantha came up on my other side and took my hand, leaving me in the middle of my sisters.
“You weren’t planning on doing this without me were you?” Sorcha scolded playfully, taking Calista’s other hand.
The moment we all four took hands, the magic between us exploded into the land. The ground rumbled and shook as everything began to shift and change. In my mind, I pictured a palace just like mine in the Summer Court, but this one with white stone bricks surrounded by glimmering sheens of ice. It sparkled just like mine and Brayden’s little ice house in the woods and I loved it. Instead of gargoyles, like you would see on gothic castles across the world, I had angels protecting mine. If I couldn’t be there for Brayden, at least he would have his own guardian angels protecting our court. It all materialized in front of my eyes just as I imagined it.
“Thank you,” I whispered to my sisters as I gazed out at my new home. “I have never seen anything more beautiful in my life.”
They all looked over at me incredulously, and then to each other. “I didn’t do anything,” Calista admitted, letting go of my hand. “Once you grabbed a hold of my hand you took over somehow. I think that was all you. You didn’t even tell me what you wanted, remember?”
I stared at her for a moment, brows furrowed, and then out to my new home. “You’re right,” I whispered with uncertainty. “I didn’t tell you what I wanted.”
It was strange, but it was true. I thought it up in my head, and the moment I grabbed everyone’s hands it just appeared. It was weird, but then for some reason my whole body felt weird. Did I get new powers when Brayden and I bonded?
Things only got weirder when out of the corner of my eye I saw someone appear that I wasn’t expecting to ever see again. I blinked a couple of times, thinking it was just from lack of sleep, but when he saw me looking at him, I knew then that he was actually there. He gazed at me uncertainly, not knowing if I was seeing him, but when I made full eye contact with him, he started to approach me slowly, cautiously.
I backed up quickly, thinking that I had to be going crazy. What was wrong with me? Brayden could immediately feel my panic and rushed over, taking my face in his hands and going on full alert.
“Ariella, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he uttered worriedly, running his hands along my arms.
“I think I am,” I told them.
Everyone gazed at me with concern in their eyes, but what was I supposed to say. I didn’t understand what was happening, but even I couldn’t deny what I was seeing. It wasn’t an illusion, but there was some kind of magic at work that was making me see things.
It only became even more real when he spoke. “Ariella, can you see me?” he asked.
My eyes burned with unshed tears as I gazed upon the guy I looked up to as a child. I even had a silly crush on him when I was a little girl because he was always around my sister, Calista. Even in death he still followed her around. He still looked the same, all Summer Fae with golden tanned skin and blond hair that curled slightly over his ears and hung over his forehead. Merrick hadn’t changed a bit in the six years he’d been gone to the Hereafter. The question was … why could I see him?
I nodded quickly and whispered, “Yes, I see you.”
Brayden gently grasped my chin and turned my face toward him, his brows furrowed in confusion. “Are you all right? Who are you saying yes to?”
Standing by Calista, Merrick smiled and assured me, “I’m here, Ariella. Just tell them you see me. Maybe someone will know why you can. Elvena usually knows everything.”
I glanced at Brayden and then over to Calista, letting the tears fall as I kept looking at them both and then to Merrick. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and opened them one more time … only to see Merrick still there with a smirk on his face. “I’m still here,” he teased.
“Oh, holy hell I am going crazy,” I muttered, shaking my head. “I’m talking to a ghost.”
“Who?” Brayden and Calista asked at the same time.
I glanced at them both and whispered, “Merrick.”
It turned out that Merrick wasn’t the only deceased person I could see. Lukas happened to be one of them, too. It wasn’t easy relaying his and Kamden’s messages to each other. I spent the entire time crying, trying to talk to both of them. After a couple of hours of speculating and questions from Elvena and my family, the conclusion came down to my seeing ghosts being a case of delayed magical abilities. However, I knew it wasn’t true, but how could I tell my family that it didn’t feel right? I knew what my powers were and what I could do, but this gift didn’t have anything to do with my own abilities. It was something else.