Reign of Ice (Forever Fae #4)(8)
Kamden groaned and tilted his head back in the chair, avoiding my gaze. That groan could only mean one thing …
“He did, didn’t he?” I questioned through clenched teeth.
He threw his hands in the air, keeping his head tilted back. “What does it matter anyway? I’m sure you had your fair share of men. I mean, come on, Ariella, you’re hot as hell and you’re one of the funniest women I know. I keep waiting on you to play one of your sick jokes on me like you do the other warriors.”
I stared at him for the longest time before we both laughed and let the tension ease. He lifted his head and hunched over, resting his elbows on his thighs. “Look, Brayden’s a guy and guys have needs sometimes. Especially when we’re fighting and training. We have to let out some of that tension before we kill each other. So yes, he had lots of women, but like I said he’s never looked at them the way he does you. I don’t think he even talked to the women he slept with.”
“Well that’s comforting,” I quipped sarcastically, rolling my eyes. “It makes me wonder if he’ll be that way with me. I have no clue what’s going to happen with us now. Tomorrow I turn twenty-one and I don’t know what’s going to happen with my powers or who’s going to be my guardian. I don’t even see the point in having a guardian.”
Scoffing, Kamden shook his head and grabbed my hands that were in my lap. Kneeling down on the floor, he clasped our hands together and gazed up at me with his exotic hazel eyes. “No matter how many people are in yours and Brayden’s past that’s where they’re at … the past. I have women in mine and Zanna has men in hers, but we both love each other no matter what. As far as your guardian ceremony goes, I have a question I wanted to ask you.”
“What is it?” I asked, squeezing his hands. “Are you going to come to it?”
He smirked and squeezed my hands back. “Actually, I wanted to see if you’d let me fight in it.”
My eyes went wide and I gasped. Was he serious? “You mean you want to fight for me? Really? What does Zanna think about it?” I asked excitedly.
Letting go of my hands, he laughed and sat back in his chair. “We were talking about it right before I found you in the stables. I was looking for you so I could ask you what you thought about it.”
I studied him, trying hard to keep from smiling. If there was anyone I wanted to be my guardian it would be him. I hadn’t known him for long, but he and Zanna had become family to me over the past couple of weeks and I honestly loved them both.
I lifted a curious brow and crossed my arms over my chest. “Do you think you can handle me, Kam? I mean, think about it … you’re going to be in my head every single day and listening to my crazy thoughts. I want you to understand what you’re getting yourself into.”
“The same goes to you, Princess. You’re going to hear all my thoughts as well. Do you think you can handle me?” he asked teasingly.
I chuckled. “I have no doubt. Okay, you can compete, but I’m warning you … my Summer warriors are fierce. You might regret it.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah right. I have complete faith in myself.”
We sat there and talked and laughed for hours until my mother and father arrived back from Drake and Sorcha’s Summer. After showing Kamden to a spare bedroom he could sleep in for the night, I retired to my room and shut the door, leaning heavily against it as all my thoughts bombarded me at once.
I am the one to end the evil and I don’t know how. I am most likely going to die in the process as well. I turn twenty-one tomorrow and gain my powers, the same powers the dark sorcerer wants. I had the prophetic vision with Brayden, who acts like I’m not worthy of his time, not to mention we have to be bonded before the weapon of mass destruction can be made. I’m not supposed to know what’s going on, but I do and the weight of it lies heavily on my chest. I have to figure out how to save the land, and the last thing I want to do is let my people down.
Before lying down on my bed, I changed out of my clothes and put on a simple gray T-shirt that I got from the mortal realm. I never travelled there much since I was basically forbidden to until I had procured a guardian. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day and I had a strange feeling that Brayden was going to make sure he was there.
The room was quiet and dark, but I could see the twinkling lights of the sprites out by my window. I knew I should be terrified of my fate, and in a way I was, but there was nothing I could do about it. I knew my time was coming.
I never thought my life would end so soon, but what my sisters failed to realize was that I valued our world and our land above anything else, including my own existence. I would save them … I just needed to figure out how.
The sunlight beaming in through the window shone bright, but that wasn’t what had awoken me. Someone was sitting on the bed with me; I could feel the bed jostle and hear their breath as they sat quietly. Groaning, I turned over and was met with the beaming smile of my friend, Zanna, with her wide blue eyes jumping with excitement. “Happy birthday,” she cheered. “Do you feel any different?”
“What are you doing here?” I asked groggily, having endured the worst night sleep ever. “It’s kind of early don’t you think, Zanna?”
“Yeah, if you consider mid-day to be early. Everyone’s waiting on you to get ready for the ceremony. Kamden wanted to come in here and wake you up hours ago, but I told him no.”