The Snow Queen's Captive (12 page)

If there was still game in the area, after all, maybe eternal snow wouldn’t be such a problem.

“Come see,” she said excitedly, reaching for him.

He grimaced at his bloody hands, dunked them in a nearby bucket of water that she’d unfrozen for him earlier, and then tugged on a glove. When he was armored against her touch, Kai put his hand in hers and let her lead him through the castle. She headed straight forward, ignoring rooms and corridors and just melting walls as she saw fit. Kai followed close at her side, and the ice walls reformed as they passed through.

“You need to use doors,” Kai teased. “Save your magic. You’re expending too much strength.”

She was, it was true. But she’d been so excited about her latest project that she hadn’t thought, she’d simply raced to find him. Dutifully, Charlotte headed down the long corridor to the front gate, eschewing her wall-melting and had the massive icy doors open to admit her outside. “Now come and see what I’ve done,” she said excitedly, pulling him to one side of the courtyard.

Row after row of frozen earth had been uncovered. They’d worked together over two days to make the tiny, naked garden that Charlotte now viewed proudly. De-icing it had been an easy job for Charlotte. They’d made an ice plow and had taken turns dragging it across the frozen ground to make rows. It had been difficult work, but Kai’s company had made it pleasant work.

And from there, Charlotte had begun her week-long struggle. Her magic was in ice and water, but she was pressing herself outward, extending the boundaries of what she could and couldn’t do. If snow and ice were her domain, maybe she could learn to master things that lived in this realm, too. So she’d set to work. For a day or two, she’d explored the nearby areas looking for plants that were still alive despite the snowy weather. She’d found one wizened fruit bush with tiny, unripe berries on it. That had been enough – she’d taken cuttings back, as well as the berries, and had set to work in the garden.

Every minute, every hour of the day, she sank her magic into those small plants. She didn’t know how to manipulate the plants, but if it was anything like her ice magic, all she had to do was concentrate and will it to be so. So she sat at the edge of the field, and stared.

And stared. And focused her magic on those berries and stems in the ground. She packed them with snow and melted it so the ground was wet, and infused even more magic into the soil. She pumped so much magic into those stupid patches of dirt that she went to bed every night, utterly exhausted, her head throbbing. Every ounce of her energy was spent in trying to make those plants grow. Meanwhile, her castle fortifications were forgotten in lieu of more important projects, like how to feed a starving people.

On day one, she planted the berries and was filled with determination and hope.

On days two and three, she worked hard.

By day four, she was ready to collapse. The ground showed no signs of life, and the seeds weren’t responding.

On day five, tiny sprouts started to show amidst the snow. She gave them a little push with her magic and was gleeful when they’d responded by surging in height. Given enough magic, she could make these plants respond to her will just like the water and ice would.

Her plan was working. Exuberant, she’d retrieved Kai and showed him the fruits of her labors. “It’s working!”

He stared down at the small greens barely poking through the ground. “Are those…”

“Berry bushes! Yes! Give me enough time and I bet I can make them grow strong and produce fruit. And if we can do this with one plant, we can do this with others.” Her hands clutched his gloved one excitedly. “No one has to starve or go without. We can make this place as fertile with snow as it is without.”

Kai looked down at her and grinned. Then, he whooped with joy and threw his arms around her, grabbing her and spinning her around in a tinkle of icy skirts.

Charlotte giggled, ecstatic with joy. All the hard work of the last week, all the awful headaches were forgotten in that moment. Right now, there was only hope.

“You’re incredible, Charlotte,” he said, putting her down again.

She smiled at him and her knees wobbled as her feet touched the ground, and she sank against his legs. God, she was weak.

He caught her with his hands and went down with her. “Charlotte! Are you all right?”

“Just tired,” she said with a faint smile.

“You’ve been pushing too hard,” he chided, helping her back to her feet. “It won’t do anyone any good if you destroy yourself trying to fix things.”

Actually, that would probably solve the problem of having a snow queen in residence, Charlotte thought, but kept that to herself. He was right, she was pushing too hard. She was just so desperate to see any kind of result that she’d been pouring heart and soul into things.

“Let me carry you,” he said, picking her up again and hauling her into his arms. “Come inside and eat. You need your strength.”

“I’ll be fine,” she protested. “I just need a moment to rest and then I can go back to work.”

“No more work for now,” he said firmly. “Rest.”

“We don’t have time to rest.” Her fingers curled into the soft furs he wore and for a heart-wrenching moment, she wished it was his skin she was touching. Just once. “They’re going to be coming for me and I need to show them that I’m not totally evil.”

He shook his head. “Even if you believe this, I’m not sure I do. Regardless, you won’t be able to do anything if you don’t take care of yourself.” He carried her through the icy halls, pausing at each door and opening it. It felt painfully slow to Charlotte, who was used to just melting them along the way, but she suddenly felt weak, exhausted, and tapped out. Maybe he was right.

When they got to Charlotte’s bedroom, Kai gently laid her down in bed. “Just rest,” he told her softly. She felt him press his scorching mouth to her hair and felt the strands lifting as he pulled away. She looked up, startled, and her hair was stuck to his mouth, frozen. For some reason, that struck her as wildly funny and she began to giggle as he cursed under his breath.

“I hate that I cannot touch you,” he swore, furious. “Not even to comfort you.”

Suddenly it wasn’t funny any longer. Charlotte’s laughter died as quickly as it had arrived. For the last week, they’d been in a hellish touch-but-don’t-touch sort of scenario. From their heavy petting session, Kai’s hand had blistered and swollen and taken days to recover. Her own sensitive skin had taken almost as long to heal. Those welts had been a reminder to be careful, and they’d been more cautious in their affection toward one another. They hadn’t gone as far as before – not daring to – but the constant need lingered between them like an unfulfilled ache. Instead, they caressed and petted and touched…all within the safe confines of covered skin.

It was driving Charlotte crazy. And if it drove her crazy, it had to be driving Kai wild as well.

But they were stuck. There was nothing they could do about it.

Sometimes, Charlotte secretly hoped that if she expended enough magic, she’d warm up a few degrees. Just enough for Kai’s skin to touch her own. But no matter how tirelessly she worked, she never seemed to exhaust her magic. Sometimes it sputtered weakly because she’d tapped herself out, but there was always a reserve. And she never, ever warmed up a degree.

So what could she do? She had an ice palace in the middle of a country that didn’t want her there. She had a man she was attracted to and who was also attracted to her…who she couldn’t touch. And in a few days, there would be a murdering mob on her doorstep ready to take said man away from her and possibly end her life…unless she ended theirs first.

All in all, it was a pretty shitty situation. So what could she do? She worked on her plants, she cuddled with Kai, and she did her best not to think about the future.

~~ * * * ~~

Two days before the end of the month, Charlotte was out working in the garden when Muffin returned.

A vision in a puffy pink parka, snow skis, and what looked like yellow cowboy boots, the fairy godmother dug her poles into the earth and skied directly over Charlotte’s poor plants.

Charlotte gave a shriek of horror and tried to coax one berry plant out from under Muffin’s crushing neon pink ski. “What are you doing?”

“I might ask the same of you, young lady!” The fairy godmother sounded irate. “I thought we talked about this? You’re the snow queen. Not Martha Stewart! Now, what’s with the gardening?”

“Get off my plants and I’ll tell you.”

Muffin did, but not before bonking Charlotte on the head with one of her ski poles. “I am not impressed, Charlotte. Not impressed at all.”

Charlotte ignored Muffin’s bad mood and sank her fingers back into the icy soil, pushing magic around the wounded plants to bolster them again. The greens were growing, but were spindly and pale, and needed constant attention. She’d been working so hard on them this last week and they were showing signs of berries. If she just kept pushing them and coaxing them a bit more, they’d get there…

“Charlotte, I am concerned about you.” Muffin tapped on her head with the ski pole again, but gently. “I worry you’re not going to be ready in two days. You do know what happens in two days, don’t you?”

She packed dirt around one listing little plant and gave it an extra push with her magic, and was pleased when it perked up. “Gerda comes here looking for me.”

“Looking for your head on a pike,” Muffin corrected, and lifted one of the ends of her ski-poles and pointed it toward Charlotte’s throat. “And you don’t seem concerned.”

“Oh, I’m concerned,” Charlotte said. “That’s why I’m working so hard on these.” She gestured at the tidy rows of pale little plants. One or two of the heartier ones were even starting to resemble bushes. She was getting there. She just needed more time.

“Where’s your captive boy-toy?”

“He’s out ice fishing. And he’s not my captive,” Charlotte said. “Not any longer. He stays because he wants to, now.”

“Oh, that’s adorable,” Muffin said sarcastically. “Is it true love?” When Charlotte’s cheeks colored, Muffin groaned. “Oh honey, no. I told you to use him for sex. Strap on a big ice dildo and have him call you ‘sir’. Have a good time with him! Tickle his undercarriage! Tweak his manly little nipples! But no hearts allowed.”

Okay, that was embarrassing. Charlotte pressed the backs of her hands to her hot cheeks. “You have a salty mouth for a fairy godmother.”

“And you have weird ideas for a snow queen,” Muffin returned. She nodded at the icy courtyard. “Come. Take a walk with me.”

This was going to be a lecture, Charlotte suspected. Still, Muffin controlled everything here and Charlotte had to obey. She stood, brushed off her hands on her crystalline skirts, and then trotted behind Muffin as she started to ski away.

The fairy godmother skied to one of the outer walls and then began to slow. Her skis changed to snowshoes with a flutter of glitter, and then Muffin began to tromp along the snowy edge. She still had her ski poles, so Charlotte moved alongside her, just out of reach of another thwap with a pole in case her mood was still sour.

“You’ve been here almost a month now, correct?”

“That’s right,” Charlotte said.

“And you knew about Gerda coming the entire time. I filled you in on how the fairy tale goes.”

She didn’t know where Muffin was heading with this. “Right…”

Muffin turned to Charlotte, and her wrinkled, round little face was unhappy. “I give you a hard time, Charlotte dear, but I like you. That’s why I don’t want to see you fail.”

A cold clench moved around Charlotte’s heart. “Well,” she said, trying to keep her voice light. “I don’t really want to fail either.”

Muffin shook her head, took another step forward, and then prodded one of the ice walls of the courtyard with her ski-pole. “What does this look like to you?”

Was this a trick question? “Um…ice? An ice wall?”

“And what is the purpose of a wall?”

“To keep things out?”

Muffin’s ski pole prodded the wall again, this time a bit harder. A chunk of ice fell to the ground and left a fist-sized hole in Charlotte’s wall, where she could see out the other side. “Here’s the thing with ice, sweetie. On sunny days, it melts.” Muffin gestured at the clear blue sky overhead. “You want your ice fortress to remain a fortress? You need to stay on top of things. I thought you were fortifying the castle?”

“I am! I was. I just, um, got distracted.”

“By plants? Or by the boy toy?”

“Both?” Charlotte grimaced. “But there’s a reason behind the plants, I swear. I—“

Muffin jabbed at the ice wall again and an even larger chunk fell down at Charlotte’s feet. Okay, now she was starting to get annoyed with the fairy godmother. Did she have to do that right now? “Your ice fortress is one good push away from falling apart,” Muffin told her. “And what are you going to do then?”

Charlotte opened her mouth to protest, but another chunk fell from the wall several feet away. It landed with a wet splat. No one had touched it. Frowning, she stepped toward the wall and put her hand on it to patch up…and felt just how weak it was. The ice molecules (or whatever she was feeling when she touched it) seemed sluggish and thin. She gave it a push of her own magic…and was alarmed at the faint sputter of her own response. She’d been pouring too much of herself into the plants and she had nothing left to repair her home. “I…I’ll fix it later. When I’ve rested.”

“Charlotte, honey, this is such a bad idea! Can’t you see that? I’m worried about you. Just because you accidentally landed as the bad guy doesn’t mean that I want you to fail.”

Why was Muffin so sure that Charlotte was going to fail? It was making her uneasy. “But things are different this time. I’m going to talk to Gerda. Show her the plants I’m growing. It’ll make a difference, I know it will. We can all come to peaceful terms over this—“

Muffin shook her head solemnly.

“—what?”

“Honey.” Muffin’s little hand patted at Charlotte’s icy sleeve, and then stuck there. The fairy godmother frowned, blew a cloud of glitter at her hand, and unstuck it. She shook her fingers in the air, as if restoring circulation. “I keep forgetting about that.”