Chapter Ten
“I’m so proud of you little Snow! I feel like I should – I don’t know – do a speech or something.”
She rolled her eyes, but in truth, Aphrodite had a point. People broke into speeches when they willingly chose to bind themselves to another for the rest of time.
People who hadn’t decided on it as a hasty resolution to avoid letting their new lover die when they were otherwise engaged, in any case. Now Kai could tap into her power and get himself out of his mess, she was able to concentrate on the fact that an angry god wanted to get through.
“I think if I ice up the entire castle, rather than the gate itself, it will keep it blocked while preserving this portal, which means the other doors won’t be destroyed in the process.”
“Brilliant idea. Why are you scowling?”
There were a few reasons.
Firstly, the castle was her only home; there were things she’d cared about in there, some memories, too.
Not to mention, it also was her refuge, with powerful wards and shields she’d built over years. The evil presence who’d managed to take down her walls around the mountain hadn’t even scratched the protection of Skadia, her city.
But mainly…
“It’s a big house. Icing it is going to take a lot out of me… And it might harm those who can’t stand the cold.”
They nodded in understanding.
“Got it,” Persephone replied. “I’ll go warm your husband up. Can’t wait to see what kinda man has managed to remove your chastity belt.”
She flipped her the bird as she left the room, laughing out loud.
“Would you be very annoyed if I tagged along with Perse?” Aphrodite pouted. “I don’t like the cold.”
Eira rolled her eyes.
“That, or you wanna meet Kai, too.”
From her smirk, it was definitely option two. Eira shot her a wordless warning; if she found pink lipstick anywhere on Kai, she was going to kick butts.
“Go. You shouldn’t be here, in case I fail.”
“Gerda.”
Kai was more disappointed than surprise. The woman wore a dark mark on her neck now, but he knew she’d betrayed them before losing her freedom: the marked ones forgot everything about who they had been, so she wouldn’t have managed to give their location away afterwards.
They’d taken every human out of the tank, and bound them to a tree, before returning to the gardens where they found a company of forty, who were all presently fucking. Most of them were guys, but it didn’t seem to bother anyone; after all, there was nothing wrong with anal sex.
“What are they doing, Prince Kai?”
He tied a piece of cloth on Kragen’s eyes, blocked his ears and entrusted his care to one of the hunters before starting the most difficult job he’d ever had to do.
Challenge one was trying to stop them from humping everything they could. Challenge two was keeping his pants up – there was someone who tried to mount him every five seconds. Eventually, they’d bound everyone, including Gerda, whose every hole had been filled when they’d found her.
She liked it a lot, by the sound of it.
Kai looked down towards her clinically, and wondered whether they might have ever suited, in other circumstances. She was certainly attractive, and the clothes had hidden a pretty, round ass – currently soiled with at least three different guys’ cum.
But his cock, which should have showed some enthusiasm, laid dormant.
“What are we going to do with them, sir?”
“We’ll need to wait for them to… calm down, first. Then we can decide.”
“It’s not going to be as easy as that, I’m afraid.”
The woman who appeared before him was seriously hot, objectively, yet his dick wasn’t even twitching.
She was just his kinda thing, too: exotic. Dark skin, almond-shaped eyes, very long eyelashes. It was as though the universe had thought necessary to rub the most gorgeous girls out there on his face now he’d been ruined for all but one.
Proving his theory true, there was another one on her right, just as attractive, although she was taller, paler, and with amber eyes.
“They are going to be like this forever,” the exotic female announced. “Unless I release them. Which I’m not inclined to.”
“There are worse things in life than being a sex addict,” the second one shrugged, flipping her finger against Gerda’s nipples, and giggling at her moans.
Ok, he was rather cold and all that, but these two women were frightening.
“Thanks for the… help,” he settled on, guessing he owed them.
He was not going to be caught being impolite to those who’d designed those gardens; they were obviously merciless, and also way, way too perverse.
“Don’t think of it. Really, I insist. Well…unless you want to thank me by shoving your dick ball deep inside me. I could definitely use the release.”
He took three steps back, just as most of his men took a few steps forward. Ah, hell.
“Sorry ladies, I can’t right now. But I’m sure Byn or Tarin wouldn’t mind…”
He was all but running, however the two vamps weren’t giving up that easily.
“Really? I could get you in the mood,” the second one said, licking her lips.
His vision blurred, and for a little while, all he wanted was to taste those lips…
Then he focused, realizing that the lips in his mind were thinner, and certainly not painted bright pink.
Magic. They were using some pretty powerful spells on him.
Retreat, now!
“I mean no offense, ladies, really,” he swore, holding both hands up in surrender. “But I’m not available. There’s a woman in my life and I have no intention to stray. I love her.”
The words were out of his mouth before he’d willed them to.
He loved her; enough to turn down a threesome with miss universe one and two.
Hell. Where had that come from?
The women exchanged a look, before giggling.
“That was a good call, Prince Kai,” the darker one said, holding her hand out. “Aphrodite. Lovely to meet you. Now if you’d follow that way up; there’s an empty city with your wife’s name on it.”
Everyone had been whispering, conjecturing, exchanging half-cooked theories on their journey. Were the ladies really who they pretended to be, or would they lead them to their doom? Yet, they walked, ignoring the fact that it grew colder and colder at each step.
Within the hour, they were under four foot of fresh snow; they'd had to leave the sleigh and carry the children on their broken backs.
“We won't be able to make it much further,” he screamed, hoping his voice would reach the ladies.
The goddesses.
Kai hadn’t doubted their identity, not for a second.
The word had been at the tip of his tongue since he's seen the ice coming from Eira’s fingers; there were stories about everything, from aliens to incubus, but one thing, they all agreed on: no one could create matter out of nothing.
No one but the gods.
It was the very definition of their nature: they were called gods because they, unlike anyone else, could create – simple as that.
The fairer goddess turned towards them, and seemed surprised as she took in the sight of the sad bunch of shivering elves.
“Sorry, my bad. I forgot I was supposed to warm you up.”
Then, she gave those who’d questioned her authenticity an irrevocable proof.
Her amber eyes flashed gold and the snow on the path instantly melted, replaced by fresh, green grass.
“I can't stop the storm, but walking should be easier now. Hurry up.”
It was just as freezing, but the villagers’ spirit lifted, warmed by an injection of hope. Persephone carried on ahead, snow melting before her feet, leaving them a clear path.
Then unexpectedly, shortly after, it stopped snowing, blowing and storming.
They could see the path ahead now: in the distance, shining like it was made of silver and glass, there was a city.
Kai had travelled everywhere on Gaia, and he'd never seen anything like it. Columns, high edifices, finely sculpted murals, all made of glass – or, more likely, ice. Every single home he saw from his point of view might have been crafter for a King.
“Skadia,” Aphrodite announced, admiration clear in her tone. “Perhaps not the warmest city in Gaia, but certainly one of the most exquisite.”
By then, everyone was half running; they reached the deserted street, eyes wide open in bewilderment.
There was no one, not a single soul, but those elegant, shinny homes must belong to someone.
Didn’t they?
His exploration of the first building led him to believe otherwise. This place had never been used, he would have sworn it; nothing showed any wear, from the kitchen to the bedrooms. While each house was furnished – with strange, unique beds and chairs which, for all their beauty, didn’t seem all that comfortable, given the fact that they were crafter in blocks of ice. They also lacked linens, cushions, furs; things people would have needed.
He came out with more questions than answers; the first one being, where was she?
“The ladies have left that way,” Fyn told him, pointing to the end of the main street.
He nodded his thanks, before pointing to the house he’d just checked.
“Set up a camp in this one,” he ordered; it was plenty large enough for all of them. “Get some rest. I’ll do a round, see that the city is safe.”
By that, he meant he'd planned on tailing to goddesses who'd hurried north, to find Eira and take her in his arms.
He had questions, loads of them, but believing he'd been about to die had redefined his priority.
Hugs first, torture and inquisition, later.
He caught up with the strangers when they'd made it in front of a humongous, imposing, and completely frozen palace he might have admired, if he could have forced his gaze away from what laid at its feet for long enough.
Eira was on the ground, completely white, down to the tip of her usually dark hair. He might have believed she had been a statue, if her chest wasn't riding and falling.
She was breathing. She was alive.
Bear, Aphrodite and Persephone fussed around her, the first one licking her face – which was kinda gross – as the others covered her with their own jackets, warming up her arms and legs.
But they were smart: when he fell next to her and pulled her into his arms, they let him.
“She's going to be alright, right?”
The women exchanged a glance he didn't like, before one of them replied.
“Sure. But she could… Go to sleep for a while.”
He opened his mouth to ask her to define a while, but thought better of it.
“Why did she do that to herself!”
“Mhhh… To save this world from very pissed of gods who were trying to come through?”
Damn her for coming up with a reason he couldn't argue with. He was still going to spank Eira’s ass when she woke up.
“You’re going to wake up soon,” he told her out loud, hoping what they said about people in coma applied there.
He pretended he didn't see the second look between the goddesses.
She would come back to him, he would make sure of it.
He was going to get everyone in this place to make as much loud, obnoxious noise as possible until she just had to wake up, if only to come down and beg them to stop partying.
Understandably, after burying a ten thousand meter square palace under a pile of ice, Eira went to sleep on Bear’s flank.
When she opened her eyes, she was in the middle of a bed, tucked in under covers; she frowned, though, because she was quite alone.
She pushed to her feet, pulled on the clothes left on a chair next to the window and went to investigate.
Where the hell was she?
She recognized the streets – of course, she did, but Skadia had always been a ghost city. She’d built it on a whim and never bothered to destroy it, but no one had ever lived there.
Right now, the familiar town was alive with music, laughter and some people danced around a large sculpture; great, she'd made it during some sort of a festival.
Her stomach grunted when she passed a street vendor; the scent of the thing he brunt on his grill was a powerful punch in the guts.
Eira forced herself to walk forward, ignoring it. She didn't have any of their money on her.
She walked faster, trying to prevent herself from glancing towards the meat.
She was throwing it a last glance when she walked right into someone.
“I’d say that’s unexpected, but we seem to make quite a habit of this.”
She’d just had the time to gasp out loud when lips fell right on hers, sealing her mouth shut with a kiss.
The kiss was delightful, but it stopped way, way too quickly for her taste.
“We need to talk.”
She blinked, wondering whether Kai had lost his mind. Talk? Now, he wanted to talk?
“You don't seem to recall the rule,” she breathed, on her tiptoes to reach his ear. “Talk comes after me.”
On that note, she resume the dance of their tongues, holding on to him like he was her lifeline.
He pulled her away again.
“Short version of the talk. You need to marry me. Deal?”