CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The niggling feeling at the back of his neck didn’t disappear, even while Urban and the other guards confirmed that the perimeters were still well protected and they didn’t encounter anything odd. It stayed with him as he listened to the woes of a housewife whose husband left the clan and never returned, as she wanted a search party created so she herself could punish him for causing her such misery.
Isaac had to explain once again that while he protected the clan, anyone could leave whenever they wanted—but that didn’t mean he was going to go out of his way to have them come back. Unless there was a particular reason for the leave and he was properly informed, anything else was a breeding ground for traitors and such, which he didn’t want his place infiltrated with. The rules were there for a reason, and that was to make sure security was tight, and no attack would ever come to them.
He thought of Roxie, who had been amazed at first at how things were so simple there as compared to the Autumn Court. He could tell she’d been suspicious of it at first and wondering if there was some kind of game-playing going on under the carpet, but he let her observe and come to realize on her own that the only game-playing here wasn’t the vicious kind. Sure, he had some tension with authorities and a long-standing coldness with Dylan until their recent incident, but it had never been the kind that dealt out cruel, unprovoked punishment.
Urban appeared a few minutes later to give out the mission report, and Isaac half-listened. Then, the niggling feeling still there, Isaac finally shifted to his panther form and made a dash for the back, sprinting outside the cave and into the forest to let some stress out. His instincts were rarely incorrect, and it was telling him now that shit was about to hit the fan and he wasn’t going to like it.
The last time his instincts had been going at it screaming at him was when they were in Winter Court, and the Winter King’s—
Isaac stopped dead in his tracks as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
He sprinted before he knew it, tracking her scent and something else that was all too familiar and horrible. The scent took him to the cliffs, but she was no longer there. He saw the trickles of ice on the grass and felt the chill in the air, but he shook it off and kept tracking. There was no scent of blood, which meant she was still alive.
He hoped to hell she still was.
Isaac knew her enough to know she wasn’t going to lead the Winter King to the heart of the panther clan, which meant only one thing: she led the fairy outside.
He cursed inside his head as he ran faster. Her scent kept getting fainter, overpowered by the rich scent of ice. He followed it as quickly and quietly as he could, doing the usual things he did when tracking prey. But this was more important than prey, and he’d never forgive himself if he let her down.
Half an hour later, the scent steadily got stronger again. Finally, he burst out of the forest and arrived in a large clearing that was well away from his territory, filled with rocks and dead trees. A circle of ice stood inside the clearing, and in the middle of the circle were Roxie and Asha.
Unbidden, a flash of a similar scene flashed in his mind—his brother, Jason, and his head guard, Clay, with a bubble of magic surrounding them as they were about to kill his sister, Isabella. Isabella had been restrained then and unable to fight, but Roxie was just standing there now, her eyes intense on Asha. There was magic inside the circle, going higher and higher and filling the air with an electric charge.
Not about to make the same mistake of barging in and getting electrocuted like before, Isaac quietly padded to the side, careful not to touch any ice particles. He crept behind Asha.
“Mr. Hart. Isaac Hart, isn’t it? I’m sorry. I didn’t really get your name when we were playing.”
Asha’s brittle voice filled the air with chill. Giving up the stealth, Isaac shifted to his human form and kept his eyes on the Winter King. “What are you doing in my home?”
“Taking Roxie, of course. I won’t take you because you were a prisoner and had to escape—there’s logic there, and I can always take another non-fairy to play with. But she disrespected me, and I won’t stand for that. She needs some time in my ice cells.”
Over my dead body.
Instead of saying it out loud, Isaac slid his gaze towards Roxie instead. Roxie didn’t glance his way, her eyes pinning Asha in place and her hands glowing. Isaac looked back at Asha, who wasn’t moving at all except for his head.
She was using her magic to contain him.
“Doesn’t look like she wants that, Asha.”
Asha’s name being said so easily had the Winter King going rigid, though his face was still expressionless. Isaac was torn between taunting him further and trying to find a way in, and he tried to ease off his restless energy by circling the circle and watching them both. The ice frosted over the ground, and Isaac shifted back to his panther form and toed it, watching his claws freeze. Some murmuring was going on inside, with Roxie as calm as ever and Asha steadily getting angrier.
Then Roxie spoke louder.
“Isaac?”
“Yes?”
“Remember when you made me feel so unwelcome here that all I could do was stay in my room? You and your people were so hostile and treated me like a prisoner.”
Isaac paused, eyeing her. Her words were steady, and so was her tone, but the statement itself was a lie—in fact, it was the total opposite of how she was treated.
“I don’t like it here.”
She was trying to tell him something.
“And I’m going to go with Asha once we drop our magic. He’ll treat me better. I don’t want you to come here or attack any of us because of your pettiness. I want you to let us go. Do you understand?”
A faint smile came out of Asha, visibly surprised but pleased. His body moved, indicating she’d removed her hold on him. “I don’t think an animal would understand.”
“He will.” Roxie smiled. “He’s an idiot, but he understands. Let’s go, Asha. I’m tired of this place.”
In response, Isaac bared his teeth. Then his panther head nodded, and he stepped back as he watched Asha remove the circle of ice and the energy that came along with it, and—
Isaac leaped, lunging for Asha’s throat. The Winter King spun in his direction, unleashing a burst of magic that put up an ice shield right in front of Isaac and stopped his momentum. He used the ice to jump up and kept leaping in Asha’s direction, going higher and higher as the ice went higher, too. He bared his sharp teeth and jumped down when he was at the very top, claws out and ready to strike.
Asha blasted him with ice spikes, which dug into his abdomen before he snarled and evaded the rest. He managed a swipe at Asha’s shoulder, and the Winter King’s gaze flared in fury. He released more of his magic, and Isaac felt pain hit him everywhere. A glow surrounded the king as Isaac landed on the ground, unsteady, but still sprinting to attack. Ice crept in his bones, coating them hard and making the beat of his heart slow down. He gasped when it fisted and had his ribs cracking.
Roxie shouted the Winter King’s name, then—
“I curse you, Asha Snowborn. You and your winter creatures will never step foot in this world again, and you will never cause harm to any non-fairy ever again.”
Asha scoffed and whirled in her direction, his perfect composure cracking. “You think an ordinary fairy like you could stop me? When your own mother couldn’t?”
Roxie lifted her chin. “I’m not an ordinary fairy. I’m half-human.”
Asha’s eyes widened. His cool expression transformed into disgust, and he stepped in her direction, lifting his hands in the air. Isaac felt the ice leave his blood, and he slumped on the ground and stared at them, no longer able to move.
Roxie lifted her hands up and met Asha’s magic, screaming as it burned her. Her knees buckled, and she went down on all fours, blood pouring out of her hands. Isaac watched her golden glow disappear and leave her body completely, turning her hair darker and her eyes black. Asha kept going at it.
He was going to kill her.
But her curse remained true, and he didn’t get to kill her. Instead, he was dragged back by a huge force. Then he was down on his feet and being pulled continuously, the magic being lifted out of him in the process.
A portal appeared, sucking him in. Then it was gone in a flash, and the magic taken from the Winter King burst in the air in a massive sea of frost before exploding in crystal shards all around them.
Roxie screamed again, her magic spent. Isaac made one last lunge in her direction using whatever strength he had left, shouldering her fall.
Then darkness surrounded the air.
*****
When Isaac woke up, he found himself in his bed in the cave and the pain gone. He sat up instantly, looking down at the bandages that were wrapped around his waist before he looked around. Urban was just about to leave the room, but he stopped and stared before returning.
“You really should be resting—”
“Where’s Roxie?” Isaac interrupted.
Urban didn’t blink. “In her room. The healers treated her wounds, and they were just…gone a few minutes later. Whatever happened—”
“She protected the damn place from a psychotic fairy is what happened,” he snarled. Then Isaac was shoving the covers off him and standing up, swaying in his spot as he did so. But it disappeared quickly enough, and he looked at Urban’s fascinated expression sternly.
“You’ve proven that you’re worthy of the position, so I’m putting my trust in you to take care of everything today. Is that clear?”
Urban still didn’t blink, though it looked like he really wanted to. He eagerly nodded. “Of course. I will.”
“Good.”
Then Isaac was leaving his room and crossing the halls with only one thing to do: to give Roxie a piece of his mind.