“What if I don’t know how my kind claims?” The sympathetic looks they all threw my way made me feel about the size of a field mouse.
“You’ll know even if it’s not until that precise moment.Everyoneknows, Sylvie,” Dagnar encouraged.
Tilting my head back, I finished my drink and wiped my arm over my mouth to rid it of foam. “I really appreciate all the insight, Dagnar, but I should probably try to get a little sleep before I have to relieve Aegean at the bakery.”
“Or so you’re energized for tons of mating sex,” Tambie countered with a snort.
Aella hopped from her stool and hugged me. “Let me know if you need anything at all, okay? Even if it’s watching the bakery.”
“Thanks, Ael. And thanks again, Dagnar. Also, for the ale.”
Dagnar bowed his head. “Any time.”
I trudged to my cottage in a daze, repeating everything Dagnar told me and what transpired between us since Jack’s arrival. I opened my door and eyed my awaiting bed, but didn’t feel like crawling into it. Instead, I called on Fintan, and when he lay down and rested his head on his curled-up front legs, I nestled against him. With his warmth and my power, I wouldn’t freeze, and I let slumber take me amidst the chill and snowfall.
It tookme days to calm the creature. The first twenty-four hours after Sylvie had so wisely left me alone in the woods, the beast refused to let me revert to my fae form. I spent hours wrestling with Nanok in an effort to work off some of the insatiable energy, but not even that satisfied it. It was when I refused to do a damn thing that the monster became more annoyed than restless. I used meditation techniques taught to me by the soothsayers in my kingdom, disconnecting the mind and focusing on the soul.
The creature still beat at my skull, trying to edge its way in, but I was far too gone to let it under my skin. It was now the morning of the fourth day, and the closest I was going to get, given there was little time left to convince Sylvie to be mine. I wanted nothing more than to claim her the moment she accepted it, but she’d trusted me enough to reveal she’s never fullybeenwith a male. The first time should be showing her what I could offer her in that sense for the rest of eternity—that shewould be more than a queen to take up the emptiness on the throne next to me or some simple incubator for my would-be heirs.
I coaxed most of the beast away, but my icy hair and beard remained, as well as a border around my eyes. My magic still overtook my gaze as well, that same glowing blue hue radiating in my eyes.
“Does it look that bad? Think she’ll accept me like this?” I asked Nanok, turning in a circle with my arms out at my sides.
Nanok raised his snout and made a chuffing sound, his form of a laugh.
Frowning at him, I shoved his shoulder and dragged a hand over the icy beard weighing heavily on my chin. “What would you know about attracting a female fae, anyway?”
My polar bear squared off his shoulders and bared his teeth as if when he were trying to impress a would-be mate.
“Fine. I know you’re a handsome bear, Nanok. I swear, you’re always fishing for damn compliments.” Grinning sidelong at him, chuffing again, I turned my gaze to the skies.
The evening drew closer, and I knew it was about time for her to switch shifts with her assistant. With any luck and a whole lot of wishing on a winter’s star, she’d go straight back to her cottage for the night. I couldn’t wait any longer. My kingdom, my people, couldn’t wait any longer. And I’d gone long enough without a mate, a companion, a lover. I wanted to make her my world, destroy anything that’d dare harm her, and show the entire winter kingdom why they, too, should cherish her the same way.
Hooves scraped the ground, putting me on alert, but those antlers put me at ease. I’d recognize those icy wonders anywhere—Fintan. As relieved as I was, it was him, not something attempting to attack us again. It also deflated me. If Fintan was out wandering the woods, it meant Sylvie wasn’t home.
Fintan stood motionless for a beat, his jaw rotating as he munched on berries that survived the frost. He moved closer and bumped his head against my arm.
“Hey now, buddy, what are you doing?” I dodged his sharp antlers from scraping my skin.
Fintan blew a puff of air through his nostrils before bumping into me again, this time harder and in a specific direction. His strength was enough to make me stumble forward. I gawked at where he wanted me to go—Sylvie’s cottage. Letting Fintan lead the way, I willfully followed behind him, Nanok at my heels. When we stepped over the hill, Sylvie’s home coming into view, a breath caught in my throat. She wasn’t inside like I’d expected her to be, but sat at a frozen pond’s edge, dressed in a snow-white dress, a lace overlay littered with snowflakes amassing the ground around her. Her head turned to look at me as if she could sense my presence, and those striking amethyst eyes blazed from the blanket of white surrounding her.
Fintan nudged me again. I waved him off, slipping my hands in my pockets as I made the rest of the way to her. I was barefoot, the same as she, and the sight pulled an emphatic grin to my lips.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come to you sooner. You wanted Jack, and my creature is—” I scratched the back of my head. “—demanding as of late.”
Sylvie rose, her eyes roaming the parts of the monster that remained. “I can see that.”
“Have you—” Spotting the tear in Sylvie’s wing, making a portion of it bend, I lurched forward. “Sylvie, yourwing.”
My brave mate shook her head and glanced behind her. “It’s nothing.”
“It causes you pain. That isnotnothing, faerie,” I countered, lifting my hand to it and stilling her with a firm grip on her shoulder when she startled. “I’d never hurt you.” Willing my iceblue magic toward the tear, it healed in a spiral of snow until it appeared as if nothing had happened.
Sylvie gasped and flapped her newly repaired wings, a resplendent smile that I put there gracing her face. “Thank you. I didn’t know you could do that.”
“I can’t do that for everyone.” I recoiled my hand, resisting the urge to feel her skin. “Just?—”
“Your mate,” she finished for me, her eyes gleaming at the mention of that.
