Page 82 of A Requiem of Fire and Ice

“Did you know she could do that?” I ask Alad.

“Astin told me a tale of an ice elemny he met during the Kingdom of Crystal’s fall. He told me he witnessed a girl with unimaginable powers. I did not think too much of it then, but seeing her do all this, it’s hard not to believe it now.”

“Does Astin know how it happened?”

Alad looks away. “He tells me it’s too dark for anyone but Pandora to tell.”

“I see.”

“What are you going to do, Prince Reen?”

I eye the unawakened little lamb hanging over my shoulder, my frown deepening as I move into thought. “I don’t know anymore,” I admit.

Act 111: Fire and Ice

Iris [The Goo Goo Dolls]

Chapter 36

Pandora Hart, July 17th

I’m back here again, in a place of dreams I desperately wish were memories to replace the memories that haunt me every waking hour. Snow falls from the starry sky, but there’s no breeze, and a frigid chill washes over my skin, causing a shudder to fill my bones. I wrap my arms around myself, which is strange because I am cold. I’m the bite of frost that can shatter frozen fingertips. Why do I wish for warmth for the first time in my life?

My feet drag me up the path and to where I used to train with Desmond. It’s an addiction of longing, and tears slip down my cheeks at the thought of why I am here again. Do I always put myself here whenever I am too stressed and cannot withstand the panic of someone other than Desmond touching me?

A lost and forgotten kingdom comes into focus when I stand atop the entrance to the courtyard and turn back the way I came. It’s now a crystallised place where the souls rest beneath the frozen ground. Silence fills my ears, and the howling wind cannot bring a sense of sound over the dead.

When I enter the Training Grounds, he stands in the centre, a smile so bright it can shatter my icy heart over and over again until it aches. It’s what I need. I need him and the heat he brings because I feel numb with everything else except…That’s not true, is it?

“Marionette,” he says when I stand before him, “why are you here?”

I don’t answer, trying to figure out why I am here again.

“Did something happen to me?”

He shakes his head. “No.”

I furrow my brow. “But I was afraid, right?”

Desmond touches my cheek, and his thumb rubs across my cheekbone with a sweet tenderness that tastes like honey. “You are constantly in fight-or-flight mode without noticing. When someone comes near you, your mind believes they’re only there to abuse your body. And so, you snap.”

I move my arms around his shoulders and smile. The forcefulness strains my features, making it hard for them to be believable. “But there are some positives. I get to see you again.”

His hands touch my hips, and grazing across them brings a sense of life to my beating heart, but then it stops there for me. My body locks for a moment. He’s daringly close to the burns and the fire that frightens me.

The snow parts, and he guides me into a slow and seductive dance.

“It is not healthy, marionette,” he says. “You can’t keep coming here whenever you’re trapped and defenceless. You promised to fight before you sank your dagger into my heart.”

My fingers lace along his shirt, and I bite my bottom lip to rid myself of the frustration over his words. There was a time when I thought I was a fighter, but every time I felt alive, someone pushed me back down and showed me how weak I was.

We spin in circles. His indigo eyes never leave mine as we move around and around. They are watchful. He’s attentive, and that’s what I love about him as he twirls me around like a ballerina in a music box.

“It has occurred to me we have never danced before,” Desmond says.

“There are many things we haven’t done together. For one, our first kiss wasn’t what I expected; it was filled with sorrow.”

He strains a smile. “Still, you’re making memories with a figment of your imagination. Instead, bring life back into yourself and truly experience the world. Where do you want to go?”