Thorns of Frost (Fae of Snow & Ice, #2)(56)
I nearly fell forward in my haste to see them, find them, hug them, love them, greet them. Mother Below, I didn’t know what I wanted or what I was going to do when I saw them, but if they were alive and here and—
“Ilara?”
I stopped in my tracks. The voice that had just called my name . . . I would know that voice anywhere.
“Mother?” I whispered. I turned, almost afraid to do so, terrified that this was all a cruel illusion, that the prince was really my mate from the underworld, come to wreak havoc on my soul while playing demented games with my mind.
But then I faced her.
She stood just behind me, her expression a slew of disbelief, happiness, and joy. Silvery white hair cascaded down her back. Blue eyes sparkled with growing tears. Wings with quivering muscles splayed out on either side of her as her hands balled into fists. Those gentle hands had curved hair behind my ears, swatted me playfully when I beat her at her favorite game of cards, rolled dough on the counters in our worn kitchen, and carefully tucked covers around me, Cailis, and Tormesh when we were children, before she kissed us on our noses and wished us dreams of traveling through the stars.
And then she was running.
I was running.
Tears spilled onto her cheeks, mine doing the same. We collided in a crash of limbs and chests, wrapping ourselves around each other as incomprehensible sounds and words tumbled from our lips.
And then my father was there. Tormesh was there. Their laughter, smiles, and hands were everywhere, and their touches, kisses, and embraces obliterated the sorrow that I’d been feeling for so very long.
And it was all real. They were real.
I didn’t know how long we stood there in a tangle of love and hope, but all of us were talking and blubbering. My father’s lips lifted in a grin, and Tormesh’s wings rippled in the icy light.
“How?” I finally managed. “How are you all alive and unharmed? How come Cailis and I didn’t know?”
My mother cupped my face before pressing a kiss to my forehead as my father wiped tears from his eyes.
“He put us here,” Tormesh finally said and nodded toward the crown prince.
A heartbeat of silence passed before I realized that Norivun stood near the village’s threshold. His arms were crossed over his chest as he leaned against the ice wall. A sad smile played upon his lips as the northern storm raged just outside of his protective barrier.
I stared at him, so many emotions tumbling through me that I didn’t know where to begin. Why? How? For how long? Why? WHY?
He’d said something about creating this place because he wasn’t what fae claimed him to be. That nobody knew about it, not even his father.
“Why?” I finally said, unable to align my thoughts to anything other than that one word.
He walked toward us, gliding like mist over the sea. “To keep them safe. To keep all of them safe.” His throat bobbed in a swallow, but he waved a hand behind me, to the tiny village, to the other fae mingling about, some whom had stopped to watch my family and me as we dissolved into a mess in one another’s arms. I counted them. Five, fifteen, no twenty-five. The list grew. So many.
“I still don’t understand,” I choked out.
Prince Norivun’s smile grew, but the gesture was filled with a heaviness that made the expression look forced. “There’s much you don’t understand, Ilara, but I couldn’t hide this from you, not any longer.”
Mate.
The unspoken word hung between us. He’d shown me this because of what I was to him, what he was to me. He’d known that even though I felt the mate bond as viscerally as he did, that I would never allow myself to succumb to its pull, not after what I thought he’d done.
My mother pulled me close again, her arm wrapping around my shoulders as her wing spread protectively around my side.
“It was the only way,” she whispered into my ear. “As much as it pained me, your father, and your brother to know that you and Cailis believed us dead, we knew it was the only way. The king had ordered us to be executed, but it didn’t stop us from hoping and dreaming that this day would come. My girl.” She pressed another kiss to my temple. “My baby girl. I’ve missed you so much.”
Tears flooded my eyes again, and I looked to the prince for answers, for an explanation of this hidden city’s existence. The king had ordered their execution. But I’d thought Norivun had made that decision. Not the king.
The crown prince extended his hand. “Come, Ilara. I have a lot to tell you, but first, visit with your family.”
CHAPTER 19
My parents led me to a small house as the prince walked at my side. Norivun had let go of my hand, but he walked close enough that our fingers brushed on occasion. And every time we touched, a path of lightning shot along my nerves. Each touch was electric, like a current ran between us, and only one tiny spark was needed to ignite an inferno.
I tried not to be distracted by that. Tried not to dwell on the bond that stretched between us that felt so palpable that I wondered why it’d taken me so long to recognize it.
With each step, amazement filled me, not just because Prince Norivun was my mate, but at where we were. This place truly was a living, breathing city, even if it was small. It had everything that our village in Mervalee possessed. Shops, houses, streets, vendors, tiny gardens. All of it. It was like a small oasis hidden in the most destructive patch of nature. Somehow, someway, the prince had created this bubble of paradise. And apparently, he’d done it all to shield innocents from his father.