Betrayals of Spring (14 page)

Finn pulls me closer to his warm body
and starts to hum along to the tunes of the sweet melody in my ear. I get the
feeling someone is watching me, so I search the crowd until I am stopped by the
piercing ice blue eyes of a certain Winter Prince. Finn is oblivious to the man
staring daggers at him. I can feel the heat of Kalen’s penetrating stare, so I
decide it might be best if I take a break from dancing. I don’t want any
trouble involving men fighting over me. I fan myself to make it look like I’m
hot, and I casually lay my hand over my throat.

“It’s so hot in here. Do you mind if we
go and get a drink?” I ask Finn. He nods his head and takes my hand. The bar is
set in the corner of the ballroom, and, unfortunately, we have to walk through
the massive crowd to get there. Finn orders me a drink and I sip it slowly.
Faerie wine is the best liquid I have ever tasted in my life and nothing
compares to it. It feels amazing as it glides down my throat, instantly working
its magic through my body and making me feel toasty and warm. People in the mortal
realm would freak out at the sight of faerie wine. It’s bright blue in color
and gives off a glow as soon as it’s poured out of the bottle. It sparkles in
the glass and glitters when swirled around. I have always been fascinated by
it. The wine is also very potent, just like any other substance in the Land of
the Fae.

I’m taking a sip of my wine and I almost
choke at the sound of my mother hissing in my ear, “What the hell are you
wearing? Are you trying to embarrass us?”

I turn around to spit out something
sarcastic when an unexpected voice spears back at my mother.

“I think the red dress looks lovely on
the beautiful Meliantha.”

I stand frozen at the sight of Queen Mab
giving my mom a lethal look. It’s never been a secret that the two women don’t
like each other. I’ve been waiting for the day they let all sentiments of
manners fly out the window and have it out in front of the other guests. My
mother snarls at Queen Mab and then focuses back on me.

“We’ll talk about this later,” she
snaps. She doesn’t give me time to respond because she quickly turns around and
walks the other way. I release a heavy sigh while Queen Mab doubles over
laughing. She runs a finger underneath her eyes to catch the tears that were
escaping from her laughter.

“Your mother doesn’t know how to loosen
up, does she?” she says while still trying to contain her laughter.

I bow my head to her.

“No, your Highness, she does not. Thank
you for the compliment.”

“It was my pleasure, Princess Meliantha.
It gives me great joy to torment your mother.” This makes Finn and I both laugh
and the Queen smiles warmly at us both.

“Do you mind if I have a word with you,
Princess?”

I look at Finn and he nods his head.

“I’ll be here by the bar, so don’t worry
about me.” He winks. “I’ll keep my eyes on you.”

I turn back to the queen and coyly
reply, “I am all yours, Queen Mab.”

She takes her cold hand and gently grabs
mine to place it on her forearm. Even though I am wearing gloves I can still
feel the coldness of her skin.

“I meant it when I said you looked
lovely in your dress. I did not just say it to aggravate your mother.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” I murmur
apprecia-tively.

“You are very welcome,” she responds
thoughtfully. We walk over to a quiet corner and she continues to speak. “I’m
sorry, dear, about what’s been happening and what you went through. We had an
emergency meeting today and Queen Calista filled us in on everything.”

I drop my eyes from her warm gaze and I
grit my teeth. I don’t think I will ever get over the anger I feel at what the
dark sorcerer has done. I take a calming breath before responding.

“Yes, it has been a tragic misfortune,”
I confess.

“Well, I believe you will be in capable
hands here. Kalen will no doubt do everything in his power to keep you safe.” A
twinkle sparkles in her eye when she says, “I believe you have bewitched him,
Meliantha. He offered to be your personal bodyguard for the rest of your visit
here.”

I stare transfixed and stunned at the
queen for what felt like an eternity. A small laugh escapes her lips breaking
me out of my stupor. My heart feels like it’s going to pound out of my chest,
so I take a few deep breaths. Why did I suddenly get this light-headed feeling?

The queen gives me a sly smile and I
notice a hint of curiosity in her voice when she asks, “Have you not spoken to
Kalen yet?”

I take in a quick shallow breath.

“No, Your Highness, we have not spoken
yet.”

Her smile turns into a huge grin and
then her eyes move away from mine to focus on something or
someone
behind me.

“I believe now is your chance, dear.”

My eyes go wide and I quickly turn
around. The moment I do I am met with the hypnotic blue-eyed prince that has
inhabited my dreams for the past five years. So that is the reason why I was
beginning to feel light-headed. He must have been standing behind me and my
body had been responding to his presence. The smile Kalen gives me is the same
smile I fell in love with years ago. I hold back my gasp when I see the light
purple rose pinned to the lapel of his coat. It’s the same color as my eyes. I
haven’t seen any of the other Winter fae wearing flowers on their coats. I
wonder if he did it for me. He looks down at my hand and the corners of his
mouth slowly turn down into a slight frown. He meets my eyes again and in his
deep, sensual voice he greets me softly.

“Good evening, Meliantha.”

He reaches down and hesitates before
clutching my hand to bring it to his lips for a gentle kiss. He kisses my
gloved hand and keeps his steely gaze on me the entire time. Oh, I wish I could
feel his lips on my bare skin. His black hair falls forward as he leans down
and I ache to touch the soft tendrils as they tickle my wrist. My pulse jumps
with his touch and I know he can hear the loud drumming of my heart. The fiery
blast of our connection is smoldering in my veins making my body feel heated
and on fire. I wish I could feel the coolness of his skin on my body, cooling
me down from this internal inferno. From the smoldering look in his eyes, I can
tell he’s just as entranced by our connection as I am. We have never actually
touched bare skin to bare skin, and now that I’m wearing gloves his touch will
not bring about the vision. He appears disappointed about my gloved hands, and
honestly so am I.

I thought five years ago it was him I
touched in the gardens. I remember my heart deflating when the vision didn’t
come. It’s hard to believe I found out just a few short hours ago that it was
all a lie, and that the dark sorcerer did that to me so I would feel betrayed
by the one man I loved. Through hell or the Hereafter, I will spend the rest of
my life making the dark sorcerer pay for what he has done.

“Good evening to you as well, Kalen,” I
say while bowing my head ever so slightly.

He’s still holding my hand in the
gentlest of touches when he asks in a low voice, “Will you do me the honor of
dancing with me, Princess?”

I can’t stop the smile from forming on
my lips.

“I would love to,” I reply breathlessly.

He walks me to the dance floor and keeps
a respectable distance between our bodies when he pulls me in for the dance. I
regret my decision for wearing gloves because it would feel amazing to touch
his skin. His skin has the perfect complexion, as do all fae, but there’s
something about his creamy smooth skin that makes me want to touch every square
inch of it. I groan in silence. I wish I could smack myself in the head to keep
the thoughts from plaguing my mind. It feels like every single lustful thought
that I had of Kalen years ago is resurfacing. I’d kept the thoughts locked away
in my brain, but now I can’t stop imagining all the things we could do
together. I never thought I could go from hating someone with a vengeful
passion to having feelings for them in a matter of a day. The feelings were
always there from the very beginning. My heart is screaming at me to take my
walls down, but my mind keeps telling me to stay guarded. How am I supposed to
know what to do when my heart tells me one thing and my mind tells me another?

I look around the dance floor and I see
my parents talking to King Madoc. My mother likes King Madoc and enjoys talking
to him. It’s the Queen she cannot stand. Ariella is off making the rounds
through the ballroom and speaking to everyone she can. She is a very
charismatic woman, and I know one day she will make a great leader. It appears
I wasn’t the only one who has changed over the years.

My eyes land on my brother, Drake, next.
He seems to be mesmerized by something across the room. I follow his gaze to a
dark-haired Winter beauty who happens to be on the dance floor with another
man. I recognize the lovely fae and I know her as being Sorcha, Winter Court
Princess, and also Kalen’s sister. Interesting.
I wonder if there will
be another love in the making.

I notice Calista and Ryder dancing
closely together and the love that shows in their eyes could make even the
saintly souls jealous. They look magical as they stare at each other longingly
in the eyes, and even though I envy her, I have never been happier for them.

I turn my attention back to Kalen and I
am instantly hypnotized by the swirling pools of endless blue in his eyes.

I feel lost in their depths when his
deep voice whispers in my ear, “We need to talk, Meliantha. There are so many
things we need to catch up on.” He intently searches my face, like he’s trying
to memorize every square inch. He almost looks scared, like he’s afraid to let
me go.

I smile warmly at him and reply, “We do
have a lot to talk about, and I want to start with saying how sorry…”

“There you are, lover.”

Gritting my teeth, I politely look over
to see who the interrupter is. What I find is a beautiful brown-haired Winter
Fae looking up at Kalen with adoring eyes. I somehow find her expression at him
forced, but then she turns to look at me with absolute contempt and I know for
a fact this one is genuine. I narrow my eyes at her and return the look. Kalen
notices the hostile exchange and gives the other faerie a lethal stare.

“Breena, what are you doing?” he hisses.

She bats her eyes and her voice takes on
a faux innocent tone when she pleads, “When you left in such a hurry earlier I
couldn’t give you your
engagement
gift. I think right now would be the
perfect time to announce it.” She says the last part while looking straight at
me. My heart stops beating and I know my face has gone pale. Did she just say
the word ‘engagement’?

I quickly let go of Kalen’s hand and
step back. He gives the Winter bitch a scowl and turns his gentle blue eyes to
me. Could my night get any worse? The moment I think things are looking up is
the moment it all falls apart. I refuse to cry, and I refuse to show how angry
I am. If the Winter wretch wants to see me upset, then that is the last thing
she’s going to get. I can tell by the smug look on her face that she’s doing it
on purpose; however, it still doesn’t change the fact that Kalen is
engaged.

I look at them both, mainly at Kalen,
and I ignore his pleading look.

In a flat tone I say, “Congratulations.”
I turn my gaze to Breena and I politely point out, “If you will excuse me, I
need some fresh air. For some reason the air in here just turned rancid.”

Breena’s smug expression turned into one
of shock, then outright hate. I would love to call her every foul name I can
think of and use her as a practice partner for my brutal training, but that
wouldn’t look good for my court. I really do need some fresh air so I turn
around slowly and start to walk out of the stuffy ballroom. If I could, I would
be running as fast as my body would allow me toward the nearest exit, but that
would give away my true feelings on how upset I really am.

Kalen quickly calls out, “Meliantha,
wait! You have to let me explain!”

At this point we have drawn everyone’s
attention, so I keep a steady pace as I head out of the ballroom and cleverly
sneak past the Winter Court warriors stationed on the back veranda. I don’t need
them following me everywhere I go even if Kalen did order them to.

Ashur never returned to the ballroom, so
I assume he is still out searching for Elissa. I hope everything is all right.
He still has my bow and arrows and I can’t help but feel lost without them.
Next time, no matter what the occasion is or what I am wearing, I will keep my
bow and arrows with me at all times. The snow is rapidly beginning to fall and
the flakes melt the instant they hit my warm skin. I refuse to walk back inside
the palace, so I head down the path to the cottage. I can see the fountain up
ahead, sitting frozen and lonely in the midst of the cabins and the cottage.
The fountain would look absolutely breathtaking with running water spraying out
of the spouts and flowers decorating the outer edge.

I sweep a mound of snow off the ledge of
the fountain, and I take a seat. I wrap my arms around myself hoping to bring
in some warmth. I do know of one way to send warmth through my body. I bend
down on my knees and I cringe as the cold snow soaks into the fabric of my
dress. I don’t plan on going back to the ball so ruining my dress now is of no
consequence. I lay my hands on the cold, snowy ground and I close my eyes. I
concentrate on the very core of my magic, summoning it to do my will. The power
of the magic warms me with its gentle caress and it spreads all around the
fountain and deep into the land. I breathe a sigh of relief. I haven’t felt
this good in a really long time. The first thing I’m going to do when I go home
is spend plenty of time in my gardens. The rush of using magic is intoxicating.