Ice Kissed (6 page)

We both sat there panting, neither of us saying anything. The dashboard console began to beep angrily, letting us know that we’d collided with something—as if we couldn’t figure that out already.

“You okay?” Ridley asked.

“Yeah. You?”

He nodded. “You should’ve let me drive.”

“There was a tree in the road!” I gestured back toward the road several yards behind us. “That wasn’t my fault.”

“Right.” Ridley rolled his eyes. “Of course.
Nothing
is ever your fault.”

I didn’t want to argue with him, so I got out of the SUV under the ruse of inspecting it for damage. Fortunately, the Land Rover had hit a massive pine tree, and its long branches covered with thick needles helped to keep back the sting of the sleet.

We’d been going relatively slowly when I swerved on the road, so thankfully the SUV hadn’t been going that fast when it hit the tree. Other than some minor bumper damage, it didn’t seem like the Land Rover was any worse for wear.

Ridley got out of the vehicle and walked over to where I was standing near the tree. The branches mostly sheltered us, but it was warm enough that when the sleet rested on the pine needles they eventually began to melt, dripping through the branches in a light shower that sprinkled down on me.

“I’ve never said nothing is my fault,” I said. The adrenaline from the accident left me feeling sharper, pricklier, and I know that my words came out harsher than I meant them, but I didn’t care. “I’ve never even thought that.”

“You sure as hell act like that,” Ridley snapped back, matching my intensity, and I turned to glare up at him.

“If you think I don’t constantly blame myself for letting Viktor get away—”

“I don’t blame you!” he shouted, then he stopped. As quickly as that, the fight had gone out of him, and his whole frame seemed to sag. The icy mask he’d been wearing melted away, and he just looked hurt and a little lost. “Why can’t you just tell me things?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about him.” I was surprised that my voice quivered with my sincerity, and I hastily steadied it. “I just had to be certain about what I saw. After all you’ve been through with Viktor, I didn’t want to get you upset for nothing. But now I realize it would’ve been better if I had told you sooner, and I’m sorry. I can never tell you how sorry I am.”

“I don’t need your apologies.” He shook his head. “And I’m not even really mad at you.”

“You’re not?”

He shrugged. “I mean, you should’ve gotten me before you went down to talk to Konstantin.”

“I thought he would be more likely to open up if it was just me.” I tried to explain my reasoning, and I couldn’t tell if he accepted it or not.

Hesitantly, Ridley said, “I know that makes sense.”

“But?” I prompted, since he’d left that statement hanging in the air.

“But Viktor almost killed you, Bryn.” He looked at me for the first time since he’d gotten out of the SUV, and the heat had returned to his eyes, burning darkly within him. “I was asleep a few floors above you, and the man who killed my father came back after being gone for years and nearly killed the person…”

Ridley trailed off, and I didn’t push him to finish. Whatever he was going to say, I didn’t think I wanted to know. The pounding of my heart would argue with that, but I knew logically it was better for us if he didn’t finish that sentence, if I don’t know what I really meant to him.

“I don’t know what’s going on between us,” he said finally. “But I do know that I don’t want to lose you.”

I swallowed hard. “I don’t want to lose you either.”

“Then you need to confide in me, okay?” Ridley asked. “You can’t go running off without letting me know. I told you before that we’re in this together, and with Viktor back, I mean that now more than ever.”

“I can do that,” I agreed. “And I promise not to keep secrets from you anymore.”

“Friends again?” he asked with a hopeful smile, holding out his hand to me.

“Friends.”

He’d had his hands shoved in his pockets, but mine were cold and damp from touching the vehicle to check for damage. When I took his hand to shake it, the warmth that enveloped me was astonishing. Instantly, I knew this was a bad idea, but I didn’t let go of him.

The air smelled of snow, water, and fresh pine needles. The dripping water had dampened our hair, making his a bit wavier than normal, and for some reason it made his mahogany eyes appear brighter. I was cold and wet, and I imagined how much warmer it would be in his arms.

And then I wasn’t imagining it. We’d both moved forward, filling in the gap between us, and he let go of my hand.

“We should, um, probably get going,” he said in a low voice.

“Right,” I agreed, forcing a smile when I stepped back from him. “We should check the GPS and find out how close we are.”

Pushing down all the conflicting emotions I had swirling inside me, I turned to the job at hand and got back in the car.

The coordinates for the lake weren’t exact, so we’d made our best guess with longitude and latitude on the GPS app on Ridley’s tablet. I grabbed the tablet off the dashboard, but it was updating slowly. Service could be sketchy out here, blinking in and out. At least it was working now.

“What’s it say?” Ridley asked when he got in the SUV. He shook the water from his hair then peered over at the tablet in my hands.

“According to the GPS we’re not that far anyway, and there isn’t a road going directly to Lake Isolera. Want to try walking it?”

“Sure. Why not?”

I started the Land Rover and carefully drove it back up to the road, parking it near the tree that had diverted our course. It ran normally, which was a bit of a relief, and parking it along the road would make it easier to find when we came back.

We added ponchos over our winter gear, then grabbed our packs and locked up the vehicle before making the trek out into the wilderness. Ridley had a waterproof case for his tablet, which was good because the weather showed no signs of letting up.

The first hour we wandered through the trees was the worst. We went where the GPS directed us, and when we found nothing, we began circling out further. Every time I had the chance, I broke branches and tied red string to trees, trying to leave some signs so we wouldn’t get lost, and we’d be able to find our way back to the SUV.

Though we had put on boots, hats, and gloves, it had all soaked through. We were used to the cold, but it seemed to permeate everything, making my bones ache. Every step had become painful, but neither Ridley nor I were willing to give up so easily.

Just when I was getting to the point where I wasn’t sure I could take the cold much longer, I saw an odd shimmer through a patch of pine trees. A subtle change in the snow falling down, like it was bowing around the side of a snow globe, but it only lasted a moment. When I tilted my head, though, I was almost certain I could see rays of light spilling out through it.

I started walking forward, moving more quickly than I had before, with Ridley following.

“What’s going on?” Ridley called from behind me.

I stopped long enough for him to catch up, and I pointed at the trees in front of us. “I think I see something.” I tilted my head again, and for a split second, I saw it—a shimmer across the air. “When I look just right, I can see it.”

Ridley squinted and brushed back the snow that clung to his eyebrows. “I can’t see anything.”

I knew that I might be crazy, that this might be some cold-induced insanity causing me to see a mirage, but deep down, it just didn’t feel that way. The closer we got, the more certain I became. Ridley continued to echo his inability to see what I was chasing, but he never suggested we turn back.

Maybe it was my Skojare heritage. My mom had said that the lake had been cloaked in enchantment so that even other tribes wouldn’t be able to find it. I must’ve had just enough Skojare blood in me that I could see the faintest hint of it.

The pine trees were growing closer together, so I had to bow my head and physically push branches out of the way to get through them.

When I finally made it through and lifted my head, the sun was shining so brightly I had to squint. I held up my arm to block the light, and it was a few seconds before my eyes adjusted enough to really see anything.

The first thing I saw, sparkling like a massive sapphire, was a lake spanning several miles. It sat in the center of a clearing surrounded by a thick barrier of pine trees, and it had to be the most beautiful body of water I’d ever seen.

“Lake Isolera,” Ridley whispered behind me, sounding in awe. “It does exist.”

TEN

isolera

In the bright light, the grass that framed the lake appeared almost lime green, sprinkled with brightly colored wildflowers in shades of pink and purple. The grass gave way to fine white sand that sparkled as if it were mixed with diamond dust, and the water lapped gently against it.

It was so warm that all my winter gear felt unbearable. I shed my hat and poncho first, then I kept going until I was left in the black leggings and tank top I’d worn underneath my sweater and jeans.

“How is this even possible?” Ridley asked.

I glanced back at him, pulling my eyes away from the lake with some difficulty. He’d taken off his boots and jacket but apparently moved much slower than I did. A bright blue butterfly fluttered past him, and his eyes followed it, transfixed for a moment.

“The Skojare must’ve had power unlike anything we’ve ever seen if they could cast a spell like this and keep it going for years,” I said, then turned back to the water. “Hundreds of years, if my mom’s book is to be believed.”

In Doldastam, it took half a dozen gardeners working in special “greenhouses” to keep the garden up and running. Growing grapes and tomatoes couldn’t be anywhere near as difficult as this oasis, even if the gardeners’ psychokinetic abilities were working against subarctic temperatures to keep fruits and vegetables alive. On top of that, we’d had to poach several of the workers from the Trylle, since their powers were stronger than ours.

“Our ancestors used to be more powerful,” Ridley reminded me, but he sounded as if he was in a bit of a daze. “We’ve lost our abilities over the centuries. I mean, we’ve heard that our whole lives, but if another tribe could do this, then we’ve lost so much more than I ever imagined.”

The grass felt like soft downy carpet under my feet as I walked toward the lake. I expected the sand to be scorching hot, the way beaches always seemed to be under the glaring sun, but instead it felt perfect—silky and warm against my frozen toes.

“Have you ever seen anything like this?” I asked Ridley.

“No.” When he spoke again he sounded closer to me, so he must’ve been walking up behind me, but I didn’t look back. “I sorta feel like I’m in a dream.”

I nodded slowly. “I know exactly what you mean.”

While my mom literally felt the water calling to her when she’d been away from it too long, thanks to her Skojare blood, I’d never felt such a strong pull. I enjoyed the water a little more than the average Kanin, but it wasn’t exactly a
need.

But now I felt it. Tugging at something inside me, like I was connected to the lake by an invisible thread wrapped around the very core of my being, and now the thread had pulled taut. I stepped close enough that the water lapped against my toes. A delicious wave of relief rolled over me, and I hadn’t even noticed how apprehensive I’d been feeling.

I crouched down and cupped the water in my hand. At first, I just watched it drip through my fingers, running clearer than any river or lake I’d seen. Then I held my cupped hands to my mouth, taking a long sip, and it tasted crisp and pure and luscious. Almost instantly, I felt refreshed in a way I never had before, even after the deepest night’s sleep.

“Bryn?” Ridley said in a way that made me realize he’d been calling my name, and I looked back over my shoulder at him. He stood at the edge of the beach behind me, and his expression had a lax, dreamy quality to it, but anxiety had edged into his eyes.

“Yeah?”

“We still have a mission,” he reminded me. “We need to find Linnea, and I’m not even sure if she’s here.”

I turned away from him for a moment to stare out at the lake before me. I wanted nothing more than to submerge myself in Lake Isolera, letting it wash over me, warm and cool all at once. But Ridley was right. We had a job to do.

I stood up and stepped back, so the water wasn’t lapping at my toes any longer.

“Where should we look?” I asked, but my eyes were already scanning the clearing.

Other than the thick evergreens that walled out the cold reality beyond the magic of Lake Isolera, there were no trees. There wasn’t even much land in the clearing. It was mostly the lake. If I didn’t see Linnea now, I had no idea where she could be hiding.

“If she’s here, she’s in the lake,” Ridley decided. “We should swim.”

And I didn’t need any more convincing than that. I knew I couldn’t let the water enchant me the way it had a few moments before, but I would still be more than happy to swim in it. I just had to keep my wits about me.

Ridley stripped down to his boxers, and while part of me wanted to appreciate the taut muscles of his chest and abdomen, I deliberately did my best not to look at him. Not only because we had a job to complete, but because we’d just agreed to be friends, and I didn’t want to muck that up by fantasizing about what it would feel like to run my fingers down the hard contours of his chest and stomach until …

I shook my head and waded out into the water, hoping that it would wash away my thoughts. As soon as I was out far enough, I dove under, letting the lake completely cover me, and I honestly can’t remember a time when I ever felt better. It was like enveloping myself in unadulterated bliss.

For a few moments, I did let myself just swim and relish the feeling. But then my lungs began to demand oxygen, and I surfaced. I breathed in deeply, staring up at the blue sky above me, until Ridley came up a minute later, gasping for breath.

“Are you okay?” I asked, swimming closer to where he’d emerged a couple yards from me.