The first day of their journey had been exhilarating. They’d flown from Blake’s palace several miles from the mountain range, reaching the lower reaches of the mountain before nightfall. After having slept, they’d begun to fly up the side of the mountain, but that had soon been put to an end by mother nature. The higher they’d flown, the harder it’d become, until they could no longer fly at all. The chilling temperature had almost frozen their wings to the point of shattering, and they’d been forced to pull them in against their backs to keep them warm.
“Is she really worth all of this?” Drake asked when his brother gave no hint that he’d heard him. The first fresh snowfall was beginning to flutter from the heavens, and Drake knew if they found themselves out on the mountainside by nightfall, they’d likely freeze to death. A blanket of white surrounded them. Even the sky was a frosty pale blue, the thick clouds hanging heavily above them.
Blake finally paused, turning to look at his brother with a deep scowl on his face. His breath bellowed out before him in great puffs as he tried to take a moment to rest.
“You aren’t giving up, are you?” he demanded, “Aren’t you at least a little curious to find out when you’ll find your mate?”
Drake groaned again, cursing his own impatience. Having watched their three older brothers find their fated mates shortly after they’d been instilled upon the thrones given to them by their father, both Drake and Blake had hoped to receive the same. Yet it seemed that fate had chosen differently for them. Drake had ruled the Autumn Isle and Blake the Winter Isle for almost five years, helping each other in the absence of a mate to share the burden, and still, no fated mate had come forth for either of them. It certainly wasn’t through lack of searching. Both brothers had taken many women to bed, sometimes even sharing women in the hopes that they might find that spark.
“They’re called fated mates for a reason,” Drake reminded his brother. Blake simply rolled his eyes at him and turned to continue the hike, as though he weren’t also freezing to death so slowly, he could feel every fiber of his body turning to ice.
“Who’s to say fate didn’t intend for us to take this journey?” Blake called over his shoulder as he began to climb a rocky outcrop. Drake shook his head and sighed, deciding it would be better to skirt around the outcrop than try to follow his insane brother.
I must be insane to be following him in the first place! Drake thought.
They continued to climb in silence, hoping to hold on to as much heat as possible. It wasn’t until the very peak of the mountain appeared above them, just visible through the thick clouds, that Drake began to lose himself to despair. How could they have climbed so high and come across no sign of what they were searching for?
“I told you we should’ve turned back,” Drake snapped at his brother. “We must’ve missed something.”
Blake didn’t seem to be listening. Instead, he was staring at something. It wasn’t until he pulled down the scarf covering his face that Drake saw Blake was smiling excitedly.
“Don’t you see that?” Blake asked, pointing into the air. Drake followed his brother’s finger, only to see yet more clouds.
“All I’ve been able to see this entire journey is frozen trees and snow clouds,” Drake grumbled, rubbing his hands up and down his arms in an attempt to keep himself warm while his brother decided to stop and stare at the sky.
“No, stupid, it’s smoke!”
As his brother spoke those words, the scent of wood smoke wafted into Drake’s nostrils, and relief and hope washed over him in such abundance that it almost knocked him off his feet.
“Come on!” Blake encouraged, grabbing Drake’s arm so quickly, he had no choice but to follow his brother up. They hurried to the summit of the mountain, dodging rocky outcrops and patches of harder terrain as they followed the smoke drifting from the side of the mountain.
That’s when they found a pine-enclosed clearing. Nestled in its center was a small wooden cabin, smoke rising steadily from a hole in the roof. Yet it wasn’t the cabin that caused Drake’s jaw to drop in awe. It was the woman sweeping snow from the porch. How anyone could survive at the top of such a mountain, Drake didn’t know. Yet there she was as plain as day, seemingly oblivious to their arrival.
He was about to clear his throat, ready to call out so as not to startle her, when she suddenly spoke up, “You can come out. I know you’re there.”
Drake and his brother exchanged a quick, startled glance before they began to move out from behind the trees. As they did so, Drake noticed the woman’s shoulders were trembling. It wasn’t until she paused in her sweeping and turned to look at them that Drake realized she was laughing.
“You look as if you’re in shock,” she chuckled, “Yet if you’re here, you must know what I am. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have risked climbing to the summit.”
Of course! She saw us coming! Drake realized, his chest tightening with the realization that she must also know exactly why they’d come.
“If you knew we were coming, then you likely know why we’ve come,” Blake announced, placing a hand upon the sword he carried at his hip. Drake’s throat convulsed. What was his brother thinking, making such an aggressive gesture?
“Fate doesn’t show me all, but I know enough,” the woman announced. Her voice was sweet, almost musical, and Drake found himself wondering what she looked like beneath the heavy hood she was wearing.
As if she sensed his thought, she reached up and pulled the hood away from her face. Shock overwhelmed Drake almost instantly. Though he’d heard that women such as her were often beautiful, he’d never expected her to be quite so…breathtaking.
Her hair was so blonde, it was almost as white as the snow that was beginning to fall harder now from the thick clouds above their heads. Striking ice blue eyes shone from a heart-shaped face, sitting upon high cheekbones, and her skin was so creamy, it begged to be touched.
“You can come out also,” the woman announced suddenly, and Drake felt confusion wash over him.
“We are alone,” he stated. But as he spoke, the branches above his head began to creak. Instinctively, both he and his brother reached for their swords.
Chapter 3 - Kira
Men! Kira groaned as she watched the third fae swing down from the branches of the huge tree where he’d been hiding, just behind the two brothers. Swords were instantly drawn, and curses were thrown. The stand-off between the three men might’ve lasted well into the night if it hadn’t been for her.
“If the three of you are done with your masculine showoff,” she scowled at the three of them and took a moment to lean her broom against the wall beside the front door of the cabin, “I have a fire burning and stew cooking on the hearth. You are all welcome beside my fire tonight, but tomorrow you must be on your way.”