The Billionaire And The Ice Queen (A Fantasy Romance)

#13 Ethan

The acrid stench of vomit burnt the hairs in my nostril and made my eyes water. My stomach churned; it was a good thing I had not eaten anything.

One disadvantage of having a good sniffer, any bad smell was ten times stronger. I have witnessed a few who had fainted, because of it.

The silent tears that ran down Ivy’s face had me frozen to the spot. I had always thought of her as a strong individual, who wasn’t fazed by anything. Yet, here she was a tiger bowing to its prey.

The tears were a shock, making her more human with a warm heart and not a frozen one.

I wanted to comfort her, and tell her it was alright, that I’ll live. The only problem was if I opened my mouth, I would end up following her example and vomit all over her.

So, I held in my breath and rubbed her back, not knowing what else to do, something that is unheard off.

“Paula!” Her brother shouted.

I didn’t care who this Paula was, I just hoped she would help. I didn’t have to wait long for an older woman to rush in.

She glanced at Nathaniel, followed his gaze and gasped.

“Ivy.” She scrunched up her nose when the stench reached her. Gazing at me she opened her mouth to say something then shut it. It could be due to the fact I was turning blue from holding my breath.

“Nathaniel, go get the box of tissues, quickly.”

The boy obeyed by jumping over the arm of the sofa, tumbled to the floor, picked himself up and grabbed the box. And just as quickly came back and passed it to Paula before bursting into tears.

She took a deep breath, took a wad of tissue out and plastered it all over my shirt and jacket, then did the same with Ivy.

“It’s okay.” She cooed to Ivy. “I’ll sort it all out.”

“Sir.” Turning her attention to me. “If you’d follow me, I will show you were the bathroom is. You can take a shower and I’ll put your clothes in the wash.”

I would have said no thank you, but the stench was overpowering, and I didn’t know how long I would last before I vomited. So, I just nodded, praying she would not ask me anymore questions.

“You can let go of Ivy; I’ll take her.”

Ivy looked ready to pass out a second time and Paula did not look strong enough to carry her, and she had no ability that I could see or feel.

I didn’t reprimand myself for not picking up on the fact Ivy had an ability when I first saw her. She was one of those few people who was their ability. A small number of people have a strong aura about them because they don’t hide what they are, and sometimes this could be mistaken for a hidden talent or overlooked like in Ivy’s case. Due to her cold exterior, confidence and nicked name the ice queen. People were not surprised when they felt a chill in her presence. They put it down to her personality. She hid in plain sight and nobody caught on until now.

Internally, I shook my head, this was not the time to think about why she had gone unnoticed for so long. I had to deal with the here and now.

In her condition she would not be able to make it to the bathroom so, I lifted her up and carried her into the main hall. Paula, who seemed to be a sensible person didn’t say anything and ran in front of me, guiding me to where I should go. Nathaniel trailed behind us, crying a long with Ivy.

Even though I was covered in puke, I was interested to see what Ivy’s room was like. Out of all the rooms in any house, bedrooms are the most personal to an individual, and to a certain degree reflects the owner’s personality.

Once we arrived at the furthest door on the first floor, Paula opened it, letting me step inside.

To say I was surprised would be an understatement, it was not what I expected. The wall on the left side of me was dark burgundy, it almost looked black, in contrast with the caramel colour of the other walls. Two huge windows with black frames stood either side of the bed. A bed that took centre stage, with four black spiral bedpost, and above it a canvas painting of a moon shining bright amongst the dark gathering clouds. When I took my eyes away from the painting, I noticed the wooden floor was deep oak, and the other vintage furniture were also black in colour. To finish this gothic décor, a chandelier that should belong in a ballroom twinkled in the light, like ice crystals. The light tones in the room were few but they fought to be seen. The darkness had not completely taken over.

This room was contradictory to what I knew of Ivy. If I had been asked to give a guess what her room looked like, I would have said white walls, simple furniture, and frigid colours. This emphasised that I didn’t know her at all.

“You can put her here.” Paula’s voice snapped me out of my stupor. I gently set her down on the plush deep red vintage chair. Some of the tissue that was plastered on me plopped on to her lap.

“You can use the room next door.” Paula started to peel off the clump of tissues of Ivy’s suit, throwing them in the bin. “Leave your clothes outside the bathroom and I’ll wash and dry them for you. I’ll leave you a dressing gown you can ware until your clothes dry.”

“Thank you.” I gave Ivy one last glance before leaving the room. The room next door to hers was the polar opposite, with bright colours, modern furniture and a canvas painting of the sun surrounded by nature.

Why did she pick the darker room? Did she like the gothic look or was it more to do with how she felt?

I took my clothes off and left them outside the bathroom as Paula had requested and took a quick shower. As promised, there was a white bathrobe left on the bed, unfortunately it was on the small side. At least it hid all the important parts.

My dirty clothes had disappeared unlike the stench which still lingered. I didn’t really want to leave the room the way I was dressed but I couldn’t stay in the same room as the smell.

I strode to Ivy’s room and knocked on her door. There was no answer, thinking she was asleep I turned to head downstairs when the door opened, and Nathaniel the devil’s twin stood before me.

“What do you want?” Her brother, who I had thought was her son when I first saw him, gazed at me with dislike. It never crossed my mind that she had any family or close friends. I thought she was a loner. She never mentioned anything, I just made a judgement based on her character and it seemed I was not the only person who had committed this crime. I wanted her to forgive me for thinking in such away, which was stupid. If she did not know what I was thinking, there was nothing to forgive.

I returned my attention back at the sentinel. “To see your sister.” I couldn’t blame him for being jealous, if I were in his position.

But you are jealous, of him. Good point.

“She doesn’t want to see you.”

More like he didn’t want me near her.

“Nathaniel.” Ivy called from inside the room. He didn’t acknowledge her and kept on giving me the death stare.

“Nathaniel.” Ivy called again. He gave me another glare then walked back in the room, leaving the door open.

I stepped inside; Ivy lay on the bed with the monster hugging her.

“You look…… different.” Gazing at the short robe and my lovely hairy legs, she tried not to smile.

“You mean drop dead gorgeous.” I walked further into the room and sat on the bed.

“How are you feeling?” Stupid question but I had to ask.

“Fine thank you. I’m really sorry for puking over you.”

I smiled and raised my brow. “So, I didn’t deserve it?”

“Off course not.” She looked down at Nathaniel who had kept his gaze fixed on me. “Nathaniel, I need to talk to Mr. Westfield.” I furrowed my brow at the use of my surname. “Can you give us a few minutes, please.”

He looked at her then back at me. I could tell he wanted to say no. After a few seconds he looked away, got of the bed and stomped out of the room, but he left the door open. Most likely to eavesdrop on our conversation.

“I’m sorry.” Ivy rubbed her head. “I don’t know what has gotten into him. He’s never acted like this before.”

I knew, since I felt the same way about him, but I wasn’t going to enlighten her. She’ll find out in her own time.

“Why Ethan?” Her use of my name had me jerking my head up.

“Why. What?” I whispered.

“Why did you say I was your fiancée.” I couldn’t tell her that her brother annoyed me, and it just came out. I regretted it as soon as I said it, but now it might help me.

“I was meant to say friend and fiancée came out.” She just blinked at me. “You must have heard the amount of text I have been getting?” She gave me a nod and winced. I stood, moving closer to her and her eyes grew round.

“I am not going to do anything.” Yet. “I’m going to massage your head, if you’ll let me.” She still had not said anything. “My mother gets really bad headaches and I used to massage her temple whenever it happened…. When I was younger.” She leaned her head back on the dark headboard. It made her look like one of Dracula’s victim. I put my hand on her warm forehead and massaged it.

“She has been pushing me to get married saying that I am not getting any younger. Unknown to me, she mentioned something to her friends. Now I have females running after me. And some are more imaginative than others who have tried to catch my attention.”

Her clear blue eyes gazed into mine, our heads close. I leaned closer and stopped myself. This was not the time to kiss her senseless, most likely she would puke on me again for my trouble. I shuddered internally at the thought, dampening the fire inside me.

“When you brother asked me who I was, I got fed up.” I thought a little honesty was best. This had been the most I had lied to anybody and I liked her which made my deception even worse. “It’s not his fault but my phone had not stopped. If it’s not my sister, then my mother and if its not her then some woman I have never met before, who had the audacity to call me. However, I can’t blame them because most likely my mother had given them my number or encourage their pursuit of me.”

Oh god. I really needed to apologise to mother, for the little white lie I told, when I saw her next.

“I can’t believe all of them don’t like you for being you and not just for your money.”

“Maybe not, but I’ll never know, and I would always wonder if she wanted me or my money. And even if she does want me, it doesn’t mean it wouldn’t change later on. Very few marriages last.”

“I never thought of you as a pessimist.”

“I am not, except when it comes to women.”

“What has this to do with me?”

“You are different. You don’t care about my background and you say it how it is. I like that.”

“That means nothing. You’ve only known me for what? Two days.”

“True, but I am a good judge of character.” Lier. You got it all wrong about her. “I wouldn’t be where I am if not for that.” At least that’s the truth.

I stopped massaging her head and held her hand in mine. “Marry me.”

She opened her mouth then closed it. I had to win her over to my way of thinking before she said no. “We’d both be going into this with no illusions.” Her brows creased not convinced in my way of thinking. “You are a businesswoman in your own right, beautiful, strong, intelligent and one of us.” The last part seemed to have piqued her interest for her eyes snapped up. “That is another reason why I can’t just go with any woman. I must think about the other aspect of my life. I want to share all of me with her not just a small part. I know we don’t know each other, but we can have a long engagement, which seems to be the norm. We can get to know each other better. If after a period, we find that we detest each other then we can always call it off.”

“I still don’t know anything about the others.” Of course, she had to cling to that part of my speech. I couldn’t blame her, it’s not like I am professing my undying love for her. Even if I did, I got the impression she wouldn’t believe me anyway.

“I promise I will tell you everything. Just get better first. What do you say?” I held my breath as I waited for her answer.

“No!!” We jerked our heads to the door, Nathaniel stood there with tears in his eyes. “You can’t have her.”

Ivy squeezed my hand. “Can I talk to you later about this?”

The word no was on the tip of my tongue, however, her pleading eyes stopped me. I let out an audible sigh and nodded my head.

Nathaniel had moved to the bed, silent tears running down his face. I felt guilty for putting them there, for I knew how he felt not that it was intentional on my part. Ivy took her hand away, spread her arms out and Nathaniel flew into them.

Jealousy hit me hard in the chest. I had to work damn hard just for her to look at me, and this little monster didn’t’ have to do much to get it.

Really Ethan. Your jealous of a child.

I left them and decided to wait downstairs for my clothes. It took longer then I would have liked, Paula bless her, fed me in that time and I sat there like a vegetable staring at nothing. Nathaniel didn’t grace me with his presence and Ivy didn’t ask for me. I was glad for Lily’s call, not that I would ever admit it to her.

“I am so glad you took time off your precious work to answer your phone.” Lily said sarcastically.

“Good afternoon to you too.”

“Well, I am glad one of us has had a great day.”

“What do you want, Lily.”

“What do I want!” I moved the mobile away from my ear. “Your brother. You remember him, don’t you?” She didn’t wait for my reply and carried on with her tirade. “Has left your flat. Since I have his mobile, I can’t contact him. So, you’d better get your butt down here before I do something that you’ll regret.” With that she put the phone down on me. Lily never spoke this way to anyone unless she was worried.

I found Paula in the kitchen and asked her for my clothes, not caring if they were still wet.

She didn’t argue and brought out the partly dried suit. I thanked her as I took them from her. I wondered if I could tempt her away. Probably not.

I jogged upstairs to the spare bedroom, quickly got into my clothes then sneaked in Ivy’s room. She was asleep, her upper body still leaning against the headboard and Nathaniel lay next to her wide awake.

His gaze latched on to me, tracking my movement. I strode silently to Ivy’s side of the bed and put the back of my hand on her forehead. I was relieved to feel it cool to the touch.

Nathaniel, the creep, watched my every move, not uttering a word. What had Ivy said to him?

I ran my finger down her cheek, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to lean forward and kiss her on the forehead. The only kiss I would get for a long while. If she were awake, she wouldn’t have let me do even that. It was a good thing she was asleep, then.

I locked eyes with Nathaniel. His eyes were round, surrounded by thick lashes like his sisters, but that is were the resemblance ended. His skin was a shade darker than Ivy’s pale one, his hair was a darker blond, and the most obvious difference was his green eyes, they resembled jewels that my sister loved to wear.

If people were to see us now, and not know our relationship to one another, they would presume we were related. His features were similar to my family compared to his sister.

“I’m leaving.” I finally uttered. “I am not going to ask you to pass a message on to Ivy because I don’t want to put you in a position where you would lie.” He kept on staring at me, not fazed at what I had just said. “I know you don’t like me, so you might be tempted not to pass anything I say. Should you commit such an act and Ivy finds out, she would be upset by your dishonesty.”

I had to give it to the boy he kept his face neutral, he was more like Ivy then I thought.

“I don’t want to hurt her, and I am sure neither would you because I know how much you care about her.” The boy didn’t move or show any emotion to what I had said. There was something about him in that moment that piqued my curiosity. I wonder? Did he have an ability? It’s not uncommon for siblings to have powers. I’d have to keep an eye on him, if he doesn’t curse me first. “I’m not going to take her away from you. I also have a sister who I care about deeply.” Not that I will come out and tell her. “I actually understand how you feel about me, but I hope in time once you get to know me that we could become friends.” I must have gotten through to him since his eyes turned away from me to gaze at the blanket. “She is not well and needs rest. Unfortunately, I have to go home. I hope you can look after her for me.” His head snapped up; his eyes full of hate. Great we were back to square one. What on earth did I say to upset him?

I wanted to stay and explain myself further, which was daft. The boy was young maybe six, I would not be able to get through to him. Children’s brain was wired differently compared to an adult, so you had to speak to them differently. Lily would have known what to say.

Not bothering to say anymore, I looked at Ivy one last time and left the room. I said my goodbyes to Paula and headed home.