The Billionaire And The Ice Queen (A Fantasy Romance)

#7 Ethan

My i***t of a brother was right, Kara had feelings for me, if the hurt in her eyes was anything to go by. Unlike Ivy, she wilted under her emotions and I felt bad. A stupid thing to feel, after all, I had never promised her anything. From the start of our friendship, I’d been honest and warned her there’d be nothing more between us. How could I have missed it?

As I contemplated what I should do, she took the choice out of my hands and stalked off.

I ran my hand through my hair, berating myself. What possessed me to partner her to this event? No one forced me to go, I could have donated the money from the comfort of my flat, but no, I sought her out. And now she had ideas that were never going to happen. Not when my heart thumped for Ivy, and even that was not solely down to me. whatever perfume Crystal wore helped intensify the small attraction I held for her. It wasn’t just her beauty that made my heart tick, Kara was also a looker, yet I felt nothing for her.

Ivy looked at me as if I were a fly. No woman I knew had ever made me feel insignificant, and I had to admit it piqued my interest, especially with the shroud of mystery that surrounded her.

I shook my head at my own foolishness. I’d only spoken to her for ten minutes and in that time, it had sparked an attraction. Something that I thought would happen to Merek not me?

I couldn’t think about it now, first, I needed to talk to Merek and find out what pit he had dug himself into.

When I arrived in the main hall it was mayhem. Injured guests and waiters were at one side of the room, probably waiting for the paramedics, and glass still littered the floor, but I was relieved to see the windows hadn't shattered.

My brows creased when warm air caressed my cold hands. Maybe that explained why the glass shattered in the lobby.

It didn’t take me long to find Merek. He stood in the same place I had commanded him to stay. Crystal, thank god, was nowhere in sight, I couldn’t be held accountable for what I would have done should she have been present.

Merek gazed glumly into the crowd as Kara chatted animatedly to him with clear eyes, as if those unshed tears were part of my imagination.

I couldn’t look at her. In some ways she reminded me of Lily, and I didn't want to hurt her feelings but after what I witnessed; I had no choice but to cut our friendship.

"Ethan!" Merek called bringing my attention back to him. "Finally. I have been waiting forever."

I gave him a deadpan stare.

"Well, I have." His eyes kept scanning the room. "And I need to find Crystal. She has been gone a while."

"Maybe she ran off." I said dryly.

He frowned shaking his head. "She wouldn't leave me."

I gave a sardonic laugh.

Ignoring me, he carried on. "Maybe she's hurt." His face turned to horror at the thought, giving me his full attention, he grabbed my arm. "We have to find her."

"She's probably hiding from me." I reassured him as I removed his hand from my person.

The frown returned but before he could ask me why, I leaned in closer. "We need to talk... In private."

"We can do that when we get home."

"No. Now."

His shoulders sagged and he let out a sigh. He didn't argue probably due to the expression on my face. The look I used on my employees.

I faced Kara, not quite meeting her eyes. "We'll be back." Without waiting for a reply, I dragged, as discreetly as I could, Merek to a pillar that was as far away from anyone as possible.

"What's going on, Merek?" I started, then added, "And don’t give me this crap that you don't know what I am talking about."

"What do you want to know?" He asked.

With an expressionless look, I waited. He was the first to break.

"I met her a week ago at a wedding."

Finally, we are getting somewhere.

"You know, she's a witch?”

He glanced at me then looked away. I rubbed my forehead; I could feel a headache coming.

"You knew she was a witch." I stated, clenching my jaw, and breathed out my nose.

"Do you also know that she used something on you, to make you desire her?" He might not have known what she had done. I found that hard to believe even for Merek, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Crystal is beautiful and funny...." He looked forlornly into space.

I groaned, wanting to smack him on the back of his head but refrained myself.

"Does that mean you didn't know?"

He looked at me with incredulity. "I am not stupid, Ethan. I knew she laced her perfume with a little magic."

Dumbfounded, I opened and closed my mouth as I tried to understand what was going through his mind. "For the love of God, Merek, why are you still with her?" None of this made any sense. He knew like I did that the only way to break a spell was to keep away from your infatuation. The spell had a time limit, and if you are not near the source the feeling would, in time, disappear. Well, that was what I heard.

"I want to know what she wants from me, and why it’s so urgent that she had to use a potion.”

My jaw dropped to the floor. Of all the hair brained ideas he had come up with, this had to be the dumbest of the lot.

"There is a reason why you don't play games with witches. The longer you are with her the harder it’s going to be to get out from under her grasp. And you are right about one thing. She must be desperate for her to use a potion on you after only a few days."

He cringed.

"What?"

"First day."

I shouldn’t be surprised at what I heard yet I couldn’t help thinking something was seriously wrong with him.

"She is a beautiful woman who doesn't need potions to help her attract any guy. yet on the first day she targeted me. What is so urgent that would make her go to such lengths?"

"Does she know who you are?"

"Yes."

For some reason I couldn’t fathom it reminded me of Ivy. "How long have you known Ivy?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

He stared at the floor before he answered. " A year and a couple of months."

I opened my mouth to say something but closed it again.

"But there is nothing going on between us." He quickly added.

“Well, that’s reassuring.” I sarcastically bit out. “Though she must have thought otherwise from the way she reacted when you introduced your fiancée.” A sharp pain pierced my heart at the thought of it. "You didn't lead her on by any chance?"

His face reddened.

He did.

The urge to punch him was overwhelming. To clear my head, I gazed into the crowd, and stuffed my hands in my pocket to stop myself acting out what I wanted to do.

And that is when my eyes fell on her.

My Ice Queen.

Her soft platinum blond hair, that smelt of coconut, reached her waist couldn’t hide a sculptured neck that I was dying to kiss. Her flawless skin, delicate as a petal, was soft to the touch. When she turned, the side of her face was in profile, with pink lips and eyes I could either drown in or freeze, depending on how she gazed at me. At that moment she looked ready to murder someone and it seemed Kara, who was close to tears, would be the victim.

For a moment I had forgotten why people called her the Ice Queen. However, after observing her I realised that was a front, but I couldn’t fathom why she let people think of her as being cruel and heartless.

 My brows creased in thought as she glided toward the doors, then suddenly she gazed in my direction. Our eyes locked and I saw the real Ivy under the mask. The one she showed to nobody. Her eyes shone with unhappiness before it was hidden from sight. The desire to crush her to me and take away the sadness was suffocating.

I clamped my lips and clenched my hands into a tight fist until they turned white. The perfume Crystal wore was making me feel this way and for some reason instead of working on her it had worked on Ivy. I turned away even though it hurt me to do it.

From the periphery of my eye, I followed her and before she went through the door, I turned back to watch her. I even took a step in her direction when suddenly someone grabbed my arm.

"I have to find Crystal," Merek said in agitation.

I understood a little of what he was going through and pitied him. It surprised me he still had a will, of sort, to act normal. "We need to talk to her."

"No!" Merek grabbed my arm. "I will not let you anywhere near her."

I raised my brow. "She has you doing her bidding and you don't even realise it." I removed his hand off my arm and turned my back to the crowd, hoping this would conceal our heated conversation from praying eyes. "You are right when you said she was desperate, and this makes her dangerous. You are my brother and I care what happens to you."

"I can take care of myself," he gritted out. In that moment he looked half crazed. The expression wouldn't look odd on me, on Merek, you knew something was wrong.

I had no choice but to show him he was not himself and hoped it worked. A dangerous thing to do when someone was under the spell of a witch.

"She is beautiful." This was not a lie and it was one of the reasons why I believed Merek’s thought, that she was desperate. "Why would she want you when she could have me?" I taunted.

He snarled, lunging at me. I was ready for his reaction and wrapped my arms around him trapping his arm, then I moved back behind the pillar while he still thrashed.

I growled, "If you don't calm down, I will knock you out." It took a little longer than I expected, before he was spent and went limp.

"She's mine." He snarled.

"You can have her, you nitwit. And you would know she is not my type if she hadn’t messed with your head. This has to stop.” Diplomacy wasn’t my thing when I dealt with Merek’s problems, that's Lily's domain. But I realised that he needed a gentle hand, a difficult thing for me to do. “If after she stops whatever she is doing, and you still feel the same way then I am willing to meet her." 

"She's mine," he repeated.

I patted his shoulder awkwardly, wishing lily was here.

His behaviour had me worried. I had to see crystal first before he did, and find out what she wanted, so this could be reversed before it affected him mentally. Unlike elemental, werewolves and vampires’ witches are different in what they can do and how you dealt with them. They could make your life and those around you miserable, but they could affect your descendants as well. They are the most feared even if they are the least powerful.

I let out a sigh. I needed Crystals number; most likely she had done a runner after she found out what I am.

“Ethan?”

Both Merek and I jumped apart from each other. I just hoped nobody noticed our open display of emotion.

“Is e-e-everything okay?” Kara asked while gazing at Merek.

“Yes. We’re leaving.” Indicating at myself and Merek. “You stay if you want.”

She gazed at me in horror and shook her head.

I would have liked to talk some more with Merek but maybe it was a good thing someone else was in the car with us, it gave us time to think.

Before we set off, I asked, “Did Ivy need anything?” Merek’s head snapped up, waiting for her reply. The first sign of emotion he’d shown which had nothing to do with Crystal. I wasn’t sure if I was happy about it or not. He cared for her even if he wouldn’t admit it.

Kara gazed from me to Merek quizzically. “No. W-w-waiting f-f-for her c-c-car.”

My heart sank. Could she be that heartless? She was a conundrum. One minute I thought I had her figured out then she would surprise me.

Sighing I headed to the lobby.