Frost Bite.

Chapter Eight.

Blythe.

The sun had long since set and people were no longer filling the Courtyard by the time I reached it. The door to the armory was still slightly open and an orange hue was coming from the inside. The sound of a hammer meeting steel had been replaced by the crackling of a fire. I slipped in through the door and came to a stop at the figure sitting in a chair with his bare back towards me, facing the fire. His hair was a mess from having ran his fingers through it too many times and his shoulders were slightly hunched with his hands clutched together between his parted legs. I stopped dead in my tracks, my wolf beginning to stir restlessly in the depths of my mind "Aron" I breathed into the cold, watching his back muscles stiffen as he turned to glance back at me from over his shoulder. He was wild, like the lands and forests I had been roaming all my life, he was free like the birds that took flight from tree tops in early winter but he was also unpredictable, like a storm approaching over the vast sea. He stayed silent, the light of the fire dancing across his features and crooked nose from having been broken a few times. I couldn't take the distance anymore and moved towards him, feet dancing across the straw and dirt as he stood to meet me. I paused again, a foot away from him this time, my hand fiddling with the top button of his coat. There was a raging war inside of me, one where I circled my wolf and she snapped at me but not even my burning skin or trembling body from the dull ache could stop me from crashing into him. My hands moved to cup the sides of his face, my lips colliding with his in what started as a slow, loving exchange but turned into a blazing fire of passion the moment his hands gripped my hips and pulled me into him. He deepened the kiss, his tongue dancing with mine, running across my canines while one of his hands roamed lower, tracing the back of my thigh, up beneath the material of his coat and to my rear. I gasped, eyes half closed when his hand gripped the skin there, pinching and squeezing until bruises would form on a normal human woman. His teeth bit my lower lip, pulling it and finally letting go to bend down, his arms around me to pick me up until I was looming over him, claws dragging across his skin with a need to bite into it at the place where his neck met his shoulder. He carried me over to the cement platform in the middle of the room where his father had been hammering the metal before and laid me down onto it. His hands gripped my calved and dragged my body closer to his until his groin and my core met with a hard crash. I moaned at the contact even if it was separated by his pants and reached up, seducing him to lean over me until I could run my tongue along the shell of his ear and nip at the skin behind it "Please" I whispered, breathlessly. I wanted him, I needed him. He hurried to tear the coat from my body but stopped, the hunger in his eyes turning to anger when he noticed the necklace that dangled from my neck. He tore himself away from me, despite my protests and turned to run a hand over his face, his body glistening with sweat in the light of the fire "Aron?" I questioned, sitting up on the platform, my body naked and exposed to his eyes but he refused to look at me. There was something wrong. I got up from the platform and went to him but he avoided me, moving away when I would near "You need to leave" he announced, grabbing for his sleeveless shirt and tossing it in my direction. I caught it but stood stunned, confusion written clear across my face. I thought he wanted me like I wanted him. I tried again to get closer to him "What did I do wrong?" I asked in a gentle tone, wanting him to confide in me, to tell me why he was rejecting me. He pulled his arm away from my hands as if I had burnt him and turned on me with an insane look in his eyes, madness swirled with jealousy and rage "You're not mine, you're his!" my wolf cackled in the back of my mind, almost mocking me at his words, at the way he phrased them. Did he know about the mate bond? Did he think that I cared for the King? I was a strong woman, strong enough to take down an entire army is need be but in that moment I could feel my eyes start to sting with frustration and pain. My entire body felt like it was being torn to pieces from just being there with him yet there I was, enduring that pain just to kiss him, to touch him and he was pushing me away "Blythe" a single tear, silent and haunting rolled down the side of my face but I wiped it away as quickly as it did, pushing all that hurt down into the darkness as I turned and tugged the shirt on over my head. His hand moved to touch me but he paused and I had had enough. I left the armory, my strides turning into a run as soon as my feet made contact with the snow. They carried me into the castle, down the hall and to the West wing where, on one of the staircases, I felt like collapsing, like screaming from the pain that I felt. My hand gripped the wall while the other cupped one eye. They were squeezed shut, fighting off the tears and willing my breathing to calm down when a voice reached out to me "Are you alright?"

Aron.

I wanted to take her right there in that armory, on that platform and when she whimpered a beg, I lost it. I tore at my own coat, the buttons flying across the room to expose her naked form, one I had seen a few times prior to that moment but still managed to make my stomach tighten and my groin stir. I took in her spread legs, her center pressed up against me, her navel and her breasts that were big enough to fill my hand. It was her neck that forced me to stop, the thing around it that gleamed in the light, it's sapphire eyes blinking almost tauntingly at me. The image of her wrapped in his arms came to me, of how she looked at him and calmed down by his touch. It enraged me that she would cling to the necklace as if it were her very life, almost as if she were clinging to him. I turned away from her, my mind racing as I ran a hand over my face to try and calm down. He was a King, the King of all four of the Realms within the continent of Myres and I was just his faithful dog, his Huntsman, forced to do his bidding. I was a peasant and peasants should not mess with the spoils of a King "Aron?" her voice was small, laced with confusion as she sat up on the platform, hair a mess and eyebrows furrowed with so many questions hidden in her dark blue eyes. I ignored her and went to retrieve my white shirt when she moved towards me. I tossed it at her and she caught it, pressing it to her chest to cover up herself as she walked to where I was standing near the fire "What did I do wrong?" she pleaded with me, her eyes searching for my face but I couldn't bring myself to look at her. She did nothing wrong, it was the fact that she was so beautiful that even the King wanted her for himself. She tried to reach for my arm, her fingers brushing over my skin for a split second before I tore away from her "You're not mine, you're his!" the words escaped me long prior to me realizing what I had said. I had expected her to be the usual stubborn and playful Blythe, to turn around and walk away with a grin on her lips and eyes accepting my challenge but instead they filled with tears in the glow of that orange light. She looked at me, really looked at me. No one had ever looked at me like that in my entire life "Blythe" I whispered faintly, moving to touch her but I paused when his face laughed right back at me. A single tear ran down the side of her face, quickly to be wiped away as she shook her head, turned and tugged my shirt onto her body. It was too big for her and on the sides were the sleeves would normally be you could see the sides of her breasts peeking through. She left, taking quick strides to the door and without so much as a glance back she disappeared into the night. My hands shook at my sides and I balled them into fists, striking the wooden ball beside the hearth once before I fell back into the chair I had been sitting in when she came to the armory.

Blythe.

"Are you alright?" it was a nobleman's voice, a voice very similar to that of King Nixtoni but not as dominant nor as strong. I lowered my hand from my face and turned to look up at the man that stood at the top of the stairs I was halfway crumpled on, leaning against the wall. Prince Zane was watching me with his light blue eyes, dressed in black with gold detailing and a head of golden blonde hair that was cropped short "My Prince" I slid down the wall to one knee and bowed my head to show my respect towards him. He was not the King but he was not my mate either which demanded some formality. He chuckled as he descended the steps to where I was and bent down to lift my chin, gently, calmly "You can pardon the formalities" he stated, his hand dropping back to his side when he stood upright again "After all, you look like you're in need of some comforting" I stood, managing a small smile that barely graced my eyes. There were no more tears left in my eyes but they were red and puffy and my corners still looked wet "It is nothing to worry about, my Prince" Zane's hands moved to fold themselves neatly behind his back, eyes of their mother staring back at me and causing Nixon's words to repeat themselves in the depths of my mind 'It used to belong to my mother before she passed'. The cold silver of the necklace bit into my skin "If you insist, I will be in the library if you feel like talking" he moved past me and headed down the steps when I realized something. My skin wasn't burning, my heart not aching, my legs not trembling. I wasn't in any type of pain around the Prince like I was when I was around Nixon and Aron. It was comforting to have someone like that, that could make me feel normal "My Prince" I called down to him. He stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked back up at me, his eyes holding a knowing gleam in them. I wasn't sure what I was planning on saying but the words slipped past my lips before I could stop them "Would you mind if I joined you?" he was younger than the King but looked to be far more mature when he smiled faintly at me and turned to head down the hallway, calling after him when he continued on "Come along!"