Page 9 of Heart of Fire (Royal Ice Dragons #3)

THORNE

The three of us trudged through the snow before reaching the neat trails that crisscrossed the campus grounds.

We ignored the towering dark-stained oak doors and entered the servants’ door of the observatory. Just inside the entrance, the dimly lit hall was barely passable, cluttered with cleaning supplies. Kaelan’s broad shoulders brushed the edge of a hanging, filthy mop, and he gave it an offended look, as if it had personally attacked him.

One of the astronomers, a short Fae who looked as if he might be mixed with a bit of troll, rushed toward us. His smile of wonder lit his face before he dropped into a bow. “Your majesty.”

He called Kaelan your majesty instead of your highness , as if Kae had already won.

I wished I shared that confidence.

“Thank you for your help,” Kaelan told him, putting a hand on his shoulder as he encouraged him to rise from his bow. Kaelan gave him the charming court smile that won people over. “Your kingdom will thank you.”

The man blushed. Then he led us up to the observatory. It was empty at the moment, with a domed roof that was open now to the sky. Magic kept the room bearably warm, but the skies glittered above us, the shining silver stars magnified by magic.

Unfortunately, the enchanted telescopes that dominated the room were fixed not on the skies but out at the landscape.

“I’ll take care of the enchantment,” Kaelan told us. “My father was so thoughtful to link all the observatories for us. In a few minutes, we’ll own the skies.”

The nervous astronomer moved to guard the doorway. I glanced at Hanna, who was staring up at the sky in wonder. It was unusually beautiful in its magnified state, with more stars visible than were even seen at night in the tundra, far from any city lights. But I couldn’t seem to look at the sky for more than a second before my gaze returned to her, to the light in her eyes and the freckles of reflected starlight that fell on her beautiful face.

She looked as if she were spun of magic.

She glanced over at me, then took my hand without comment. “I’m going to miss you. Look after him for me?”

“I’ve been doing that almost all my life,” I promised her, raising her hand to my lips to kiss. “I have so much practice.”

Her answering smile crinkled the corners of her eyes. I hated having her leave, but most of all, I worried that Dare would be a dick and push Hanna away.

Actually, I knew Dare would be a dick and push Hanna away. I worried he would succeed.

I was still shocked Kaelan had welcomed me to share Hanna; I wasn’t sure how he would respond to Dare. And I wasn’t sure Dare was capable of just…being loved. But I wanted the four of us together.

“What is it?” she teased. “You have to speak the words out loud, Thorne.”

“How is your bond with Kaelan?” I asked, since she had brought up speaking aloud.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I know we should be able to talk to each other all the time, but he has so many walls up…” She shook her head. “We need to practice communicating more in situations that aren’t…emotionally fraught.”

“Something to work on when we’re all reunited,” I said.

She nodded, but there was a faraway look in her eyes. I didn’t want to burden her with my worries, but maybe if we shared our thoughts, she’d feel better in the end.

“While you’re with Dare,” I said bluntly, “Remember that he loves you.”

She turned to me with her lips parting in shock.

“It’s true,” I assured her. “He’s going to be difficult. He’s going to try and convince you that he doesn’t love you and that you shouldn’t love him.”

She squeezed my hand in hers. “There’s no one who knows us all better, Thorne. If you promise he does…I believe you.”

“I do promise. But Dare…” I hesitated. Dare’s story should be his to tell. But I didn’t trust him to talk to Hanna.

“He’s so close right now to home…and to Baelur, who had his parents executed.”

Hanna took my hand, her face sympathetic. I squeezed her hand in mine, knowing how much Dare would hate for her to look at him that way.

“It doesn’t sound like either of you had a very cheerful upbringing in that castle.”

“No,” I admitted, veering away from my own memories of tests and punishments. “Dare’s neck was always pressed to the chopping block to make Kaelan behave. To me, Dare and Kaelan feel like family. I’m not sure Dare feels the same.”

She frowned. “I thought he wanted…” She hesitated, then admitted, “Us. I want him to want to be with us.”

“I want that too.” I squeezed her hand in mine, then brought it up to my lips for a kiss. I hated the thought of leaving her, even with Dare. “But Dare’s always been obsessed with the idea of going home, even if that place doesn’t exist anymore. It might be hard to let go…and when you’re right there, in his home, reminding him that he has to let go of the past to have a future…”

“He doesn’t have to choose us,” she said, her chin rising. “But you think that’s what he really wants?”

“Yes,” I said. “But I think he’s going to be an ass to you before he admits it to himself.”

And he wouldn’t have Kaelan or me around to tell him not to be his worst self—a version of him with which we were both all too familiar.

* * *

HANNA

Kaelan, Thorne, and I flew along the coast of the Ice Kingdom, then turned inward and crossed an enormous, unforgiving forest. Toward Dare.

We crossed a near-unchanging landscape: ice floes, mountain peaks, and vast plains of snow broken by the occasional city in the distance.

If it was possible for a dragon to fly sulkily, then Kaelan’s dragon was doing just that; he glided grouchily among the clouds, occasionally snapping his wings furiously to propel himself upwards before he began to glide again. Thorne and I exchanged a look.

Meanwhile, I felt a surge of excitement about seeing Dare, one that I didn’t entirely want to examine.

Kaelan took us in a loop to avoid flying over Baelur’s territory. It was strange to think that somewhere there, Dare had grown up.

As we turned into Kustav’s territory, I could see a change in the landscape: an enormous dark crater in the ice and snow.

Kaelan settled down to earth, and Thorne and I followed.

We stood together in the soft hush of the forest. Snow was falling above the cover of the trees, flakes slowly drifting down and settling on my hair. From here, I couldn’t see the massive mining operation that gaped like a rotten cavity in a tooth.

“If we go into the village, it will draw too much attention,” Kaelan said shortly. “But we’ll stay here until you make it safely. If you don’t find Dare, come back.”

I frowned at him. “Dare will want to see you, if he knows you’re here.”

Kaelan’s lips curled up slightly. “You are very cute. No, he will not.”

Thorne added, “He won’t be happy you’re here, because he’s an idiot. But he’s an idiot who needs you.”

“You two are really making me excited to walk into that voyage.”

Kaelan offered me a distinct lack of sympathy as he shrugged. “It’s hard to be queen.”

“I’m not queen yet.” I caught the front of his lapels and tugged him down toward me.

“Good as done,” he said, and then no matter how much he still pretended to be an icy asshole, he grabbed me around the waist. His gaze met mine in a long, studying, satisfied look, as if he saw exactly what he wanted where we were close. Then he bowed his head to mine.

Kaelan kissed me like he needed me, his lips pressing mine urgently, his muscular body forming around mine as if he couldn’t get close enough. His lips were hard, demanding; there was a bite to his kiss. And I loved it. I kissed him back just as hard, feeling the press of his body against mine, the push and pull between us.

I was breathless when I pulled away. I couldn’t catch my breath before Thorne pulled me into a goodbye hug that was so warm and enveloping and safe that I felt as if his protection would last me for the rest of my life.

He was so much bigger than me that it was hard for me to reach his mouth, so he picked me up, and I locked my legs around his waist as the two of us traded long, desperate kisses.

When he set me down on my feet, he gave me a smile. “Keep Dare out of trouble.”

Kaelan scoffed. “The two of you staying out of trouble seems hopeless.”

I didn’t want them to go. I didn’t want to leave them.

“Go take a kingdom for us, would you?” I winked at them and turned, heading through the forest.

But I turned to look over my shoulder. “And most of all, be safe.”

“You’re always the one I worry about,” Kaelan said dryly, crossing his arms over his chest and not moving.

The sound of my footsteps over snow seemed loud as I left my men behind.

And as I walked toward the man who was supposed to be with us, always.

If I could show him that truth.