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BESSA

Ambrose’s shop was as warm as it always was. It smelled of spices and smoke and so tangibly him . I couldn’t believe he had kept something as similar and earth-shattering as a snow fox familiar from me. What did it mean? What was he? Were his candles more than a placebo? Were they really… magic? The rumors swirled around faster than any winter blizzard we’d had before, the sightings piling up like a snow bank and ready to avalanche against my kingdom. If magic came back only in Frostvale… I shivered. I hardly wanted to imagine what the seven kingdoms would do. I would be forced not only to pick a suitor, but the strongest suitor, immediately.

I took one moment to close my eyes and let the warmth of the candle shop envelop me like a worn glove, perfectly molded to my hand and fingers. The smell of damask rose buds nearly threatened to bring me to tears. It was my very favorite scent, and it was everywhere in his candle shop and his garden grove. It was in my special candles. It was for me. But Ambrose wasn’t. He’d lied. If he thought I would shrink and hide away in my castle after he said, We can’t , then he didn’t know me at all.

Now that I’d had a moment away from the intensity of the fire and the fear and longing and emotional punches of the day, one thing was dawning quite clear: Ambrose had much more access to magic and understanding than he ever let on. No doubt it was his snow fox the day at the frost fair with Rontu and then ice skating. The magical creature had come to his aid again at the castle and I was just so happy to have saved us and wrapped up in the wonder of our night together that I hadn’t stopped to question the implications.

That snow fox meant he lied to me. I tried to think back if there were any overt lies, but even one omission was more than enough to banish him from Frostvale and from me.

Ambrose opened the door from his back workshop, clearly having heard someone enter. While his step faltered slightly at the sight of me, it was clear from his face that he was expecting me on some level. He bowed his head. “Your majesty.”

My anger pricked at his words. We were back to ‘majesty’ and ‘decorum’ and everything else proper? Steeling my shoulders, I marched right up to him stopping just inches away, my head still only coming up to just beneath his chin, but letting all of my ferocity flare in the sharp angles of my arms on my hips. “Are you like me after all?”

His answer was swift, but not comprehensive. “No. I do not use Qanuk to channel ice magic or any other type of magic.”

There was a slight tremor in my hand that I wished to hide. I was the queen and not without powers. This man–or whatever he was–would not make me cower. I was not without my own powers. Eska hadn’t growled or nipped at him or done anything to show discomfort or unease. Now, she jumped down and bumped at him with her nose, although it honestly could have been for a piece of dried trout or a luxurious pet along her back. Ambrose immediately obliged both, even curling his fingers under her chin while she let out a shiver, her whole body shivering in pleasure at his touch. A sentiment I recently shared.

“Ambrose,” I said, choosing to use his full name and remind him of our closeness. I had let him put his fingers inside of me! And his tongue! “What are you? No more lies either, because if I had not come here today, asking questions, proving I’d seen your snow fox, you would still be lying to me. You would have still tried to keep whatever your secret is from me.”

He winced at the truth in my words and it took a lot to reign in my growing fury. So he would have continued lying if he could. He simply got caught.

“Will you allow me to show you something?” he asked. “Bessa, please.”

My head snapped to his. It was one thing for me to use his name, but for him? And the way he’d said please as if my answer might shatter his heart.

“You presume too much.”

Ambrose’s face fell and he said, “I’m sorry. I am sorry. Please, let me show you what I've kept hidden.”

“Bring it out,” I said, staying strong and revealing nothing. “As you once told me yourself, the truth gets out. The truth always gets out. This is your moment of truth, Chandler.”

Ambrose blinked, his eyes owlish and deeply green, a mossy rock under clear waters. “It’s not in here, but in the woods. Near the thermal vent you found that day with Eska.”

The candle shop was silent. I honestly didn’t know what to say. Did he expect me to suddenly trust him and go along with him? I could take care of myself, but not against the unknown and whether I liked it or not, Ambrose was the definition of unknown.

I opened my mouth, intending to tell him just that when Ambrose beat me to it. “If you want me to give you instructions on how to get there, I promise to stay here and tell you how to break the wards without tripping some mental alarm that would bring me. In fact, I’ll go find Wyot and let him clap me in irons and throw me in the cold dungeon so you’ll feel safe. But I will want you to come straight back and let me explain after you’ve seen it.”

Eska yipped once and did something I’d never seen her do. Not even with my parents or siblings. She jumped on his leg and raced up his clothing, settling around his neck for one moment before leaping back across to me. “Eska!” I gasped, throwing open my arms to catch the red fox. She put her warm, wet nose against mine before curling into her customary spot around my neck.

“If I may continue to be so bold, I think your fire fox is not too afraid to see the truth.”

“A mussel in a river doesn’t fear a flood,” I snapped. “And queens don’t fear their land. Lead the way, Chandler. I’ll be watching very carefully.”

“I have no doubt,” he said, putting a few candles in his bag and slinging it across his body. We exited town quickly and quietly, no suitors to interrupt our progress. As we wound up the frozen pathway, snow melting in clumps behind me to mark our progress, the sun had only just begun to set, its golden glow illuminating the very best of Frostvale. It felt different walking through the woods this time. Like each step had a heartbeat. The river sparkled deep blue in an undulating curve around the banks of three villages, my castle on the opposite hilltop. Even from miles away, from this vantage point, I could see people wandered in and out, making it their home. The dwellings packed in ice along the frozen river bank looked like pearls, almost as if some ice god had crafted them.

“Look, your majesty.” Ambrose turned me around to face southward. There was some sort of shield, some energy beyond his pointing finger, deep in the primeval forest. He spoke the same words he had when he’d shown me his flowers weeks ago, except the boundaries he walked encompassed much more than a few feet. Much, much more. Primus. Secundus. Tertius. Quartus. Nox.

“I don’t see anything,” I said, my voice hushed. It felt sacred here, as if the old gods and the new might hear and they should never know of us.

“Look harder, your majesty.”

“My eyes are wide open, thank you, Chandler,” I said with a bit of huff until he drew me closer.

Any tremors of anger evaporated the moment I understood what it was Ambrose so persistently insisted I try harder to uncover. My heart pounded into my chest. I could not physically believe what I was seeing. This… this was magic. He was magic.