Page 16 of Winter's Scorching Kisses
His eyes took in all the greenery growing around him. Vines with an assortment of colors grew around pillars used to support the ceiling. His heart wasn’t frozen enough for him not to be able to appreciate the garden flourishing around him. It had seemed to bring not only their human queen immense pleasure but many of their people who lived in the castle some sense of new cheer.
“Mathar, there you are!” Jasmine’s voice broke through his thoughts as she wiggled her fingers at him from where she sat on a stone bench. “I thought you might not show.” She teased knowing full well he wouldn’t ignore a summons.
Mathar strode over to her. “I wouldn’t refuse you or my king an audience.” He bowed his head slightly.
As he rounded a small leafy bush, Dryden came into view, sitting across from Jasmine with a book in his hands. His king must have been reading Jasmine some poetry from their best poets. She was trying to learn their language, but she was struggling along.
It didn’t surprise him all that much. She was decent, for a human, but despite her best efforts, he had a sneaking suspicion humans just couldn’t make the same noises as giants could. Maybe she’d prove him wrong, but so far she had yet to do that.
“We have something to ask of you, my friend.” Dryden drew his attention again.
Mathar leaned a shoulder up against a sapling’s trunk as he eyed the two people in front of him. “Why do I get the feeling I won’t like the request?”
Dryden laughed lightly before his face fell into a mask of seriousness. His black eyes pinned Mathar to the spot. “We would like you to bring Jasmine’s sister here.”
Mathar blinked dumbly before he chuckled. When Dryden didn’t crack a smile, he realized his king was serious. “Here?”
“Yes.” Dryden leaned back in his seat as he stretched an arm across the back. “Jasmine would like to have her sister here for our marriage ceremony.”
He shook his head as he glanced over at Jasmine, who had hope glistening in her hazel eyes. She wanted him to say yes.
“I couldn’t possibly get married without my sister.” She explained. “She most likely thinks I’m dead, but I know she’d rather be here among ice giants with me, then down there without anyone to call family.”
“Are you so sure about that?” He couldn’t help himself. He shouldn’t question his queen, but it was out before he could check himself. He couldn’t see any human being happy among giants… Jasmine was a rare exception… very rare.
Dryden scowled at him his onyx eyes darkening at the questioning of their judgment. “Of course, she’s sure.”
“If I refuse?” Mathar couldn’t resist asking. He needed to stop thinking of Dryden as a friend. They were friends when they were children. But now, Dryden was his king, while he was just a soldier, a killer.
Silence reigned over the atrium as Jasmine and Mathar both stared at Dryden waiting for a response.
“Then I would have to find another way of getting her sister here,” Dryden confessed with a sigh as he placed the closed book next to him on the seat. “We both know I wouldn’t force you to do something you didn’t want especially when it would be this dangerous. There’s always the possibility the humans would capture you.”
Now it was Mathar’s turn to scowl. “The humans would have a hard time capturing me.” He pushed away from the sapling and folded his arms in front of his chest, disappointed Dryden didn’t have more faith in his ability to blend into the shadows.
“This I know. And it’s the exact reason I asked you to do this for us. Though dangerous, I know you will be the best person for the job.”
So Dryden had been baiting him. His eyes narrowed on his king.
“Why not take Jasmine down there to convince her sister to come here?” Mathar reasoned. “She would be the better choice. Her sister would trust her, but me,” he held up a hand to his chest, “I will just be an ice giant kidnapping her.” And the very same ice giant who’d killed her husband.
Jasmine rubbed a hand over her protruding stomach.
“She’s in no condition to ride all the way there.” Dryden eyed his wife a smile playing on his lips.
She was barely in any condition to walk. Mathar was concerned her stomach might eat her alive with how large it was. She had to be having twins, or the impossible triplets.
He shook his head, tearing his eyes off of Jasmine and her bulging stomach.
“Mathar, it would mean so much to me to have my sister here, and I know she’d want to see me alive and happy.” Tears glistened in her hazel eyes as she spoke about her sister. “As Dryden said before, we would never force you. We just figured you would be our best bet at getting Adorra up here without a catastrophe happening.”
He bit the inside of his cheek. He wished Dryden would order him to do it instead of giving him the choice. Going back down there and teasing fate wasn’t exactly what he wanted to do, but he was the best at what he did. He was like a shadow, and he enjoyed being a shadow.
They watched him with expectant eyes, and he relented. “I will bring her here.” Kicking and screaming, because he knew exactly how Jasmine’s sister would react to him kidnapping her. If she had spirit like Jasmine, he would have to be careful with her.
“My sister won’t agree to come with you willingly, but I’m sure if you make mention of me she will.” Jasmine smiled hopefully. “I’m positive she wouldn’t be able to resist finding me. We were as close as sisters could get.”
He doubted it. No human woman would look at him and come willingly, even if he had a tempting secret. His body had plenty of scars from a family life that wasn’t spoken about. His father had left permanent marks on him that still had him cringing every time he saw himself in a mirror. His face was free from any scarring, but right under his clothes, he was a mass of scar tissue.
