Page 84 of Winter's Scorching Kisses
“Stuffing your face in a book and ignoring the people we had around us is considered rude.” Adorra set her sister straight. “Challenging an ice giant is not the same thing.”
Jasmine huffed as she scowled at Adorra. She wasn’t going to let her little sister make her feel bad about hoping for Dryden’s sudden demise. Without him around, she might finally convince Jasmine to leave this castle and these people behind.
The servant rushed back a thick cloak draped over her arms, “Here you are, Your Majesty.” The servant offered the cloak to Jasmine, and Adorra had to hide her surprise at the title. It was strange to think her younger sister would be a queen.
“Thank you!” Jasmine accepted the cloak and presented it to Adorra. “This should keep you warm enough while we watch the games. But don’t worry too much about the cold, because there will be all sorts of warm treats to heat you up as we watch.” Jasmine smiled. “I suppose that’s the great part about being the queen of the ice giants.”
“To think my sister would be a queen someday. All I remember was a bookish girl who would rather be holed up in some dark corner with a candlestick while you read a book you just can’t get enough of, but here you are about to be queen.” Adorra shook her head.
“I know.” Jasmine smiled dreamily.
“Imagine all the ice giants who will look to you for guidance and assistance.” Adorra couldn’t help herself.
The smile slowly faded off of Jasmine’s face. “What do you mean?”
“They will turn to you for guidance.” Adorra smiled at her sister. “It might be with the wrong people, but it’s nice to see you changing.”
Dryden must have been listening in because he leaned over and glared at Adorra. “Don’t you go scaring my Jasmine away from me. She may be queen, but I will oversee the people unless Jasmine wants to be involved. There will be plenty of time for her to stick her nose in a book like you say.”
Jasmine sighed in relief. “I would be happy to participate in any activities I must and oversee the ice giant people. Just as long as I have plenty of time for books, and you to back me up of course.” She sent a smile over her shoulder to Dryden.
Adorra sighed. No matter how hard she tried, she was failing to convince her sister to leave this castle and these people long behind. It didn’t help that Dryden wasn’t a monster, and he was always nearby to quell any of Jasmine’s fears of becoming queen.
“Have you had enough to eat?” Jasmine turned back to her, her spirits rebounding with little effort.
“I have.” Adorra watched as ice giants began to file out of the great hall the noise going with them.
“Good, because it’s time for us to head out before the games start.” Jasmine bolted to her feet, a grin plastered on her face. “I never thought I’d convince you to come to the games.”
Adorra was surprised as well.
What she should do was not go, but if she wanted any chance of swaying her sister’s opinion of these people then she needed to stick around. And she wasn’t about to admit to any feelings of excitement or interest in the games.
“I’ll see you out there. I’ll be the dashing one, of course.” Dryden planted a kiss on Jasmine’s lips before heading off.
“Isn’t he just the cutest?” Jasmine placed a hand to her heart.
Adorra raised an eyebrow. “Cutest?” She shook her head. “I don’t think Dryden falls into the cute category, more like the ruggedly handsome or infinitely scary category.”
“Nonsense,” Jasmine argued. “He is nothing but the absolute sweetest. You’ll see in time.”
Adorra shook her head. Only her sister could look at the fierce silver-haired, onyx eyed ice giant and think he was the ‘absolute sweetest’, because any other human woman would take one look and run the other way.
“Let’s get going.” Adorra stood up from her seat and wrapped the cloak around her, and threw the fur lined hood up over her head. “I agreed to go, and I have no wish to be late.” Because she was curious what kind of events they would have at these games. It was something exciting because she was running out of things to do here.
Jasmine grabbed her own cloak and rushed to throw it on. “Are you ready?”
“I am.”
“Then follow me.” Jasmine rushed to guide her through the great hall and the mass of ice giants who were also trying to get where they needed to get to so they could see the games.
They shoved their way through the crowd until they exited the castle and entered the courtyard. The cold mountain air wrapped around them, and Adorra tightened the cloak around her.
“Here, you’ll want these.” Jasmine motioned to some fur boots not far away. “And these.” Jasmine bent down, picked up some thick socks and passed them over to Adorra. “These will keep our feet toasty warm as we watch the games.”
Adorra took the socks, shed her slippers and slipped the cold socks on. “Couldn’t these have been kept inside the warm castle?”
“I was in a rush this morning. I couldn’t oversee all the servants.” Jasmine smiled over at her. “They’ll warm up quickly enough.”
