Fire and Ice by Michele Barrow-Belisle Page B

“…Safe from what? Where are we?”
    Before he could answer, the woman shooed him away with a terse glare.
    â€œNo, wait.” I wrestled with the blankets entangling my legs. A gentle hand held me down, while a sharp sting bit into my arm and I watched in horror, unable to move as the strangely beautiful alien woman depressed a syringe, injecting me with some sort of green liquid. “Just relax… Prince Adrius will not be pleased to see you upset, my lady.” She studied my face closely; her faint smile tinged with sadness. Again, I slipped into darkness.
    But this time I wasn’t alone. The flutter of wings rustled faintly, my heart quickened and my flesh prickled. A voice whispered on the wind, “Do you want to see me again?”
    The overbearing scent of herbs spread abruptly as I stood motionless in the middle of this strange room, dressed in nothing more than a gauzy, moon-colored nightgown.
    A voice in my head whispered, Yes .
    Then he appeared. The temperature fell as he approached me with a feral grin, his eyes glinting like silver bullets in the darkness. I shuddered. He circled slowly, a cat stalking his prey. He moved in closer, taking a deep breath inhaling my scent. He continued to circle me and I spun around to keep him in sight… partially out of fear, partially because his eyes were mesmerizing.
    My blood froze in fear of what came after his game of cat and mouse. The corners of his lips curled into a thin smile and I waited, ignoring the sinking sensation in my stomach. Hands clenched at my sides, my breathing rapid and shallow. He took another step closer without seeming to notice. A part of me wanted his touch. After all, I’d called to him somehow… hadn’t I? But this overwhelming urge to get closer to him terrified me. Staring into depthless mercury eyes, half in anticipation, half in dread, I watched a pale hand reach out and lift a lock of my hair. He sniffed it, the chill of his breath raising hairs on my nape, and let it fall. There was a voice, like a phantom melody, his words like frost against my skin.
    â€œI knew you would come to me, my Ilyandra. Now we can be together. …Forever.”
    It was so familiar. Could it be happening again? His long icy fingers wrapped around my throat. I woke up to the sound of my own screams.

Chapter Seven
    I stared up at Adrius blankly. Not sure what was real anymore. He perched next to me on a bed carved from a massive tree, layered with lemon and sage colored blankets which felt like cashmere against my bare legs.
    â€œI get how difficult this must be for you. But you have to admit, deep down some of it must feel like truth.”
    â€œYeah… There is no depth deep enough for this.” My hands swept the air. “To seem real. Ever.”
    I looked at him. I really looked at him. I’d never dreamed he was anything other than human. Or that anything other than human was even a possibility, in spite of my Faerie encounter. He was too perfect to be human. No teenage boy could have his impossibly sculpted features… depthless eyes… his incredible speed. Was this the same guy who merely a day before had been a constant distraction in art class? Even now I could picture him, in dark jeans, black trench coat open, hinting at taut muscles behind the damp cling of his white shirt. The drizzle had darkened his hair to midnight and a few stray wet locks hung over his eyes. Rain-soaked in the middle of a forest, he was still a vision.
    Seated beside me was another version of Adrius altogether. Dressed in woodland hues, a sleeveless bronze tunic overlaid a billowy-sleeved laced shirt and olive suede-like pants, laced with thin cord. His dark hair almost touched his shoulders, baring the same slender ears as the nurse, tapering to a thin distinctive point. How had I missed them before? His eyes hadn’t changed; they were as captivating as I remembered, reaching into my heart and uncomfortably