I had a really hard time cutting this off. I think I like this idea, though, hope you do too. (:
ONCE UPON A TWILIGHT CONTEST
Title: The Patterns of Ice
Author: gangstapenguinduck lover
Rating: T
POV: Bella
Word Count: 5, 902
Summary: Bella can See faeries. She's hated them her whole life. But when one takes an interest in her, she finds that she can't fight the feelings he stirs in her. Not every faerie tale has a happy ending.
This story is being submitted as an entry for the Once Upon a Twilight Contest, hosted by wishimight and staceygirl aka jackbauer. For complete contest details, to read the rest of the contest submissions, or if you are interested in entering, please visit the contest community at:
http://www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/community/Once_Upon_a_Twilight/72145/
Entries accepted until 8/20/09
Voting begins 8/22/09
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire,
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if I had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
-Robert Frost
"Okay, lift it up just a bit on the right side—" I said, tilting my head as if I could make the banner move by doing so. Angela raised it higher, teetering on the ladder that Ben was holding beneath her.
"Perfect."
Sighing in relief, she finally taped it down and climbed back to ground level where Ben was smiling at her shyly in encouragement. I rolled my eyes; those two had a thing going for the other one for almost two months now and they still weren't dating. Sometimes I was glad that none of the boys here interested me.
"Hey, Bella, do you want to come by the Dot and hit a few balls around after school?" Mike asked, helping a fussing Jessica remove balloons from the ceiling and tie them to the banister. "It'll be fun; Eric and Tyler are bringing some guys from the Reservation over."
The Reservation was a tiny Indian reserve a good few miles away from our big city of Seattle, but occasional the locals would come up for some fun. They were always utterly pale and looking deathly sick, so when Jacob, a guy who lived on the reserve, showed up, it was a real surprise.
"Um, yeah, sure, why not?"
We were setting up for the winter dance, and much to my annoyance, Angela signed us both up for the decoration committee. That meant that I had to spend an hour every day until the dance putting up silly little snowflakes and hanging banners. I glared at my best friend just thinking it.
It took another fifteen minutes to clean our mess up, but then we were walking through the chilly snow that had fallen only minutes ago, Ben saying something that had Ange in hysterics. Wrapping my coat tighter around me, I glanced back at the traffic light, wishing that it would turn red so that we could get inside the Dot already. My fingers would fall off soon if we didn't get there.
But then I felt it: the strange shift in temperature and the crackling energy that charged the air and made all of the hairs on my arm stand on end. Glancing sideways, trying to be inconspicuous, I spotted him.
He was standing next to a streetlight, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and a pair of recently pressed dress pants. Arms folded across his chest, the muscles stood out in the shifting lights from passing cars and small town business opening up. With hair the color of a penny and a jaw that stood out among softer features, he was the personification of everything I hated.
Everything faerie.
"Bella, come on! You're going to get run over!"
I hadn't even realized that the light had tuned and the crosswalk was now available. Slowly, the guy turned to look at me, the most intense green eyes piercing right through my skin. It was against all the rules that I had ever obeyed, but I glared at him briefly, watching the bewildered expression cross his face. I could almost hear him thinking, You can See me?
Jogging across the walk and managing not to get killed or trip on the way, I shook, realizing how dangerous what I had just done was. Faeries were not to be messed with, and they were not to know that I could see them. It was bad enough that they were a part of my life; they didn't need to know that I was a part of theirs, too.
We rushed inside, the warm air hitting us in welcome and my shoulders slumped in response. Relaxing, I hung my coat and stepped over to the pool tables where Mike and Eric were already going at it, twenty bucks on a seat beside them.
"Who's winning?" I asked, attempting to get my mind off of the otherworldly.
Mike said nothing, pressing his lips into a firm line as Eric boasted, "I am."
"Not for long," Mike muttered, lining up his cue.
Laughing, I took my seat next to Ange as we watched them play, chatting occasionally when something came to mind. But the whole time, I was so preoccupied with the bronze haired faerie that I'd seen and why he had shaken me so. Maybe because he looked at me; really looked at me.
Suddenly, a pair of strong arms wrapped around my shoulders, and I leaned into the hug, smiling up at Jacob. "Jake! It's been a long time."
"Too long, Bells," he chuckled in that deep throaty way of his. "Did you miss me?"
I wacked his chest, turning in my chair. "Of course I missed you! What have you been up to?"
Tyler came shuffling in, then, behind a pair of reservation guys, looking like Indian warriors from the past. But that wasn't what caught my attention: there, lurking beside Tyler, was the faerie.
He stared at me and I looked away quickly, nodding my head at Jake as he continued to talk about his summer tuning the Rabbit, his beat-up car.
"What about you?"
"Me? Nothing out of the norm; same old, same old." I smiled, hoping that was enough for him.
He shrugged, thankfully, and turned to talk to some guy named Embry, shuffling over to another pool table for a round. My concentration, however, was riveted on the faerie stalking toward me, leaning casually on the book shelf beside me and moving ever closer inside my personal space. I didn't look at him, knowing that would give him the opportunity to say something to me. Talking to faeries was strictly forbidden.
"Hey, Bella! It's your turn," Eric called, beckoning me over with a wave.
"No way, Eric, I can't win against—" I choked off, my heart going into palpitations as the faerie stood in front of me, playing with my hair. He smiled, as if he knew that he was distracting me and in the way, making me look like a lunatic as I tried to see around him. "I can't win against you." It sounded like I had just run a marathon.
"You okay?" Angela asked, concern knitting her brows together.
"Yeah, fine." The faerie wasn't leaving me alone. Actually, he was becoming even more of a nuisance, walking around my stool and running his fingers along my skin. Tensing, I remained perfectly still, not acknowledging his ministrations.
Faeries were supposed to be fictional creatures; they weren't. When I was five and asked my mom Renee why there was a man with wings touching the lady across the street, she looked at me as if I had grown my own pair and told me to stop making things up. It wasn't until later, after she had died, that I learned she could see them too.
We weren't supposed to see them; but then again, things weren't supposed to be a lot of things. Renee had passed down her Sight without knowing it, cursing me forever with having to deal with them. My father, Charlie, helped me through it the best he could, and eventually gave me a few set of rules to follow:
Don't speak to faeries.
Don't look at faeries.
Don't touch the faeries.
Don't ever, under any circumstances, let them know I can See them.
He made me recite them each night; while outside my window, I was sure a few of them were watching, unable to pass through our walls.
The air around him, made of energy and magyk, swirled playfully, ice tendrils reaching out to my skin and creating delicate patterns in my hair. My breath came out in chilly clouds.
He chuckled, standing in front of me again. I stared forward; right at his stomach, pretending that for not one moment could I See him. "Silly, fragile human. I knew you couldn't See me."
The man stepped forward, lowering his eyes to mine, making it that much harder to focus. His lips pressed firmly together, jaw tensing and I feared I'd done something to notify him that I knew.
Without warning, he reached a hand toward my face and touched my skin.
I jumped up quickly, surprising Angela and Ben, who had been talking quietly among themselves.
"Bella?"
My legs were carrying me toward the door, reaching for my coat and slipping it on. "I-I forgot that Charlie wanted me home early. Sorry, Ange, I've got to go."
By the time I was outside, Mike had barely gotten out a good-bye. I shuffled forward, head down, eyes on my feet when I heard someone running after me, calling my name. Turning, I found Jacob without a coat, panting as he caught up to me.
"Man, you sure are fast," he joked, stopping before me, "Why'd you have to go so soon? You didn't leave because of me, did you?" He was smiling, but I could see that he was partly afraid that I had.
"No, of course not. Charlie just needed me home early; I had no idea that you were coming, otherwise I would have asked for more time." Smiling back at him, I tried not to notice that faerie guy had followed him out. "Really. You should give me a call next time you're in the city, and we'll hang out. Okay?"
He nodded, embracing me quickly before backing away slowly. "Okay, Bella. Take it easy, you hear?"
I laughed because I knew that was what he wanted and started the long trek home.
--
Charlie was already there when I stepped into the living room, beer in hand and eyes trained on the TV. Slamming the door in another faerie's face, I grappled for an excuse as to why I was out late.
"Hey, dad," I mumbled. He looked up in surprise.
"Oh, hey kiddo. What got you out so late?" He smiled, something I hadn't really expected.
"Oh, um... Angela and I went down to the Dot to play pool for a bit."
"Sounds fun." He was already lost to the baseball game.
"'Night, dad."
"Goodnight, sweetheart."
The stairs were creaky as I climbed them, glad that my stalker faerie was gone. If I was being honest with myself, even though I hated everything he was, he was actually pretty good looking… handsome, almost.
Shaking my head for thinking it, I shut the door to my room and took off my coat and jacket. Next, I stripped my shirt and reached for a ratty tank top when I felt like I was being watched. Pulling the shirt over my head, I changed into sweatpants thinking it was nothing.
Turning off my light, I climbed into bed, snuggling into the sheets and remembering the faerie from the Dot. Curious, as all faerie's were, but he seemed different, somehow. More important, if that was possible; I didn't exactly know how faerie politics worked.
While I tried to go to sleep, I brought his face to the forefront of my mind: watching the way his eyebrows lifted and hovered over his dark eyes, nose straight and perfect, along with every other feature. His perfect jaw supported stubble, leading up to that odd hair that stuck up at though he ran his hands through it often. He was paler than any faerie I had ever seen… but that was to be expected during the winter.
Faeries changed with the seasons. During the spring they were floral, the scent of rain and a lingering chill about them. Summer brought the best out of most; their skin glowed with an inner light, and whenever one was near, the warmth built so much from inside them that it singed my skin and hair. Fall was always my favorite: the delicious smell of crisp apples and the light breeze that flowed around their autumn colored skin. Winter was the worst; being so cold left marks, like frostbite with a single touch. It wasn't just a chill that accompanied them like the spring; it was an icy blast that left me breathless.
But other people can't See faeries unless the faerie wants them to. They can morph into whatever they like if you believe that you're Seeing them. This is why they are dangerous, seductive creatures that are selfish beyond anything I could have ever imagined. And this is also why I tend to stay away from them.
It's not a privilege, this Sight. It's not a gift, nor does it make anything better. My Seeing faeries has only managed to do two things: get me in trouble, and get Renee killed.
--
Saturday morning came and I woke up groggily, knowing that Charlie would be out with Harry Clearwater. Saturdays were fishing days down at the creek behind the city forest.
My intentions for that day were to get groceries; Charlie never shopped much, and I took it as my job to help keep him alive and fed by doing so. Gabbing the list and my bag, I walked outside with the car keys in my hand, only to be met by three faeries, all watching me curiously as if they were waiting for me to come out.
Tensing, I realized that was exactly what they had been doing; faeries, like vampire myths say, cannot cross a threshold unless you invite them to. They also can't use their Magyk on humans without provocation, but they do anyways. It's all good fun to them.
They were whispering and keeping up easily with my pace as I trudged away, wondering if I should just walk instead; it would be better than being stuck in a car with them. For a minute, I listening and after a while, I figured out they were talking about… well, me. Weird.
"She's the one everyone's been freaking out about?" the smallest one said, her colorful hair dancing along her shoulders, which sparkled with the ghost of Magyk.
"Guess so. The King left specific instructions not to touch her." The tallest, a lithe girl skipped in front of me. I took no notice as she reached out and tapped my shoulder, expecting me to look behind me and be scared.
She frowned. "What's so special about her, anyway? Mortals can't See us."
"That's what I've been told; but I hear that there are some who can."
"That's blasphemy!" the third gasped.
All three of them watched me now and I could feel the itch under my flesh from the staring. The icy cold of their bodies made me shiver, and the tallest narrowed her eyes. It was against faerie law or something to use Magyk on a moral without a reason to; I'd learned this from listening close enough to certain faeries. So when the tall one lifted her hand and smiled at me, I knew something bad was going to happen.
"Tanya! What are you doing? You can't use Magyk on her!"
"She's a threat to our kingdom. I can use Magyk on her if I will it, Kate."
Kate frowned but said nothing else and I walked faster, pushing myself into the crowd. The Tanya woman, er, faerie, was beautiful. There was no reason for me to be a threat to any of their stupid kingdoms, and she should realize that. I wanted to tell her all of this, but to do so would mean letting her know I could See them.
Faeries, by nature, were devious beings. Always getting into mischief and trouble wherever they could find it. The women, as well, were worse: they hovered over men, seducing them and finding ways to bring them ever away from the moral world. Not only that, but they prided themselves on Magyk and Beauty, things bestowed upon them from birth. Any being that compromised these beliefs would be killed.
Tanya stepped up beside me, her faerie wings marking her as a pixie of sorts, unimportant but always doing things on a whim. Most female faeries were giddy, brainless sorts; this bunch didn't look like that.
Her hand moved the air around her, collecting her Magyk as I hastened to get away from her. They drew their power from the energy around them; in a crowd, that was easy to do, even for a faerie with less power than others.
I was crossing the street; the light turned green and I jogged to get to the other side… that's when it happened. Screeching tires sounded and screams ran up and down both sides of the walk as I turned and watched a van come careening toward me. Closing my eyes, rooted to the spot, I just hoped that the pain would be too much before I died.
My skin tingled and I felt weightless, but I knew I wasn't dead yet. The crunch of metal was loud in my ears, ringing, as someone's touch came into focus. Opening my eyes, I saw the hair and his arms and knew who it was instinctively.
He bore down on me, picking me up in his arms as I struggled to get away from him. He grunted in concentration, pulling me over to the sidewalk.
"Stop moving," he muttered, setting me down as I backed away from him.
I registered what had happened for a moment: the van was lying on its side in the middle of the street, blocking the intersection. Glass lay everywhere and people were pushed up against the walls, getting away from the wreckage. Everyone was watching me and the man, the three faeries staring dumbfounded across the way.
The faerie-man turned to me, those green eyes piercing me again. "Are you alright, Miss?"
Yes, I thought, though I didn't say it. I wasn't going to speak to him, even if he was pretending to be human. Even if he was pretending to be concerned about my well being. Why had he saved me? What could have motivated him to do that?
"I think she's in shock," someone said, police cars pulling up beside us as the faerie reached out to my arm. I pulled away and his brow furrowed in confusion.
"Let me by, ma'am, excuse me." A police officer came to the front of the crowd, headed straight for us. Reaching his destination, he pulled both of us aside and began his assessment.
"What happened here?"
My first instinct was to run; the second was to tell him all about the man who 'saved' me and have them lock him up forever. But if he disappeared in his cell, that'd be pretty hard to explain to the judge.
"Sir, a van lost control and almost smashed into this young lady," faerie smiled at me, "I just pulled her out of the way."
Police guy nodded, as if he had done a good deed and clapped him on the shoulder. As if I wasn't bewildered enough, the guy brought over the medical team, making me sit in a stretcher and have any cuts checked and make sure that I was still breathing.
Faerie watched me the whole time.
"What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?" he finally said. I wanted to tell him that yes, I did mind, and no, I wasn't going to tell him, but there were people around, people who saw him as my savior. That plan was vetoed.
"Bella."
He grinned. "That's a beautiful name, Bella. I'm Edward."
I ignored him and his crooked smile as the medical team spoke to me. "Seems you were right lucky, Miss. Edward here saved your life."
Edward smirked at me as if he knew that I was less than happy with him. Ugh.
"You're quite right," I retorted, not looking either of them in the eye.
--
Afterwards, word of the incident seemed to reach every local news reporter in the city. Everyone wanted to know what had happened and kept trying to get Edward and I to talk to them. It was impossible to get though the crowd, but with an escort we managed.
Even when we were clear, Edward wouldn't go away.
"What do you want?" I asked, turning to look him full in the face. It really should be a crime to look that gorgeous, but that wasn't something I was going to say to him.
He frowned. "Bella, I just saved your life, and you never even thanked me. It seems kind of rude to just shrug me off."
He was right and I hated that. I knew I was being a jerk and probably would have been beaten if my mother saw me act that way, but he was a faerie! I'm not even supposed to talk to them, and now one had saved my life. Great.
"Why don't I take you out to lunch?" he suggested, making a gesture so as to allow me to choose where we were going. I tried not to narrow my eyes at him.
"Fine."
He smiled as if I had just done him a huge favor. He really needed to stop smiling; it was making me dizzy.
We nestled into a small restaurant around the corner; it was lightly lit, but dark enough to exude an air of privacy and relaxation. Our waitress stared at Edward for a moment, looking thoroughly frazzled, then stuttered through our order.
Edward, always the classy one, ignored the other faeries lingering and pointing at us, whispering in hushed voices as he folded his hands under his chin. Those eyes sparkled as he watched me.
Leaning back into the seat, I realized that it was time to give up. "I know what you are."
Surprise and anger flashed across his face briefly, but then he settled back into a nonchalant expression. "And what would that be, exactly?" His eyes dared me to tell him the truth.
I bit my lip, unsure of how cautious I should be while approaching this. The waitress came by and dropped off our drinks at that moment. He didn't take his eyes off of me.
"What can I get you?" she asked Edward.
He motioned to me. "Um," I glanced at the menu, "the mushroom ravioli, please."
"I'll have the Cesar Salad."
She scurried away after attempting to pry anything else out of the being before me. He studied me, his eyes appraising and always curious. Residual Magyk fluttered about him.
He cocked his head to the side. "You saw me that night, didn't you?"
So much for false pretenses.
I nodded. "Yes."
He nodded too, as though that made any sense to him, and raked a hand through his hair. "But you wouldn't acknowledge me, let alone speak to me." His stare intensified, watching me the way a hunter watches his prey.
Shifting in my seat, I shrugged. "You're dangerous."
Quicker than my eyes could catch, he leaned forward over the table, hands clasped together tightly. Right then, for the first time, I was truly afraid of him. Sure, I tell myself that they're dangerous, even though they've never actually done anything to harm me (up until that afternoon), but I've never actually been that terrified.
My heart thumped in my chest as his lips parted. "That I am. So why, then, do you sit here with me?"
I didn't answer, instead asking a question of my own. "Why is your girlfriend glaring at me?"
He glanced at the faerie sitting on top of the table next to us, swinging her pretty little legs back and forth as she watched me, her mouth set in a firm line. With one look from Edward, she departed, disappearing from view.
"Sorry about that," he chuckled. I shivered, the vibration running down my spine, but said nothing.
He sighed, looking agitated while debating something, pursing his lips in thought. Our food arrived, but I couldn't manage to choke down any more than a few bites. I was dining with a faerie; there had to be some rule against that.
Although I hated to admit it to myself, he was mesmerizing. Every motion of his body was fluid, attracting my concentration like we were two magnets pulled together by gravity. My body thrummed in his presence, and I hated it.
Edward looked up when he noticed I wasn't eating. I wanted answers, and the only way to get them was through him; there was a feeling in my gut that after today, nothing would be the same.
"Are you done?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Good."
He paid, leaving a wad of cash on the table, then led me out of the restaurant, nighttime falling quickly upon the city. His hand on my back made me shiver, the cold seeping out of his fingertips, leaving a pleasurable ache.
Not many people were out tonight; it was only a few weeks before Christmas, and most had left the city to be with their families. Edward walked beside me, hands in his pockets and looking like he belonged out here in the winter wonderland.
"What do you know about me?"
"What?" I was startled.
"What do you know about me? About my kind?" He stopped in front of an alley leading to another street bank.
Under his gaze, I shifted my feet, blushing in the cold. "I know enough. What I want to know is why faeries have been stalking me since I met you."
That seemed to surprise him, but then his jaw tightened and he cursed under his breath. He looked back at me, his gaze soft, and I wondered for a moment why I hated him.
"I'm sorry, Bella. The truth is, I'm kind of important in my world," he said sheepishly, rubbing his neck as we continued walking to my house. I had no doubt that he knew where it was by now.
"Oh?" Great. Not only was I speaking to a faerie, I was interacting with an important one.
"Bella, look." He stopped in front of my walkway, pleading with his eyes. "I don't do this. I don't go up to mortal women and take them to lunch. But you—"—he shook his head—"you're different. I can't stay away from you," he murmured, stepping closer.
I swallowed. "Edward, you're a faerie." It was my only defense against him.
He closed his eyes, hanging his head. "I know that. And you're mortal, human; that night I touched you, I might have done something I didn't intend to."
Confusion and lust swept up from deep within some part of me, remembering the way he had examined me at the Dot. A car drove by, illuminating both of us and I remembered where we were.
"Why don't you… come inside? My window is the second from the left."
I left him standing there, hoping he'd come. Charlie was asleep on the couch, and I tiptoed past him to the stairs, begging them to be quiet as I snuck up to my room where Edward was already waiting, and sitting on my bed.
I closed the door, dropping my coat and bag, watching him sit up sinuously and make room for me.
"Now, what were you saying?"
He closed his eyes as if in pain. "That night I touched you," he whispered, "I might have marked you. Being so close to a mortal had never happened to me; but I was so taken by you, so entranced," he whispered, reliving it in his eyes. "I let too much of myself, my power, seep out. My touch, my Magyk, branded you as mine. No other faerie would be allowed to touch you, claim you as I had."
My head was swimming; I was claimed by this gorgeous faerie? But what did that mean?
"I don't have a queen," he continued, and finally, all of the pieces fell into place before me, having been there the entire time.
At the Dot, there were more faeries. Watching over him. The three faeries outside my apartment, the one who spoke of the King and to not let anyone touch me. The faerie at the restaurant, the one who looked at me as if I would turn their entire kingdom upside down.
"Bella? I'm sorry," he murmured, caressing my cheek. I gazed at him, watching as his glamour faded away and he was himself, invisible to non-Seeing eyes.
"This is all so messed up," I finally sighed. There was nothing I could do about it now; I'd have to deal with whatever came at me in time. Edward was a faerie king, and he had set his sights on me.
--
The next few weeks, Edward hung around as often as possible. He talked to me with his glamour on in front of people, but when we were alone, in my room, it faded away and he was himself, Magyk and all.
Despite knowing that he was everything I had grown to hate, everything I had learned to be against, I couldn't help myself from falling for him. It had been a month since he'd explained what was going on, even told me a little about faerie politics. From what I knew, I wasn't in any immediate danger; the rest would come in time.
We talked about everything; faeries lived among our world, invisible at times but not completely irrelevant. He liked Clair de Lune by Debussy when I had played it, and knew how to play the piano well. He was twenty two physically; in reality, he had lived centuries, searching for a queen to piece together his kingdom.
Everyday more faeries watched us, and everyday I could feel myself grow more attached. My friends noticed the change and thought that I was seeing Jacob. Edward, invisible to them, shook with rage at the thought, never having liked the look of that "mongrel" as he so delicately put it.
It was a night like any others when it happened.
Edward was in bed with me, toying with my hair, the chill of his skin keep me cool beneath the many blankets he had piled on, saying that I could get sick. This was normal for him, when he was thinking of his world. He said it helped to calm him at times.
Delicate ice patterns formed on my skin from his fingers, tracing them along my arm and my collarbone.
Sleepily, I snuggled into his hard chest, seeking the comfort of his familiar Magyk. "Edward?"
"Mm?" he mumbled distractedly, his cool lips at my ear.
"I think I love you," I told him nervously, my hand gripping his shirt.
He froze for a moment, pulling away to look at me seriously. "Bella, you don't have to say that for me."
My brow furrowed. "But I'm not. I really think I do," I murmured, embarrassed as I tried to hide my flaming face against his cold skin.
He sighed, resuming his ministrations as he whispered, "You are the very reason for my existence, Bella. How could I not love you?"
My heart swelled, and I pulled my head level with his, looking at his eyes and watching them soften as he gazed at me, the familiar melting sensation tugging at my skin whenever this happened.
Without a thought, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his, feeling the burn of ice on my tongue. He kissed me back with as much vigor as I had, molding his body to mine in return. Everywhere he touched me, ice and chill accompanied it, making me shudder as my lips moved with his, fire and ice.
He gently prodded my mouth open, ice melting as soon as his tongue touched mine. When I accidentally let out a moan, it encouraged him, making him move his hands beneath my shirt, gliding along my hips and up my ribcage, goosebumps left in its wake.
I'd never kissed any other faerie except Edward, obviously. But I knew that they were sensual creatures. Mischievous they may be, but rumor had it that among the otherworldly, they were the most experienced in intimate passions. This fact had bothered me over the years, and now it made me wonder how many faeries Edward must have been with, no matter how gentlemanly he seemed.
When one of his freezing hands grazed the side of my breast, I shivered in delight. But suddenly he was gone, out of reach, water melting on my skin.
He panted, standing in the corner and shaking. "I shouldn't have done that. Bella, I'm so sorry." He turned, eyes pleading for forgiveness, but all I could show him was confusion.
"Edward, what's wrong?"
His pained look travelled down my body, stopping at my face and arms and chest. He looked away.
"Edward?"
Standing, I tried to walk to him, but he held out a hand, pinching the bridge of his nose. "How badly are you hurt?"
"What? What are you talking about? I'm not hurt."
"Bella." He was angry now, his Magyk stirring restlessly around him. He gripped my arm, forcing me to look at the burns, the blue and purple marks his hands had left, ice clearly settling into my skin and bones, making my teeth chatter.
He calmed down enough to look even more pained when he brushed his thumb across my lips carefully. They were dry and I winced at how much it burned with a firey intensity when I licked them.
Edward turned away from me as I touched his chilly arm. "Edward, it wasn't your fault. I'm okay; we just have to be careful next time."
"Next time?" he laughed. "Bella, I could have killed you," he said softly.
Ignoring it when he tried to move away from me, I slipped into his arms, resting my head on his chest, knowing that this was where I wanted to be. "No, you couldn't have. I've dealt with Magyk before, and winter's almost over."
"But what about summer? When my skin burns your flesh like fire? Or when the heat is too much to be in a room with me? Or when I make it rain and lightning in your bedroom in the spring?"
"We'll just figure it out," I told him, pressing my lips to his chest though it stung. "I love you, Edward. I'm not letting you go."
"It's a wicked kind of torture," he admitted quietly. "I love you, but at what price?"
"A price I'm willing to pay to be with you."
Not every Faerie Tale has a happy ending.