Yanni lied to him and James couldn’t comprehend why she had hidden such an important detail from him. She never even tried to tell him that she was engaged. Last night, they had this incredible connection, and if she hadn’t gotten drunk they would have spent the night together. His own energy gave him a headache, buzzing and swirling throughout his system.
Ruth was trying to influence his magic again, just like she had done in the past, although this time she was doing it consciously.
Even after so many years, he still stood with his belief that Ruth wasn’t a good person. She was causing havoc in his system, putting doubts in his head.
His attraction to Yanni felt natural. She was kind, but James had wasted his time with her. She was engaged to be married to someone else, and he hated that she dared to lie to him.
“So, you are here to take her home?” he asked, trying to compose his anger.
“Yes, there are some arrangements that need to be made and her fiancé is expecting to see her soon. My lord, you probably noticed that Yanni is still very young and naive. She shouldn’t be running away from her responsibilities. It’s not a good sign,” Ruth said, and moistened her upper lip.
It seemed Ruth didn’t remember that night on the terrace, but James couldn’t be sure. He didn’t trust her and he suspected that she was plotting yet another intrigue. He needed to be sure about Yanni truly belonging to another, and he wasn’t going to trust her stepmother.
“That’s understandable, but you cannot leave today. There is a severe storm heading toward these parts of the winter land and it’s not advisable for you to travel right away. I’m planning to throw another ball soon, but first, I have to make sure you’re completely comfortable. How about the two of you stay for a bit longer?” he suggested.
James couldn’t just allow Yanni to leave with Ruth, not until he got to the bottom of what was really going on. The ball was a good excuse and that gave him some time to learn more about Ruth’s abilities.
Yanni’s stepmother looked a little taken aback by James’s offer. She studied him for a long while, still trying to form their connection. James had never been challenged by anyone else like that before. He needed to have her close, to see if he could find a way to defeat her. Now, Yanni’s reluctance made sense to him. She kept telling him that she wasn’t like anyone else, maybe because she always knew that she would have to go back to her fiancé.
“That’s a very interesting offer. I should be allowed to have fun once in a while and someone has to keep an eye on my stepdaughter after all. She tends go overboard with her drinking, you know. I hope she hasn’t caused you any trouble in the past few days?”
“No, she’s been remarkable,” James responded and it looked like Ruth didn’t want to believe him.
“Well then, my lord, of course we are going to stay, but I don’t want to impose—”
“You won’t need to worry about anything. I will get Miriam to take you to your chamber. Relax and rest for a bit,” he said, then bowed and walked away.
He was done talking to her and wanted to return to his chamber to speak to Yanni. Then halfway there, he changed his mind. She lied to him and James didn’t like to be deceived. He needed some time to figure out what he was going to do next.
Yanni was beginning to wake up and she wished she could stay asleep for a bit longer. Beams of sunshine were streaming into the room.
After some time, she reluctantly opened her eyes, and instantly felt sick. The shutters were partially closed, but her eyes were hurting from the light.
Her memories from the past few hours were blurry and she struggled to remember how she ended up back in the castle.
Yanni had a bitter taste in her mouth, like she had drunk a gallon of vodka the night before. And on top of everything, her head was pounding furiously. None of this was good.
A moment later, she began to realise that she wasn’t even in her own chamber. None of the stuff lying around looked familiar and when she looked down at herself, she noticed that she was only wearing her underwear. Her other clothes were folded on the chair, which meant that someone must have undressed her.
“What the hell happened to me yesterday?” she asked herself, thinking about the worst-case scenario. She’d fallen into another trap. She wasn’t supposed to drink at all.
Then she remembered James asking her out on a date. Yes, now everything was slowly coming back to her. She helped two lost little girls and then James took her out for dinner. He ordered wine and Yanni had lost control. Again. Her memories from the restaurant were a little blurry . Yanni couldn’t remember anything after she finished her dinner.
She wondered where James was? Did they end up spending the night together?
Their date was a complete disaster. She undoubtedly made an absolute fool of herself and now the king probably hated her. She needed to find him and explain herself.
She pulled the covers away, ignoring her pounding head and quickly started putting her clothes back on. She was dreading to think about what happened after she got drunk.
Things were going so well, and yet she found another way to screw everything up. Yanni went to the bathroom to make sure she looked decent enough before she had to face James. Unfortunately, the dark circles and bloodshot eyes, along with messy hair told her that she needed to sort herself out first.
She instantly changed her mind and decided to have a shower instead. That made her feel a little bit better.
She felt stupid that she couldn’t let go of her temptations. She got drunk during one of the most important dates of her life. She was supposed to stop drinking altogether if she truly wanted to become Queen. Now, after their evening together, she suspected that he didn’t want her anymore. Her stepmother’s secret mirror on the wall was wrong. She didn’t deserve to become James’s wife.
She rushed outside her chamber and ran all the way downstairs, forgetting about her shoes. Her heart was pounding away. She needed to find him, and truly hoped that he could forgive her.
She turned to the right and was ready to barge inside the main hall when she heard a familiar voice.
“Yanni, there you are. We need to talk.”
She slowly turned around, telling herself that this was impossible. Her stepmother couldn’t be here. She only left a few days ago. Yanni didn’t have a chance to think about her plan.
“Ruth? What are you doing here?” she asked, shocked, and staring at Ruth who wasn’t impersonating anyone else today. She was herself and Yanni was still very much hungover. She didn’t want to deal with her right now. She wasn’t ready.
“Well, I heard that you were with the Ice King, so I arrived here to take you back to Tyndil. You shouldn’t be imposing yourself on the king like that, it’s rude. He’s a very busy man,” Ruth stated, staring down at her nails.
Yanni frowned, ready to lash out and ask her about the magical mirror, but thought better of it. She had to be careful. Ruth was obsessed with the Ice King and she was willing to do anything just so he would notice her. Yanni didn’t want Ruth to suspect that she learned about her magical abilities.
“I’m not ready to leave just yet, stepmother. I need to speak to James urgently. Have you seen him?”
“Apparently, he left early because he had some business that he needed to attend to,” Ruth replied. “Oh, and he insisted that we stay in the castle for a bit longer because there is severe storm on the way. It looks like you get what you want, Yanni, and for now, we are going to be here together waiting for his return.”
14
Yanni should have known that her stepmother would return to the Ice Castle at some point, but she couldn’t just ask her about her plans. Besides, Ruth wasn’t too keen on catching up with her or even staying long enough to talk a bit more. The two of them hadn’t seen each other for days, but Yanni didn’t expect anything else from her stepmother. Ruth had always only cared about herself.
“Anyway, I really need to go and rest in my chamber. I have been riding all nigh
t to get here,” Ruth said, tossing her blond hair behind her. She gave Yanni a fake smile and then turned around, walking away.
Yanni suspected that Ruth was plotting another intrigue, but she had no idea that Yanni had already figured out her motivations. Last night was ruined and now James had left the castle without talking to her first.
She went to the kitchen instead and drank a large glass of water. Her head was still pounding, and she wondered if Ruth had said something to James that caused him to leave so abruptly.
Then she suddenly remembered everything from the evening before. James took her back to the carriage and once they started moving, Yanni was all over him. She remembered that James was very passionate too. He kissed her and told her that she was beautiful. Yanni had way too much wine and her stomach didn’t agree with it, so she threw up outside while the carriage was still moving. She must have passed out later on, because her mind was blank after that. Now she began to realise that it really was a complete disaster.
She was so ashamed that she had humiliated herself. She made a promise to herself and now she was suffering the consequences of her actions. She had way too much wine, and she wondered if she said anything else to James that might have offended him even more. She filled a small glass with water and marched back to the main hall.
Now, her stepmother was here and that complicated things even further. Yanni went outside to the stables to check if James’s horse was there.
Ruth enjoyed spreading lies, and Yanni wouldn’t be surprised if she wanted her to believe that he was gone so she could turn him against her using magic. She was a witch and was willing to do anything to seduce James, including killing Yanni to have him and the throne to Tyndil.
“Where is the King? Have you seen him today?” she asked the stable man, trying to calm her racing heart. Running after a night of drinking heavily wasn’t good and she felt terrible, all she wanted to do was sleep. The stable man had a long shaggy dark beard.
“The king has gone, my lady, didn’t say much at all, just took the horse and vanished.”
James was gone and now she couldn’t explain herself to him. Maybe he was so upset with her behaviour that he decided to leave.
Yanni thanked the man and went back inside the castle, knowing that she only had herself to blame. James went through a lot and maybe he was tired of Yanni’s immaturity.
“Have you heard? The Ice King is organising a ball in a couple of days,” one of the maids said when Yanni approached her chamber from the west wing. She stopped in her tracks, thinking that surely this must have been just another rumour. James had promised her that he was done with other women and throwing parties for them, but that was before Yanni had made an absolute fool of herself.
“No, really, I thought he was done with that sort of thing,” said another maid. “Most of his guests have left and there is a severe storm approaching.”
“Well, apparently this ball is supposed to be completely different and the weather should be clearing up soon. The King was going a little crazy this morning, arranging the best musicians and talking to the chef about food. He asked him to slaughter several pigs and turkeys trying to prepare everything,” the maid continued, and Yanni didn’t dare move. She wanted to listen in, deep down, not understanding exactly what James was planning. She suspected that Ruth must have somehow influenced him using her abilities to throw yet another ball.
The other one laughed. “Different? How is that going to be different? It’s all the same. The King throws a ball, and a bunch of women show up. He picks one and the rest keep partying until morning.”
“I don’t know. Our dear King has been acting different lately. I think that he might be in love. Maybe he is throwing this ball because he wants to announce that he is going to get married again?”
Yanni’s heart kicked her in the chest and her blood pressure rose instantly. Was this possible? Maybe she had it all wrong and James was throwing a ball because he wanted to ask her to marry him.
“Maybe you’re right. He did look very happy this morning,” the maid added and then said something else, but Yanni wasn’t listening to her any longer.
She changed her mind and went around the castle, trying to gather her thoughts. She thought that this was good news. Maybe James didn’t really care that she got drunk and he had plans for her. If she hadn’t gotten drunk last night, they most likely would have spent the night together.
By the time she went back to bed, she was too exhausted to think about other things. Yanni drifted away as soon as her head touched the pillow. Her mind was filled with images of her and the King.
James was still away over the next several days and Yanni was anxiously waiting to hear from him. He wanted his staff to start the preparation for the ball, but the young boy that arrived to give everyone James’s message didn’t have anything for Yanni.
She had no idea what to believe anymore. She was disappointed that James didn’t even say goodbye to her and left her alone in his own chamber. None of this made any sense to her. She thought that maybe he was planning to surprise her showing up unexpectedly the day of the ball.
For days, Yanni spent as much time as she could outside the castle. People were saying that the storm might just pass the winter land and move south. On top of that, Yanni wasn’t too keen spending time with her stepmother. Most days, she was in the library reading interesting books and trying to keep her mind occupied.
The truth was that Yanni didn’t see much of Ruth either. Her stepmother was spending most of her time locked in her chamber. Yanni was certain that her stepmother was planning something. She had stopped trusting her when she discovered that she wanted her dead, then even more so when she’d impersonated Sarah.
Finally, the day before the ball, Yanni overheard that Luciano returned to the castle. He had been away for quite some time, visiting distant family in another kingdom and Yanni missed him. She wanted to spend some time with him, so she headed over to the kitchen. There, everyone was rushing around trying to get everything ready for the big day.
Yanni couldn’t stay in the library any longer. She thought she would drive herself crazy thinking about James. She couldn’t find Luciano and she suspected that he was resting after being on the road for so long. She went to the staff chamber and asked the maids to give her something to do. Everyone was staring at her surprised, but finally one of the cooks gave her a bucket of potatoes to peel. Yanni was glad to finally be useful. Her mind was tangled, and when she started to work, she began to unwind.
The staff was singing in the kitchen while she was working and everyone seemed happy that she was there. Two hours later, after doing some other odd jobs and talking to the maids about the ball, she felt better.
She returned to the library just before dinner. She sat down at the table, hoping to speak to Luciano in the evening. She glanced outside, seeing that it had started snowing again, and heard the wind whistling. Then a moment later, she saw Ruth walking down the path towards the stables.
Yanni frowned wondering where her stepmother was going. She didn’t expect to see her outside, especially in this weather. The two of them hadn’t talked properly since Ruth showed up in the castle the same day when James left. Both of them had lived two separate lives in the past and it looked like nothing had changed. Yanni got used to the fact that Ruth was sleeping around, and as long as it didn’t interfere in her own life she didn’t care. Now it was no longer that simple because Yanni still suspected that her stepmother hadn’t given up getting rid of her and pursuing James. She seemed overly obsessed with him.
She watched Ruth for a little while. It seemed that her stepmother was waiting for someone. A few minutes later, a man that Yanni had never seen before approached her.
He looked like he was local, wearing a thick furry jacket and large hat. Several knives were attached to his side, and a bow hung over his shoulder. He smiled at her stepmother and handed her a box. The two of them began discussing something and Ruth looked very exc
ited for some reason. Yanni wanted to know what was inside the box. Suddenly, she was burning with curiosity.
Ruth walked with the man until they vanished inside the stables. Several minutes later, they left together on the horses. Yanni didn’t like this meeting at all. Her stepmother just confirmed that she again, was up to no good.
Yanni couldn’t waste time. She took her book and decided to look through her stepmother’s things in order to figure out what Ruth intended to do. The only answer was in her chamber and over the past several days, Ruth had locked herself away in there. She wanted to find that magic mirror. She must have been carrying it with her in some sort of spell at all times. Yanni wasn’t exactly sure why Ruth needed it, but she wanted to destroy it. Apparently, it was somehow tied to her magic according to the voice from the mirror.
As she suspected, the door to her stepmother’s chamber was locked, but Yanni thought that she could convince a maid to let her inside if she had a good enough excuse.
She found a young servant who was folding laundry downstairs and asked her to open Ruth’s chamber. Catherine seemed very young and inexperienced. She fetched the keys for Yanni without a problem. And she didn’t even ask any questions.
Once Yanni was inside, she shut the door behind her and took several long breaths. The chamber was one of the biggest in the castle, filled with luxurious furniture, colourful cushions and strange-looking books.
Yanni instantly sensed magical energy rising along the surface of her skin. The power began to lift the tiny hairs along the nape of her neck.
Yanni had no idea how long her stepmother was going to be out, and she needed to hurry. The wardrobe was full of beautiful dresses and odd-looking flasks filled with thick liquids. Yanni didn’t know much about potions, but she wouldn’t be surprised if her stepmother wanted to poison her while she was in the castle. She started looking through the drawers too, but there was nothing there. The mirror in the chamber was massive, but it didn’t look anything like the one she saw in the manor. Ruth must have used some kind of spell to keep it hidden.