***SPOILERS AHEAD FOR WICKED ENCOUNTERS, SEASON 1 OF THE WICKED SERIES***
After the betrayal that shattered Cordelia's world, she finds herself in the arms of Elias's enemy--his twin brother. Cane has trapped her in an icy paradise with no friends...
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I can't take my eyes off her, afraid if I do, she will slip away from me. It doesn't matter that she ran, I expected she would eventually try. My fear is based in the slow beat of her heart. It is always so strong, like the drums of a battle song. She doesn't know weakness. Not her soul, not that part of her that is tangled so intricately with me. But her body, her soft, curvaceous body, it has its limits.
Even in a realm of immortal beings, some must use caution. They have the potential to live forever, but one bad decision, one accidental movement, and that eternal light is snuffed out. Cordelia's lips were blue, and ice clung to her when I found her in the snow. I thought I was too late.
It has taken longer than I'd like; I'm an impatient male to say the least, but the color returned to her face and her heart returned to its gentle beat.
I would have been lost without her.
Cordelia stirs in my arms. Her lashes flutter against the tops of her cheeks and slowly she looks up at me.
"Welcome back, snow princess," I say, sliding a strand of hair away from her face.
She clings to me, and even though I know it's only because she's just gone through something traumatic, I can't help the warm feeling that jolts through me. This could be the start of her needing me as much as I need her.
"Cane," she whispers, her voice raspy. "It was you. You—you came. Even though I tried to run away from you. You saved me."
I pull her closer and bury my face in her hair. "I didn't mind that you were wandering the house at night or sneaking into my study for books. I couldn't care less, but when you went silent on me...when all signs of life were fading, I had to find you."
"But I have to ask...at the end of the day, didn't you just take me to get under Elias's skin? If I were dead, I think you could say mission accomplished," she says in that cracked, exhausted voice, and I know she's talking so openly and bluntly because she's so drained.
But I may never get this chance again.
"I took you because Elias fucked up. If you would have stayed until morning at Evermore, he wouldn't have given you a chance to process what happened—the deceit, the threat on your life, the fact that you have a bond with both of us. Bringing you here would give you a chance to process alone but in a safe place. I knew you would want nothing to do with me. As far as wanting you dead...I've had plenty of opportunities to take your life if that's what I wanted. Let me assure you that is the furthest thing from my mind."
She says nothing, but the way she looks up at me with those wide, gray eyes and snuggles in closer to me tells me everything I need to know. She believes me. Or at least, she's starting to.
And that's progress.
She's quiet for a long time, and I busy myself by absentmindedly running my fingers through her hair, gently straightening out the tangled strands.
