Claus

Thirty-Six

It was hard to keep track of time. Food would have been the only way to have an idea of what time of day it was, and there had been no food. As she sat there, choosing to sit on the blanket rather than curl up with it and sit on the hard floor, her stomach growled. Had they decided to forgo feeding her or had it only been an hour? It was still the same set of guards, so it couldn't have been that long.

Leaning her head against the bars, she closed her eyes. Sleep, sounded like the only escape right now and a way to pass the time before her brother decided what he wanted to do with her.

"Faryn?"

She startled awake, hand reaching for a dagger that wasn't there.

Aurelius was crouched in front of her, his brown eyes heavy with concern. She quickly glanced around but the guards were gone.

"What do you want?"

"To check on you."

She scooted closer into the corner of the cell, pressing against the bars. "Oh really?" All she could see was Cassian slamming into the wall. Yes, he had attacked Aurelius first, but the Fata hadn't almost killed him.

Aurelius frowned. "I'm sorry, but I'm friends with both of you."

"And he comes first."

That's how it was with men, wasn't it? They would choose their boys first no matter what they had done, no matter if they were guilty. And if you dared get angry, they called you pathetic, naïve, unreasonable, and though they claimed to see you as a friend, they probably also called you a slut behind your back for having more than one friend that was a man.

She got the sense Aurelius was trying to make her feel as if she was being unreasonable when her closest friend throughout the entirety of her life had turned her back on her when she needed him most—all because of someone who was the very Acurial to have her thrown in this cell.

"Faryn . . ." There it was, the look that said she was pathetic.

"Stop," she hissed. "I don't want to hear excuses from you."

He ran a hand through his long black hair, sighing. "Jack burned you, didn't he?"

She tensed. At the mention of the burn, the pain flared.

He reached for something behind him and withdrew a tiny silver box. "Let me treat it. Please."

Nostrils flaring, she yanked down the collar of her shirt, revealing the burn under her right shoulder. She looked to the right, mouth sealed tight as Aurelius sucked in a sharp breath.

What she still couldn't understand was why Krampus was friends with the future Saint Nick. They were meant to enemies. Aurelius could even be considered a suspect in Nick's disappearance.

"When I grabbed you, you were so cold you burned me."

She looked back at him, but he was focused on opening the silver box and withdrawing a black tin. Inside was a blue cream that he dipped two fingers in and brought to her skin. As the ointment met the burn, a hot cooling sensation swelled along the inflamed skin. After a second's hesitation, he smeared the rest of the ointment over the affected area.

Gathering more of the cream on his fingers, he said, "How long have you known?" He pressed his fingers back on her skin.

She snorted. "You mean that I'm an ice princess?"

He didn't say anything, continuing to work the ointment into her skin.

"Not long. Cassian, he—he was in danger. We both were. It just kind of happened."

"Powers like that don't just kind of happen." He drew his fingers back and waited as she adjusted her sleeve and pulled the other side of her collar down. He began rubbing the ointment into the burn marks there.

"I needed to save him. To save us. There wasn't another option."

"So, it didn't just happen."

"What do you mean?"

"You told your powers they didn't have a choice, so they worked."

"You're saying that if I just want to casually make an icicle then it's not going to ever work?"

"Knowing you, merely wanting something isn't going to be enough."

She didn't like him reminding her that he knew her at all. It made his decision to put Klaus first hurt worse.

"You can't give your powers a choice. You'll have to command them if you want to control them."

"I don't think I'll be having the chance to put that into practice."

Aurelius closed the tin and Faryn hung her head, her body and mind weary.

"Is Cassian okay?"

"You're not going to ask if I am?" There was a slight discoloration to his jaw.

"You threw him into a wall."

He arched an eyebrow. "Too much?"

She let out a growl.

"He'll be fine. His mom's ambassador is making Klaus have a doctor check him for a concussion or any internal injuries."

"That doesn't sound like he'll be fine to me."

"It's something the ambassador can use to get him released and back home sooner."

Faryn didn't respond. Had he hurt him for that reason?

"You know that's for the best. He doesn't belong wrapped up in this."

"Without him and Peter, who do I have? Don't try to guilt me into not wanting them here. Because who else is going to stand up for me when Klaus has me taken to the Frozen City? You?"

He was silent.

"I thought so."

He returned the tin into the box and gently closed the lid. "Nick will be found and hopefully whoever took him will be as well."

"And if I remain the only suspect? If Nick decides to still say it was me?"

"He wouldn't lie about that."

"Then what if they find him dead?"

Aurelius averted his gaze. "Then I am sorry."

She bit down on her lip. As Krampus took a few steps back, mist gathered around him, thickening into a dark fog. It encompassed him fully, and when it faded away, Aurelius was no longer in her cell.

A few minutes later, the guards filed back in.

She'd never felt more alone.

So I'm thinking of doing a spin-off chapter for Halloween that features Cipriano, our Headless Horseman, and Sleepy Hollow since I'm going there tomorrow. I even have an idea for how to incorporate Iara, a mermaid from Brazilian mythology into the chapter. I just have to decide if mermaids exist in Faryn's world and do some more research. Do you have any familiarity with Iara?