Winter's Bride - Candace Wondrak Page 0,12

and I was quick to add, “Not like that—”

“I don’t think I believe you,” she muttered under her breath, as if she thought I was some peeper, some creeping god who got his jollies from watching everyone in their most private of moments.

Deciding to ignore her comment, I went on, “You’ve had my favor since you were a child, Morana. Don’t deny it. You’ve heard others say it, you’ve heard your parents comment on it. Surely you’ve felt me watching over you?” I purposefully chose to use her name, knowing both that she’d never give it to me—not after I’d appeared while staring at her naked form—and that she needed further proof.

Didn’t know what other proof I could offer her, short of shooting a fireball out of my fingertips. I supposed I could do that, but I didn’t like flexing my powers that much, not when I didn’t need to.

“I…” Morana trailed off, biting her lower lip, an adorably human gesture. Those lips… they were full and I bet they were just as soft as they looked. Thoughts of those lips running everywhere on my body popped into my head, and I did my best to push them away.

Cautiously, I took a step towards her. Seeing her back straighten, I said, “You can feel it, can’t you? You can feel who I am, because you and I… we’re connected.” The closer I got to her, the more the heart in my chest beat, as if it couldn’t beat fast enough.

She made my thoughts run wild and my body feel aflame; she had to be mine, not my brother’s.

Her eyebrows furrowed, and she shook her head. Her breathing sounded short, but even so, Morana managed to say, “I don’t understand. Why are you here? Are you angry with me about what I did?” It seemed the most reasonable explanation to her, I supposed; not that I would want to take her from my brother, but that I was irate that she’d freely give herself to him while holding my favor. “I had to. I couldn’t let my sister be taken. She would never have been happy.”

The sister. It was all to protect the sister. Still, I did not understand why Morana would put herself through this, why she would willingly walk into that castle and marry my brother. Surely the fact that he searched for a new bride every quarter-century was a bad sign?

“She already has a love,” Morana whispered, turning her face away from me, no longer annoyed or angry, but wistful over what her sister had that she did not. “If one of us had to go, it should be me, not her.” She was slow to return her gaze to me. “I’m sorry if you took it as an insult. I never meant it as one. I was only trying to do the right thing for Ember.”

“I see that now,” I spoke, my voice dropping to murmur, “but you should know, my brother is unlike me in every way. He is cold, sometimes cruel. He is not the one you should spend your days with.”

Morana swallowed as she looked at me in a new light, appraising me, my form, my figure, my face. Every part of me, and it was like she was hit with a wall, as if she hadn’t quite noticed how tall I was, how thick the muscles beneath my tunic were, how appealing I was in every way. I was a god, after all. Surely she expected no less?

“Are you saying… are you saying I should spend my days with you instead?” Morana questioned, the words coming out as light as a feather, nearly carried off by the gentle breeze between us. The sun had nearly set, and the temperature had begun to grow cooler. My brother’s season was on its way; soon enough cold would grip this land through and through.

“If you belong to someone, surely that someone is me.”

The wrong thing to say, for if there was one thing humans wanted, it was a choice. Always a choice, even if their choices impeded others from choosing themselves.

“I am not property.” Morana paused, muttering under her breath, “At least, not yet. I don’t know why you think I belong to you, but I don’t. I never asked for your favor. If that’s what this is about, take it away.” She offered me her hands, as if I could take them in mine and, as she’d said, pull my favor from her.

As if it