Winter's Bride - Candace Wondrak Page 0,38

meet my brother’s incredulous gaze. His amber eyes held confusion and shock; it was quite clear he hadn’t anticipated me saying that. “To have the fire inside of her extinguished… I don’t think I could bear it.”

Ishan’s mouth sat agape for a few moments before he asked, “What are you saying?”

To spell it out in black and white was what my brother needed, and so I did, even though it hurt me further: “You should take her. Make her your bride. One of us should be happy, at least.” The happy one was always Ishan, even before Morana graced the world with her presence, and though I wanted to complain, shout to the skies it was not fair—for it surely wasn’t—I could not. The only thing I could do was bow out of this, walk away, let my brother have the first human that had ever caught his eye.

“And what if she tells me again she does not want to go, hmm?” he questioned, no longer holding his arms behind his back. He now held them at his sides, his stance more relaxed than it was before. Knowing I would give her up put him at ease, certainly.

I thought about telling Ishan to not give her a choice, to simply take her without asking her if she wanted to go, but the mere thought of advising him to do such a thing filled my gut with revulsion. I could not tell my brother to do that, could not have Morana forced into anything else.

None of this was right. Searching for a bride every twenty-five years was a wasted effort, something that would never yield me fruit, a quest that would never be finished. I would only sentence more to the same icy fate. Morana was right; even though I did not freeze them on purpose, knowing their fates and continuing to take human brides was just as wrong.

I was wrong for doing it for so long.

“I can feel the warmth flowing off her when she’s in the room,” I whispered, once again staring out of the window, at the sunlight streaming down on the snowy landscape. “She will choose you, Ishan.” In my heart of hearts, I knew it, and I was somewhat surprised Ishan didn’t know it as well.

Someone like her… I would be a fool to think she could ever belong in this castle with me.

“Go to her,” I said, my spirits at an all-time low as I reached for some parchment on my desk, along with an inkwell, writing down a short note, “tell her the wedding is canceled. Take her with you, somewhere warm.”

After I finished the note, I signed it with Winter, affixing it in an envelope before handing it to Ishan.

He took it, though I could tell by his expression he did not think she would go for it, for him, that Morana would willingly leave this place with him to become his bride instead of mine. But she would. There was not a doubt in my mind she would.

“Brother,” he started, but I waved him off.

“Go.” I could only manage the one word.

It was all I needed, for as I stared at the window, at the reflection of my face and my brother on it, he vanished, leaving me as I always was and as I always would be.

Alone.

Chapter Seven – Summer

I did not peek in the note that Abner gave me, knowing what it said. The gist of it, at least. To open the letter that was meant for Morana would be an invasion of privacy. Then again, showing her the icy brides of my brother was a bit of an invasion, for I’d known all along Abner wanted to keep the truth from her, but that was something I could not let pass.

Morana… I would not let her become one of them, an icy statue trapped in time.

I knew where she was: her room, though it would not be her room for long. I also knew persuading her to come with me would be a challenge, but it was one I would meet head-on, for there was no possible way I would allow her to remain here with my brother, knowing her fate if she did.

She would not turn to ice. I would keep her heart warm and beating for as long as I could, give her a life Abner never could. Summer and Winter were two opposites, and though I loved my brother, this was not something I would concede