Page 39 of A Kiss of Frost

“I love you too.”

CHAPTER17

Jack searched for Katerina. He could hear her calling him, knew that she needed him, but he was surrounded by a thick white fog and he couldn’t reach her. He tried, over and over again, growing increasingly more frantic, but then there was a break in the fog, a spot that glowed with a warm golden light and he raced towards it. As he reached it, he fell, tumbling over and over, and then he landed, back in his own body with his female bending over him, tears on her beautiful face as she whispered that she loved him.

“I love you too.”

His voice sounded odd, as strained as if he’d gone for days without food or drink but she didn’t seem to care. She gave a joyous cry, and then she was kissing him, her mouth sweet and delicious against his. But despite that, it took all of his strength to respond to her. He couldn’t even lift his arms to hold her against him.

She drew back, her face worried.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure. I feel weak,” he admitted.

Despite the worry he could see in her eyes, she smiled at him.

“At least that’s a change from well, although not in the right direction. Do you think you can sit up?”

He tried flexing his hand, and to his relief it responded. His arms took longer, but eventually they too moved and with her help, he managed to sit upright. His head spun dizzily, but it was much better than lying helplessly on the… bed?

“Where am I?”

“In an ice palace behind the glacier.”

“How did I get here? How do you get here?”

“I’m here because Keffi brought me.” She hugged the small creature fiercely. “Thank goodness. He showed up wanting me to follow him. But I have no idea how you got here. What do you remember?”

“I’m not sure.”

He frowned, trying to remember. At first the only thing he could remember was the white fog but before that… yes, before that, he’d been dreaming. Dreaming about Katerina. She’d called to him, saying that she needed him and he had been helpless to resist. He’d followed her, although he had no idea where he had gone, only aware that she was just out of reach.

“I dreamed that you were calling for me,” he said slowly. “But even in my dream, something about it felt wrong.”

He shuddered as another memory resurfaced. Of being here on this bed with the female who looked like Katerina but was not. She tried to kiss him and he pushed her away. She laughed, revealing a mouthful of decidedly nonhuman teeth, and shrugged.

“If you prefer it that way, Tandroki.”

She laughed again and disappeared, leaving him lying on the bed of furs. He was fully dressed, but he felt as if hundreds of cold mouths were pressed against his skin, sucking the energy from him until the white fog took him.

“There’s someone else here, isn’t there?” she whispered. “This place isn’t empty.”

“No it is not. And whoever is here is not from this world. She knew that I was a Tandroki warrior.”

They stared at each other, and then she nodded slowly.

“Remember what we were saying about the planet being unlucky? My ancestor’s ship crashed. Your ambassador’s ship crashed. Maybe someone else did as well.”

“I believe you are correct.”

“But who could it be?”

He searched his memory, even though his mind too seemed oddly lethargic. He was sure he had heard of a similar situation.

“The Fereg,” he said finally. “They are a parasitic race who exist on the energy of others. According to the information I received, they did not always kill those from whom they fed, but I suspect that here that may have changed.”

Her face was pale, but she nodded. “That makes sense, especially with almost no one using this pass anymore. We need to get out of here.”