Page 5 of Wings of Snow

I met his stare, unflinchingly. “She’s gone, Father. You chased her away when you demanded she marry a pedophile. I doubt she’ll be returning.”

He laughed, the sound quick and sharp. “Do you truly expect me to believe that? You’re hermate. She’ll be back to see you sooner or later, even if she’s not fully bonded to you. Or, the bond will forceyouto find her. Either way, I will have her back in this court giving me the offspring our continent deserves, and I expectyouto find her.”

I bowed slightly, mockingly. “As you wish, my king, although I cannot promise when this will occur. Ilara is nothing if not stubborn. She may be in hiding for many full seasons before I’m able to track her down,ifI’m able.”

“If you can’t do so in a timely manner, then perhaps I shall have to get creative in ways to motivate you.” He stretched his arm to the side, then laid his hand atop my mother’s. He stroked the back of her hand languidly. “Surely, you can find it in yourself to search faster for her, Norivun. With your affinities and fully born mate bond, there’s no one better suited to the task.”

My mother sat completely rigid on her throne, not one muscle moving. My jaw worked, and I nearly broke my composure. My father would probably beat her tonight, perhaps using a whip or chain to make the process more painful. All to prove his point—that he could, and it would be far worse if I refused his command.

The king had made my mother bleed and suffer so many times I’d lost count, and his abuse only strengthened until I did as he wished.

But the look on my mother’s face now—the way she regarded me with absolute steel in her eyes—made me pause.

Her expression practically screamed at me to defy the king.

I knew she’d helped Ilara escape only hours ago. I knew she’d used the only potion she possessed to give my mate a way out. And now...

I had a feeling she would rather suffer under my father’s malicious hand than allow me to bend to his will.

Frustration threatened to make me snarl because I couldn’t bear to see him abuse her, and he knew that.

If only her affinities weren’t tethered, she would be able to reach into my mind and tell me what she was thinking, but whatever spell the king had cast upon her all those winters ago kept her caged. As it was, her magic was so stifled that at best she was able to pick up hints and feelings in others, occasionally able to decipher someone’s thoughts. It was nothing like what she was truly capable of when her affinities weren’t suppressed.

Bowing again, I gave my father the answer he wanted. “Very well, Father. I will endeavor to find Ilara and bring her back.”

If nothing else, my ruse would buy me extra time while I considered my next move.

King Novakin smiled smugly and removed his hand from my mother’s. “See to it that you do. You have one month to have her bowing before me, Norivun. One month or your mother will fall underunfortunatecircumstances.”

I stilled. “My wedding to Georgyanna is in one month.”

“Exactly.” The king gave a triumphant sneer.

“You want Ilara present to witness my marriage to another.”

“Perhaps. It would be the least she deserves for defying me.”

My nostrils flared as hatred burned a fiery path through my insides while vicious magic flooded my limbs. The king threatening me by using my mother was nothing new, but now his threats were also extending to my mate. He wanted Ilara returned to the court so he could not only control her, but so she would be forced to witness my marriage to Georgyanna.

Sadistic bastard.

Seething, I turned on my heel and strode toward the throne room doors, keeping my wings tucked in tight and pulled up high. Tension radiated down my spine.

Go to the training room.

Sparring with my guards was probably the only thing that would keep me from blowing up the entire castle in an explosion of power. Following that, several strong glasses of leminai or whiskey were in order.

It would have to do, for now, even though what I truly needed was to feel Ilara’s silken skin sliding beneath my fingertips, to hear her laugh when I tickled the sensitive area beneath her ear, and to bask in the fierceness of her love that was only the tip of the iceberg of what I felt for her.

She might not be fully bonded to me yet, but she was my love. My mate. My queen.

I would die before I allowed my father to hurt her, which meant I needed to find her not because I was willing to bend to my father, but because I needed her warned of what was to come.

Unbeknownst to Ilara, my father was going to hunt the realm for her. He wasn’t going to let her go quietly. And that was something my mate had never thought he would do.

It gave me pause, though, his undo interest in her. It was one thing to want her bred, but it was another thing entirely to spend every second since her departure demanding that she be found.

The king was up to something.