Fated Fairy Tales - Cold As Ice

Cold as Ice - Chapter 5

Ellie’s POV

It’s nice to have Ora and Benson around for Rhea’s sake. Rhea is great. She’s friendly and outgoing, and there is no doubt a popular member of her pack. But I’m not. I don’t have much experience socializing and have very little life experience to talk to he about. This makes our conversations short. At least now Rhea has company.

Ora’s birthday is not far away, and she needs to be ready. No doubt Millicent will try to capture her before then. That’s if she can find her.

I’ve been pushing Ora since she arrived. She is strong physically, and the girl is strong-willed. But she’s not fully in tune with her elemental power. Not yet anyway. The one thing Ora has is motivation. I guess having Millicent wanting you dead and needing to kill Marco to save someone you love is an excellent motivator. Every day after training, Ora poses the question of when I’ll be returning to Beta Academy.

Last night, I told her the answer was yes. Ora jumped for joy and hugged me. “As long as you continue your training while I’m gone,” I told her.

“As long as you help my aunt survive until we get the antidote. I will do anything you want,” she responded.

I told her I’d do my absolute best. But I had to remind her that although I froze the poison. I don’t know how long it would remain frozen. I was confident it would last at least ten days. Even though I was in the dream realm, I touched it directly. My primary concern was that a healer would attempt to warm her up or extract the poison.

If they were successful, the poison would rip through Jo’s body faster than a bolt of lightning during a thunderstorm. If, by some miracle, Jo survived. The baby certainly wouldn’t. That night I wept, as I imagined this innocent baby becoming another victim of Millicent’s. I wiped away my tears, thinking of all the lives Millicent had destroyed over the years.

“Millicent has ripped apart too many families,” I tell my wolf, Silvi. Who simply growled. Silvi hates Millicent. She hates that we had to leave Anabelle. But we both knew she was safest away from me. It’s me Millicent wants. I also drink a tonic each year to hide her aura. Frederick told me it’s another way of hiding from Millicent,

Silvi is an Alpha wolf and, as a royal, she is powerful and headstrong. But her alpha authority is inferior to my elemental power. I mainly talk with Silvi when I am alone. I enjoy her company so much. She provides me with a fresh take on events that I trust without hesitation. She is, after all, a version of me.

As I am being driven to the airport. Ora wants to know if I will give something to her aunt for her. “Of course, I will,” I tell her. Which is when she asks me to stop in front of a photography shop.

“I won’t be long,” she says as she dashes inside. She returns ten minutes later carrying a small envelope. Her face is red and puffy, a clear sign she has been crying. Seeing her like this breaks my heart.

I planned on traveling as lightly as I could. I intended to allow Silvi to run from the airport to Beta Academy. It would be the fastest way to get there, and it would also allow Silvi an opportunity to have some freedom. Silvi loved the idea, even if it would be an exhausting journey.

Once we are out of the airport, I take a cab to the nearest town. Along the way, I spot a forest. So I told the driver to pull over. I pay him and head toward the trees, telling Silvi the best possible route for her to take. She gets annoyed at me when I repeat it for a third time. “Shut up or I will block you out. I’m in charge for a change.” Once we shift, I go to say something, but she blocks me out immediately.

She only unblocks me when she thinks we’re near Beta Academy. “Any problems?” I inquired.

“Got lost once or twice.” She pauses. “Okay, four times. But the directions you gave me were stupid. Besides, I got us here. I think,” she admits. I have never been here myself, so I don’t know what the place looks like. But it sure fits the description Ora gave me.

Silvi stares at the steel gates as she shifts. I get dressed before I approach. No doubt they are still on high alert after Millicent’s attack last week.

Silvi gets a scent of something she likes. Or should I say someone? “Mate,” Silvi says. I never thought I would be fortunate to have a mate, so this took me by surprise. I looked around, but there was no one in sight. “Mate was here. His scent is faint, but he was here,” Silvi informs me. I looked around frantically. “There are only two potential explanations for our mate’s presence outside the academy’s gates. He is either part of the school or he was with Millicent.” I told her.

“Get in there and find out then,” Silvi demands.

I approached the locked gates of the academy and went to press the intercom. Before I do, “Can I help you?” A man asks as he leans on the metal gates. He’s older, maybe in his forties, and wearing a military uniform.

“I would appreciate you opening the gates. I’m here to help someone.” I said pleasantly.

“No can do, princess. We have orders that no one is allowed to enter. Besides, the healers arrived last week. So you can’t be here to help anyone.” He says, looking me up and down.

I am insulted he called me a princess. That’s before I remember I don’t have a throne at all. “I never said I was a healer. I stated I was here to help someone.” He looked at me. “Now open the gate and let me in,” I said, repeating myself.

“Let me deal with him,” Silvi offers. She’s clearly confident after her run. It makes me happy when she is content. I don’t give her enough credit.

“You look like a nice girl, and you don’t stink like a rogue. But I can’t let you in,” he repeated. “Wolf King’s orders I’m afraid,”

“I am a nice young woman,” I corrected him. “But if you don’t let me in willingly, I will come in by force. You will not think I’m nice then.” He looked shocked at my threat. I then press the intercom button. Maybe someone inside will let me in. I hate unnecessary violence.

“That I would like to see,” he says, challenging me while he smirks.

“He doesn’t know who he is messing with,” I tell Silvi, who snickers. He doesn’t budge, though. I place my hand delicately on the metal gate by the wall. He stopped laughing within seconds. “Something wrong?” I asked him innocently. He bares his teeth at me and growls. Several wolves ran to his side, all growling threateningly.

I stood there, not moving. I crossed my arms, waiting for his reinforcements to arrive. Waiting to see what they plan on doing. “What do you want?” a commanding voice asks. His aura is that of a royal, and he is trying to make me submit. But he is not my King; I have no King.