Kresley Cole - Untuchable

I’ve lost her. The look in her eyes…

Murdoch punched the wall. The pain briefly diverted his attention from the hollowness in his chest.

So this is love.

He’d lost the one woman he’d ever loved. No, not lost . He’d driven her away with his selfishness and neglect. With his broken vows and attack.

Now that he could think about the night with a clearer head, he remembered that she had been pulling away from Jádian. Because of me.

Murdoch had never understood Conrad’s madness. Now he did. There were some things the mind was not made to handle, differing in each person.

I’m not made to live without Daniela.

The phone rang yet again. There’d been talk of an upcoming battle. Maybe that was exactly what Murdoch needed. To fight. To be a vampire. To kill and destroy and not think about how Daniela would be happier away from him.

He answered the phone.

“We go to war,” Nikolai said.

Perfect.

So this is Icergard, Danii thought as Jádian gave her the grand tour of the castle the next day. I’m definitely getting a Fortress of Solitude vibe.

When she’d awakened, sharp-eared Icere maids had smiled shyly as they laid out a gown of the softest silk Danii had ever imagined, along with Svana’s crown.

A fire had burned in a hearth of ice—a blue fire that emanated cold .

Which was just cool.

Last night, it had been late here when Jádian had sneaked her into her new royal chambers. He’d thought it “politically unwise” for the Icere to see their new queen’s face wet from tears, her body lifeless, with her neck bearing the unmistakable mark of a vampire.

“As in most factions of the Lore, vampires are feared and hated here,” he’d explained.

Without wonder. She still couldn’t believe that Murdoch had bitten her. “What did you do to him?” she’d asked.

“I left him in ice. I would have killed him, but you ordered me not to fight.”

“And you follow my orders?”

“You’re my queen,” he’d said simply. “One who’ll be crowned in three days, if that’s acceptable to you.”

“It is. But what are the Icere going to think of me?”

“They’re going to love you as they did your mother… ”

Now, as he showed her around, she tried to concentrate on what he was saying, but her mind was troubled over the events of the night. Murdoch’s bite had been the worst pain she’d ever experienced, and yet she’d felt some kind of connection to him.

He’d taken her blood, lots of it. Would he dream her memories? At the idea, embarrassment suffused her. Would he know how lonely she’d been?

Gradually, her neck had healed, but she was still uneasy, fretful. Guilt weighed on her. She didn’t believe she’d brought on the attack—or that she’d deserved it in any way. But she still felt complicity, because she hadn’t repelled him.

She could have frozen Murdoch, could have blasted him with the fury of that blizzard. Instead, a fatalism had swept over her, as if she’d been waiting forever for his bite.

Myst had taken pleasure from it, as had Kaderin. It’d been a nightmare for Daniela—

“Do you regret coming here?” Jádian asked, rousing her from her thoughts. He was gazing straight ahead, his face impassive, but she could sense his tension.

“No, not at all.”

“You are quiet.”

“Uh, I’m just amazed by what I’m seeing.” In truth, Castle Icergard was an engineering marvel. Built beneath an invisible dome of ice, the structure was bricked with baguette-cut diamonds—each half a foot long. The prisms at the ends of the diamonds glinted unrelentingly, like a Valkyrie’s worst nightmare. Good thing I’m immune . “It’s remarkable,” she added.

“It’s… home,” Jádian said simply.

Inside the castle, elaborate designs were carved into all the walls, with smaller diamonds embedded throughout. Thin sheets of polished and etched ice comprised the windows. Chandeliers of ice hung from the great-hall ceiling, their lights that cold blue fire, shimmering like the aurora borealis dancing in the night sky.

The more Danii saw, the more she loved it here. Ice, ice, and would you like some ice with that ice? Here, plants grew from it. The people held it sacred, just as other cultures worshipped the sun or the earth as life-giving.

Earlier, any of the Icere they’d come upon had been reserved, but as word got around that Danii was personable, more approached her.

A female even asked her to bless her baby girl. Danii swallowed nervously as she gathered the babe in her arms. She’d never in her life held one.

The mother said, “Welcome home, Queen Daniela.”

As Danii traced the backs of her fingers over the baby’s soft cheek, tears welled.

This is where I belong . Where she’d always belonged.

I am home.

The cell door slammed behind Murdoch, Nikolai, and Sebastian.

“We’re screwed,” Sebastian muttered.

Murdoch did not disagree.

When the three had shown up at Mount Oblak ready to go to war, the king’s guards had instead forced them into a barred suite.

These chambers were used for political prisoners. Here were facilities, a shower. Yet no one could trace inside or out, and the walls and door were mystically reinforced.

Luckily, the three brothers hadn’t been taken to the dungeons below, filled with Ivo’s old torture devices. But then, Kristoff had made it clear he had no intention of torturing them.

Or freeing them—until they gave up Conrad. Which they would never do.

How long would the king keep them here? Weeks? Or more? At the thought of a protracted imprisonment, Murdoch swore under his breath. Though he had decided not to go after Daniela, his resolve hadn’t lasted long. No matter what, he was deeply ashamed of hurting her, and wouldn’t rest until he’d apologized to her.

Now he paced, barely listening to his brothers.

“We knew this might happen,” Nikolai said. “A one-in-a-thousand chance.”

“How did Kristoff find out?” Sebastian snapped.

“He has ways.”

“Ways? As in Lukyan or some other Russian,” Sebastian said. “When I find out who informed on us—”

“You’ll do what?” Nikolai demanded. “We’re the ones at fault here. We broke the law.”

“But how can Kristoff expect us to give up our own brother?” Sebastian shook his head. “Conrad would be powerless against his men, unable to defend himself, unable to escape.”

“We might as well swing the swords ourselves,” Nikolai agreed. “But if we think Myst and Kaderin are going to just sit around and accept our capture, we’re deluded.”

“Kristoff must know they’ll wage an attack,” Sebastian said. “As soon as they find out what happened, they’ll likely plot to take this castle and execute him.”

When a chill night breeze sieved through the barred window, Murdoch crossed to it. He sucked in air, feeling hot, claustrophobic.

“Murdoch?” Nikolai said. “Are you even listening to us…?”

How could I have bitten Daniela? When he loved her. And what was fifty years? He could wait an eternity. But he couldn’t get to her to tell her this. Frustration strangled him like a noose.

In Murdoch’s absence, would Lord Jádian continue kissing her? His fists clenched. Kissing my Daniela . When he punched the wall, he broke every bone in his hand, the protected stone mocking even his immortal strength.

Murdoch turned in time to see Nikolai and Sebastian share a glance. They had to know that he’d been blooded—even Conrad had heard Murdoch’s heart beating—but they’d said nothing over the last several months. Probably because of all the secrets they’d been keeping, as well.