WHEN ANDORRA awoke, she wasn't at home in her bed, and she wasn't at school, where she remembered being before she fainted.
When she sat up and looked around, she realized she was in Noah's bedroom, in his bed, warmer than she could ever remember being. His bed smelled of him, and for some reason, that made her chest warm, made her smile.
She laid back down, burying her face in his pillows, inhaling deeply. It was a pleasure she'd never had before, and she knew she was either dreaming, or her life was turning around.
And then, she remembered what had happened at school, and she was sitting up again. She could feel herself shake with fear as she remembered what she had done, how she had killed that man with absolute confidence in her actions. She hadn't even thought about how to kill him; her body already knew.
And those powers. She had never before been able to move things with her mind. She could remember the way her anger had exploded inside of her, and outside of her, and how she had taken complete control.
It wasn't like her, not at all. She knew something was wrong, but she didn't know what.
She slid from the bed on unsteady legs, gripping the bedpost to steady herself. When she looked down, she saw that she was in a baggy shirt and sweatpants that didn't belong to her, and she blushed immediately, knowing just who had undressed her.
She stopped to listen, to see if she could hear him, and she felt shy when she could. She could hear the faint shuffling of someone deeper in the apartment, soft enough that no normal human would be able to hear.
She took a deep breath, confident he could hear her too, and she pressed forward, exiting his bedroom and walking down the hall towards where she could hear his shuffling. Her chest felt tight, for no reason, and she felt real shy.
When she approached him in the kitchen, she just stood in the doorway, waiting for him to notice her. At first, she watched as he stood over a stove, wearing his outfit from school. He was flipping something in a pan, and she watched as he reached for a plate, then put something on it.
When he turned, he didn't look surprised to see her, although he didn't have any sort of emotion on his face at all when he pushed the plate towards her on the table. "Morning, Andorra. I made you an omelet, because I'm not sure when you ate last." What he didn't say was that he was worried about how she would react to what happened yesterday, and he wanted to make sure she had something to eat.
She sat down, looking at the omelet as if she'd never seen one before. She felt the tension in the air, and she didn't know why she felt it, or why it existed in the first place. She focused on her omelet, digging her fork into it.
"Thank you," she said before eating a piece of it, her eyes widening in delight as she tasted peppers and spinach. She met his eyes, grateful. "You put in veggies!"
He cocked an eyebrow at her. "You like veggies."
She nodded, feeling a laugh bubble in her throat. "Yeah, I do. But I didn't think..." she didn't finish her sentence, because it made her embarrassed to think he wouldn't care. After all, he had saved her, had brought her back to his apartment, had cooked her breakfast. Of course he cared.
He leaned back against the stove, arms crossed. "You didn't think... what?"
She ducked her head again. "I didn't think you cared. Or that you noticed."
It was Noah's turn to feel embarrassed, but he didn't show it. He'd been so nasty to her that she didn't think he even liked her. But the truth was, he cared for her more than she would ever know.
There were things he itched to tell her, like how he'd been watching over her for years, but he kept it to himself.
"We need to plan for what's happening next. While you were sleeping, I cleaned up the mess at the school." He didn't elaborate more, didn't want to tell her what he had to do, which was spin the story as a shooter attack. It would be easier to do so, with all the damage, and with what had already happened. It was so easy to spin their memories, with Kyle's anger, coming for Andorra who wanted nothing to do with him, and with their sudden disappearance.
He killed them, essentially. Everyone in school, in town, thought they were dead, shot down by Kyle, who had disappeared and had come back angrier than when he'd left.
He didn't want to tell Andorra that, didn't want to have to break the news that she wouldn't be able to say goodbye to her parents, who thought she was died. He hated that she wouldn't be able to do that, but they hadn't had a choice.
Andorra didn't ask about the school. Instead, she shifted in her seat, unsure. "Of course I want to go with you. To your uh, clan." She looked up at him, concern in her eyes. "That man came for us... I'm sure they'll send more."
Noah tipped back his head. "Andorra, you can't change your mind. You come with us and... you stay with us. You understand?"
She nodded, standing up from the seat. "Yeah, I do. I want to learn more, do more. And of course, I want to be a human. I did have dreams but... if staying here puts me in danger, puts my parents in danger, then I don't want to stay. I can't do that to my family."
Your family thinks you're dead, he thought, but he didn't say anything. He leaned on the table, closing the distance a bit, watching the way her eyes widened in surprise at their sudden close proximity, but she didn't back away, which satisfied him.
"So that's settled then. We leave immediately. I can't trust that it's safe here, and I would feel better if we were back at the clan base." Just to mess with her, he leaned closer, watching the way her cheeks heated, and then he backed off.
She backed off, too. She felt hot suddenly, and not with anger. The way Noah looked at her with his light eyes made her heart beat hard in her chest, and when she swallowed, she felt the lump in the back of her throat.
She shook her head to herself, and then shot a look at her clothes. "I need to change." And then, the words she wanted to ask got stuck in her throat. She knew Noah would tell her no, she couldn't see her parents, but she wanted to say goodbye.
Just one look into his stony, passive face told her the answer would be absolutely no.
"The outfit you wore yesterday is in my room, on top of the dresser." His voice was grounded, deep, and it made her chest tight. She couldn't stand looking at him, at his eyes, at the way his face looked like a teenager again. She wanted to ask about it, ask why he hid from her when she'd already seen his real face twice, but she didn't. She turned down the hallway, shuffling without a sound to his bedroom.
When she shut the door, she leaned against it and shut her eyes. Beneath her lids, she saw Noah from the first day of school, holding her, looking into her eyes with those bright, bright eyes. The way she felt immediately safe in his arms, how she'd trusted him immediately. And then, after watching the reaction of her classmates and his attitude towards her did she change her mind.
But now, she felt it again, that trust and comfort and safety she'd felt that first moment. How obsessed she'd felt, staring at him across the lunch room, listening in on their conversation. She had told herself she couldn't help listen in, but honestly, she'd tuned into their specific conversation on purpose.
The more Andorra thought about it, the more she realized she'd always been attracted to him. Even when she was storming away from him, or wishing he wasn't her partner, she had still been attracted to him.
The way her heart had stopped when she entered the dance, looking right at him, wishing for a moment that he had been her date instead.
She opened her eyes and reached for her clothes. Despite her attraction to him, she knew he wasn't interested in her that way. His job was to retrieve her, and she knew that once they got to his clan base, she probably would never see him again.
The thought made her ill, but she forced herself to take a deep breath and think about why that was probably a good thing. Nothing good could come from loving a boy like Noah.
Once she was back in her clothes, she folded his and then stepped into the hallway. She ignored the way her chest felt tight just at the thought of traveling with Noah, and she stepped into the kitchen.
When she did, he opened the front door, inviting her out without a word. She glanced at him, trying to swallow the lump in her throat as she passed him without a word, pulling her jacket closer to her body, hating the way the wind made her feel as fragile as glass.
Noah closed the door behind them, stepping towards the car. He barely looked at her as he opened the door, inviting her in the passenger seat. When she met his eyes, she swore she saw them brighten impossibly before he turned from her.
* * *
Andorra had napped on the drive their. When she awoke, the sky was growing darker, and they were parked on a dirt road, surrounded by a wide expanse of trees. Noah turned off the car, unbuckling and then he turned towards her.
She did the same, turning towards him, her mouth open in a question. But, before she could ask, he opened the car door and left her there, as though he were running from her.
She didn't let him open the door for her; Andorra pushed it open and stood, crossing her arms to keep herself warm. She glanced at the car, then turned towards Noah. "So... are we ditching the car?"
"Yes," was all he said, motioning her towards the dirt path, "and we're going to walk down this road."
She was so freezing already, her teeth chattering in the frigid weather. "S-seriously?" She stamped her feet a little. "I-it's freezing."
Noah stepped towards her, his face still but his eyes light. She took that as a good sign that he wasn't going to murder her in the woods. "Fae can travel a little differently than humans, though I'm not sure training you in this weather is a good idea." He paused for a moment, thinking, and then his mouth twitched.
"What?" She demanded, seeing the playfulness in his eyes and she was wary of it immediately.
"Get on my back." His words were demanding, and he spun his back towards her, bending down.
"No way!" Her voice sounded almost shrill. "I am not climbing on your back."
"You will climb on my back." He didn't move, and neither did she as she stared at him, debating. She knew he would leave her behind if she put up a fight, so she decided to listen to him, even if his words weren't kind.
Once she was on his back, arms wrapped around his neck, he stood up. He turned his head slightly to the side. "You need to hold on, and do not let go."
She tightened her arms and legs in response, closing her eyes and pressing her head against his shoulder. For a moment, nothing happened, and she was going to tell him okay, but then she felt as though she were being ripped from his body, pulled backwards suddenly. She let out a cry, gripping him tighter, feeling wind brush around her.
Then, it was over, a brief pause, until it started up again. The entire travel was just that; small pauses, and then the sensation of being ripped away from Noah. She felt as though it lasted forever, but when she finally opened her eyes after Noah told her too, he said that it had only been a few moments.
When she opened her eyes, she stared at the large gate in front of them, tall and white and gleaming. It seemed as though it were coated in glitter, the way it shone and caught her eye.
"How did we get here? Do you just run fast?"
Noah bent down, allowing her to detach herself from his back. Her legs felt a little wobbly, but nothing else.
"No. Fae can travel fast by slipping through the seams of this world. It's kind of like cutting open a bit of the world, stepping in, and then stepping out at the different location. It's hard to explain, but it allows you to travel far distances quickly. To the human eye, it would look as though we were disappearing completely."
That would explain the pauses. Andorra touched the gate in front of them, feeling the cold against her fingers. It felt for a moment as though it had burned her, and she looked down at her fingers, perplexed.
"Welcome to my clan base." He waved his hand, and then looked down at her. "I need to tell you something, Andorra. And you need to listen."
She was shivering in the cold, but she met his eyes eagerly, not liking the way they darkened. She blew on her fingers, trying to warm them, but it was no use.
"I am a Clan Leader's son. That means I'm sort of like a Prince, here. I'm very well known, and very respected. I have duties, and I have to follow the rules."
She nodded, trying to grasp what he was telling her between his spoken words. She already knew all of this, but something in his voice sounded purposeful.
"It means that I won't see you often. It means I won't be able to talk to you, or be friendly with you."
She let out a snort of laughter. "You aren't friendly to me now."
He reached for her hands, grabbing them to snag her attention. "Andorra, I'm serious. The me that you're about to meet is not the me that you know. The me inside these gates is not friendly, nor am I forgiving. I need you to know it's an act, a game. I need you to know the way I act does not change our friendship."
His hands were absolutely freezing on her skin, but she could hardly feel it. She knew he was being serious, but she couldn't grasp the depth of what he was trying to tell her.
"Noah, relax. I'm sure it'll be fine."
He shook his head, pulling her closer to him. "No, Andorra. Beyond these gates, you cannot trust me. Understand? The Noah beyond these gates is not me."
She wanted to respond, but he let go of her so fast it nearly made her fall over. She stumbled, got her balance, then opened her mouth to tell him how rude his actions were. But when she looked up, there were men beyond the gate.
"Welcome home, sir."
Sir? Andorra turned towards Noah, shocked to see that his face was no longer a mask of teenage adolescence. Instead, he had aged, looking like the man in the diner, and her chest suddenly tightened.
"You need to take the Princess to my father immediately. When you arrive, you may run me a bath." He glanced at Andorra, but his eyes were dark and cold. "Set her up in a room far from mine. I have no use to run into her everyday. I've had enough of her." His voice was a snarl that made her stomach bottom out, but she remembered his words. Don't trust me.
"Yes sir. Welcome home."
Noah waved his hand in a dismissal, and then without a backwards glance, he was gone, stepping through the slip in the cracks. Andorra felt as though she'd been burned by him, but she shook it off as she turned towards the men who bowed to her.
She didn't know why they did that, so she returned the bow until one of the men stopped her. "Princess, you do not need to bow to us." The shared strange looks. "Come with us. The Clan Leader is very excited to meet you."
That makes one of us, she thought to herself, knowing if Noah was cold and cruel here, his father was probably worse.
When she stepped beyond the gates, the weather seemed to drop impossibly, and she shook in her jacket. The men formed a circle around her, protecting her, but she strained her neck to see around them. It was dark out, so there was very little she could see, but she saw the mountains of snow around them.
She felt the snow as it fell on her, cold and soft and sweet. She felt as though she'd entered a snowglobe as they walked through the town, passing the different storefronts and houses, all dark due to the time of night, but interesting still. It reminded her of the Christmas towns her mother would recreate with porcelain houses and fake snow on the mantle of the fireplace in their old home.
The entire walk, she shivered, feeling as though the wind was cutting into her. It was the coldest she had ever been, and it was killing her, or though she felt as though it was. She was about to ask the men if they too could just step through the cracks of the world when they approached a house larger than the rest, sitting atop a small hill. It looked magnificant, easily the biggest house she'd ever seen, and made completely of wood. A log cabin that was more like a log castle.
The men marched her up to the front steps and then opened the door, letting her step into the warmth. She was still shivering, but she felt the way the warm air seemed to curl around her bones, and she sighed in relief.
A maid met them in the foyer, stripping Andorra of her jacket. She wanted to complain, but the woman grabbed her, yanking her from the foyer. "The Clan Leader's wife wants her bathed." She explained to the men, offering nothing else as she yanked Andorra up the wide staircase.
Andorra stared at the maid, watching with fascination as her white hair fell like a sheet down her back, reminding her of ice. Everything about the woman was sharp, with sharp facial features, sharp bones, sharp clothes. Even her expression was sharp as she steered Andorra into a bedroom on the second level.
Andorra barely had time to ask questions before the maid was stripping her bare and pushing her into a tub of scalding hot water. She yelped, almost jumping out, but the maid held her down, forcing her to sit in the water.
"You are meeting with the Clan Leader. You must be washed and cleaned. You look dirty."
She scowled, feeling insulted. "Okay, sorry I didn't shower before coming here." Then, her words softened. "Should I be afraid of the Clan Leader?"
The maid's face softened as well, settling into something less intimidating. She ran her hands through Andorra's blonde hair, blowing out a sigh. "You should be wary, yes, but not afraid. He is pleased to have you here. Pleased that Sir Noah was successful."
There was something in her voice that suggested he wasn't pleased Noah left in the first place. "Will I get to see Noah?" Her voice was hopeful, but the maid's face soured and she tightened her grip in Andorra's hair until it was painful.
"You will address him as Sir, and you will not be seeing Sir Noah. He has his own duties. You will not find him, either. He has been gone too long and he is none of your concern."
Andorra winced at her tone and at the painful hold the maid had on her hair. She suddenly felt very lonely and very homesick, so much so that she felt like crying. "Oh," she forced out, trying to hold back the tears.
The maid noticed this as she lathered up Andorra's hair in shampoo. "Princess, this is for your own good. You and Sir Noah cannot be friends. When we are in Anlithamy, it would do you good to forget about him. I see the wanting in your eyes, but he cannot be yours."
Andorra hated that she'd been caught. She let the maid wash the shampoo from her hair, enjoying the way it felt, but hating the reason why she was there in the tub, away from Noah, the only person who made her feel safe, comforted.
"Princess, if the Clan Leader thought for a moment that you and Sir Noah were... interested, he would not like it. He may take it out on Sir Noah. It is best if you try to forget him while you are here."
Andorra heard her words, but she hated them and wished she hadn't heard them in the first place.
Once her bath was done, and she was dried off, Andorra was dressed in a tight corset that made her chest hurt, and then strung up in a gown that was laced in the back, a brilliant deep blue color that reminded her of Noah's eyes.
She didn't get a look at herself in the mirror before she was pulled from the room and yanked down the stairs. She stumbled her way across tiled floors until her and the maid reached two dark wooden doors. The maid knocked once, then bent her head towards the floor. Before Andorra could copy the maid, the doors opened, and she looked into the eyes of a man who looked exactly like Noah, only his face was smiling and it wasn't friendly.
* * *
THE SEQUEL IS ALMOST HERE!
Go check it out on my page and leave a vote on the prologue! I'll be picking a random voter to dedicate my first chapter to!
GOLDEN will be released January 1, 2021
See you soon ;)
OMG she is the snow clan!!!! how do you think it'll go?
she can't talk to Noah... yikesssss
I hope u guys enjoy this update! Love you all, XOXO