Page 35 of Rescued By Her Guardian

He brushed his lips over hers again then sat up and reached for his phone.

It buzzed just as he lifted it from the side table.

“Knox,” he said when he answered by pressing the speaker button.

“Is Ivy awake?” Maverick asked.

“Yeah, just now. Why?”

“We need you to come up to the security office. Immediately. If she wasn’t awake, I would have sent her brother to hang out with her until you got back.”

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“No. We’ve got a problem.”

As Ivy got dressed, her mind was a jumble. What had happened to Bruce?

She was thankful that Zara was okay and definitely extremely thankful that Knox had intervened and prevented Frost from taking her magic entirely and replacing it with his dark magic.

When they were on the way to the security office, she said, “I’d like to talk to my dad and Alder too.”

“Of course, as soon as we deal with whatever the hell is going on.”

They reached the end of the hall, and he opened the door to the corridor that would take them to the security building. Ivy rubbed her stomach as a knot of unease formed. “Do you think Bruce is okay?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart.”

“Did I…leave him behind?”

“What do you mean?”

“If he got taken and was in one of the other cells, then I left him behind.”

Knox held the door open for her and she stepped through. Before he joined her, he gave her a long, quiet look.

“You didn’t know. You are not in the least bit responsible for whatever fuckery Frost is up to. He stole you from me when I was trying to keep you safe, and I wish to hell that I’d killed him.”

“I wish you had too, although that would open up other problems.”

He took her hand, and they walked down the corridor. “What kind of problems? Doesn’t getting rid of Frost keep the Well safe?”

“Well sure,” she said. “But Frost heralds winter. It’s his job. And he and his wife never had children, which means he doesn’t have an heir. If he were to die, that would leave the position of Jack Frost open.”

“Couldn’t Santa handle it?”

“No. Santa can’t take on the mantle of Jack Frost. It has to be someone from the Nicholas family, soifsomething happened to Frost, that would mean that Santa would have to bring someone from the family into the job.”

She’d never seen an ascension ceremony, but she’d read about it in school. Essentially, only someone in the Nicholas family could be Santa or Frost, the two working together to bring about winter and Christmas, both meant to be caretakers of the Well of Magic. The next in line for either position would approach the Well of Magic along with several elf elders, the oldest of her kind. There, at the Well, whoever was taking over either position would pledge themselves to the position with an ancient spell. The spell would grant the person the power of the position.

“So when Saint Nicholas took over the position as Santa from his father when he was ready to step down, Saint used the spell and took on the mantle of Santa. Then Angel did the same when he was old enough to take over the Jack Frost position from their uncle.”

“Who would take over for Jack Frost if he were taken out?”

“The whereabouts of their family are kept secret from most everyone,” she said. “Santa knows, but Frost doesn’t. Santa moved their family members into hiding when Frost turned to dark magic and tried to kill Santa the first time. When I was in school, there were rumors of cousins to Santa and Frost, but where they are is anyone’s guess.”

“Santa hides them to keep Frost from taking them out?”

“Yes.”

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