Page 35 of This Frozen Heart

Then the snow is only to my ankles as I find myself standing in the road at last.

Grinning like a fool now, I turn to assist Gerta onto the road like I would have helped her out of a chariot if our lives were different.

Her eyes widen as she steps onto the road with me. “We made it!” Giggling, she throws her arms around me.

The warmth feels so good, I wrap my arms around her waist in return. Then, because all my endurance has returned with my relief, I lift her into a swirling circle. I set her down quickly, though, before she can think I’m making off with her again.

Gerta looks up at me from beneath her lashes, suddenly bashful. “This is where we part?”

For a moment, I’m frozen by her gaze, and I see something new in her warm, brown eyes. Something that somehow makes me think ofeternity.

Clearing my throat, I nod. “Yes, this is where we part, just as I said. You have no need to fear me; just know that what comes next for you will be a consequence of your own choices like the freedom you love so much demands.”

“Thank you . . . I suppose.”

“For releasing you?”

She laughs at the ridiculousness of it all. “How about for saving my life . . . multiple times over.”

“It was for my mission.”

“That you are betraying for my sake.” Gerta finally looks me in the eye, and I see a dozen emotions swirling there beyond what I’ve trained myself to detect.

“My mission was to keep you alive while you were under my care. It would seem I’ve accomplished a second mission now, so my one failure will seem insignificant compared to all that I’ve accomplished.”

“What about your moral code? Isn’t this the same as failure?”

I shake my head sadly, even though it’s true. “You never cared about the rules or my personal code when we were children; why start now? As for me, well, I think I like your moral code more. I hope you don’t mind my adopting it.”

A small smile stretches across Gerta’s lips that I could have had a chance to taste.

Now I never will.

Something like regret spikes through me, which is odd. I did not come here to marry a Gaelic woman, so why do I imagine kissing one?

At least she is no longer my prisoner . . .

Suddenly, Gerta is grasping my face and leaning forward.

Has she somehow read my thoughts?

This time, I am frozen like the ice around us as she leans toward me, this time with her trajectory for the cheek she kissed before. Then she halts. “I am sorry; I forgot myself for a moment. I remember now that you do not appreciate such tokens of gratitude.”

I grasp her hands before she can pull away, words falling from my lips before I can stop them. “You may kiss me.”

Chapter Eighteen

Gerta

“You may kiss me.”

I stare at Kay in shock at both his audacity and his generosity for saying such a thing. I am not sure which reaction I should give in to, so I stare stupidly instead. “But . . .what?”

“We shall never cross paths again if the Three Heavens shine upon you.” One hand abandons mine to caress the side of my face, the warmth of his touch combating the chill of the wind.

Would his kiss also warm my frozen lips?

“I already know I will regret crossing paths with you again more than I have regretted anything else from my birth until now,” Kay murmurs, his expression actually softening from his usual countenance. Then his thumb caresses my mouth, sending shivers that have nothing to do with the cold down my spine. “But not as much, I fear, as you would regret walking away from this moment without a farewell kiss.”

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