Page 71 of Born of Ice

“You little…” Rory stops herself, pursing her lips and I really don’t know how much more laughing my stomach can take. “You just wait till we get to the store later today. I’ll show you stressed.”

“Mr. Axe, can you make her two chamile teas?”

Exton and I are on the floor dying from laughter, and even Aurora’s shoulders shake with one too.

“You have the most amazing son, Rory,” I tell her, and she smiles softly, her loving gaze trained on the scene in front of us where Exton is running Emett through warmups.

After the best breakfast I’ve ever had, Exton sat Emett on the couch, asking him what he knows about hockey and all the other gibberish I don’t understand as they waited for food to settle and then they both changed and hit the ice as Aurora and I made ourselves comfortable at the front of the house with me in my wheelchair and her on a camping chair that Exton pulled out of the garage for her, both wrapped in thick blankets.

“Yeah, I do,” she agrees. “Even if he’s a small menace at times who is determined to embarrass me into the ground.”

After a few beats of tense silence, I say, “That’s what you wanted to talk to me about that day, wasn’t it?”

Aurora is still for a second and then she nods without looking at me.

“Yeah, I was going crazy in my own head and needed to talk to someone.” Now her eyes find mine and I take in a shuddering breath. “You were that someone for me.”

“I’m sorry.” My voice may sound quiet and tentative but what it is, is ashamed. “I’ve let down a lot of people I loved.”

I can feel Aurora’s gaze on me but this time it’s I who can’t look at her.

“By doing what? Going after your dreams? That’s not something you need to apologize for, least of all, to me.” My eyes snap to hers. That was not what I expected.

“We all have our own storms to chase or chase away, Electra, and I’ll never blame you for that.” There is an earie chill to her words. “You are the best of the best, so I’d say the gamble paid off.”

“Was. I was the best of the best.”

“No, youare.”

“God, you sound just like Exton. Did he give you a list of sentences to repeat to me?”

Rory chuckles softly.

“No, but since that’s the truth, maybe you should start listening to the two people who love you.”

My whole body goes stiff at her words. And I have to blink a few times before my brain catches up to what she must’ve meant as friends. They both love me as friends, because that’s what they are; albeit, Exton is very fresh in that role and I’m not sure how much of what our jabs and taunts could be described as love, but there is no other explanation for what she could have meant. And Aurora doesn’t elaborate on it either.

“He’s great with him,” she speaks up, nodding toward Exton and Emett as he runs him through drills, correcting him when it needs be and praising him for the smallest accomplishments.

Heisgreat with him. Better than great, even. Exton looks like a natural and I wonder what kind of father he would be. From the story he told me about his childhood, it didn’t sound like he had a great example to follow, but maybe that’s what would make him be amazing at it.

A sudden vision of a curly, dark-haired boy with icy blue eyes that are more than familiar to me as he skates with a stick along Iris Lake, flashes in front of my eyes, and I suck in a sharp breath. Where did that come from?

I never once considered having kids of my own. Maybe it was due to my profession and the fact that it was the most important baby of all to me. Maybe the thought was inspired by Stella’s lifestyle and watching her live it for the majority of my life now. Or maybe it’s the fear coursing through my blood every time I think about hearing the same diagnosis mom had and leaving my child all alone, clinging to my dying body in an empty hospital room.

No, I’ve never considered it or had any desire for kids yet now I see it as clear as a day and a piece of me—one I didn’t know existed—dies when my eyes fall upon my useless legs and the cage they are in.

Shaking my head to clear that hallucination—because that’s what it was—I pick up a different subject to talk about, asking Aurora about her life here and what she’s been doing these past years.

The conversation flows as easily as it used to five years ago, but that’s just who Aurora is. She doesn’t hold grudges. Even when she should.

But she’s an angel who’s been through her own storm.

Out of nowhere we hear a deep rumble, and both our heads turn at the sound of an approaching vehicle as a huge forest-green truck comes into view, prowling through the snow terrain like a mean panther through its domain.

Severin.

I smile, remembering how nice it was to talk to Exton’s friend. I’m glad he was able to make it out here again, knowing how busy they are with their games.

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