Page 126 of The Prince and the Ice King

They stood there—dressed, since their forms had always turned their clothing to their elements—gazing down at themselves in jubilant disbelief. They had changed forms just like Jack, and so too did the ice sculptures that filled the courtyard, melting away into nothing to join the dampness of the snow.

Those vile villains, along with Lombard’s pieces, returned to nothing because they deserved nothing, like the thief Jack had shattered the day he met Reardon—and the first thief who taught him about betrayal.

There had been others, though, too many, who had suffered the effects of an elemental touch without deserving to go up in flames, or fizzle, or turn to gold. Jack faced the courtyard leading to the castle and saw the doors as they burst open to let out not the archers or anyoneremaining from the ramparts, but familiar faces that had once been thought dead, their remains shut in the cellar.

Even the Emerald soldier who Liam had touched appeared right where he’d been slain, at the edge of the courtyard wall.

Then a gasp, like an echo of Jack’s before, sounded from behind him, too close to be any of his subjects or the Emerald soldiers. Jack almost dared not turn, but he had to know.

Reardon was melting, not into nothing like those who had earned their fate, but having the ice melt from him, leaving him damp but whole again, standing before Jack with a relieved sigh and that same sweet smile.

Before Jack could move, Reardon tackled him, without any trace that the dagger ever existed save a tear in Reardon’s shirt. He threw himself at Jack so fully, they almost toppled over, but Jack steadied his feet upon the cold ground and held Reardon tight.

“You did it!” Reardon sobbed into his shoulder. “I wasn’t sure if it would work, if it would be enough, but you did it! You finally believed in you.”

Jack squeezed Reardon tight and kissed the side of his neck. “I did, but only because you believed in me first.”

As soon as Reardon lifted his head with that glorious, tear-stained smile, Jack kissed him. He kissed him as fiercely as he ever had and wished upon every power that existed that this not be an illusion.

Reardon’s warmth, his soft lips, his lithe body against Jack’s, felt better than any time before, standing in the light of the sun.

“Y-you’re naked!” Reardon exclaimed when they parted, hurrying to remove his cloak and wrap it around Jack.

Jack clasped it closed but couldn’t bring himself to care that dozens of people from two different kingdoms had just seen a naked Ice King with all his scars.

A triumphant holler came from the courtyard, and Jack and Reardon looked back to see Barclay finally having descended to join the others, Josie close at his side, as they were surrounded by the happy faces of the people returned to them—including the elf who had once tried to save Josie and paid for it.

At last, their curse was truly and finally—

Light erupted in the center of the battlefield so blindingly that, even though Jack and Reardon had been turned away, they still had to shieldtheir eyes. Once it began to fade, they looked to where it had originated, and where the light dimmed stood a figure.

Her.

“Now,” the Fairy Queen said, in all her beauty and finery, “thatis the ending I’ve been waiting for.”

Chapter 14

Reardon

Reardon felt the wayJack tensed at the arrival of the Fairy Queen—Mavis—in the center of the battlefield, or rather, whathadbeen a battlefield, but that Jack had diffused into a peaceful standoff.

None of the Emerald soldiers looked likely to take up arms again, though a good many looked nervous or at least in wonder at the great queen of elves proven as real as the Ice King in their midst.

What exactly had transpired, Reardon couldn’t say. He’d known only what he had to do and had kissed Jack boldly in goodbye upon his icy lips, but what he’d expected to be as excruciating as the dagger once pierced into his chest had proven to be a peaceful chill that overtook him like falling into a deep sleep.

Then, in what had seemed like moments, he woke again, the cold turned to soothing warmth like that of a summer sun. The dagger was gone, and the pain with it, which meant, especially with Mavis’s arrival, that Lombard must be gone too. Reardon would mourn him eventually, but for now, all he could feel was joy to have the curse lifted and the battle ended without further bloodshed.

Even if Jack was stark nude in the middle of it all beneath Reardon’s borrowed cloak.

“Youdareshow yourself the moment we earn freedom!” Jack roared. He wasn’t in as delighted a mood and pulled Reardon behind him as if to shield him from her power.

“Jack—”

“I won’t let you touch him or any of my people again!”

Mavis clucked her tongue, walking toward them with her indigo gown fluttering elegantly as she moved and everyone in her path giving a wide berth. “Such a temper—for a barefoot man in the snow.”

Reardon couldn’t help but notice that she was barefoot again too.

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