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  I had thought my reaction to her the first time we had met had been a simple fluke, adrenaline from the events that had taken pace earlier that night – a night that even now, after sixteen years, I could still remember clearly. The situation at the time had been completely different and although I felt strongly about her then, it was vastly different now, just as strong, but definitely different. She had been just a toddler then, my instincts at that time had been a deadly need to protect her at any costs, but now…now I had a hard time explaining to myself what I felt towards her. The urgency to guard her was still there, but it was more then that and it was something I wasn’t comfortable thinking about, even in the safety confines of my own head.

  Here I was with every single one of my nerves vibrating with life, hope and that same strange familiar yearning. I hadn’t expected my reaction to her to be even stronger after all this time, especially with the depths of thick solid ice several feet deep, separating us. The ice barrier should have been laughable to me, it was nothing compared to the millions of miles and years that had been stacked against us.

  They had elected me to bring her back, because other then her watcher, I had been the last one to see the Princess alive. It hadn’t been part of my job to know where the watcher had taken her, my job had merely been to get them safely off the island, but I had known that I could find her. I had been extremely confident the pull she had on me would come in useful, even if it was good for nothing else, but confusing the hell out of me. I had expected it to take me a lot longer to find her, but that gravity like link had been there drawing me to her the whole time, guiding me to her location.

  Within a week I knew of her vicinity and within two weeks I knew exactly where she was. After two months of zigzagging all over the northern hemisphere, making sure I was losing anyone who might have been following me, I was finally standing over her. My reaction to her had always been there, as far as I could remember, it had been a dull crackle over the last few years, but the moment I had started tracking her, the current had surged to existence full force.

  It had been like a special beacon she was submitting just for me, like she knew I was coming for her and she wanted me to find her without any trouble.

  I know how crazy that makes me sound, but how else could I possibly explain the connection I feel towards her?? Maybe it was just the fact that I needed her to save our kingdom that was putting more emphasis on this attraction I thought I had to her. It was just my imagination working double time. That explanation made me feel less guilty about my forbidden feelings for a Princess that wasn’t even mine, but the relief was temporary because in the end I knew it had nothing to do with our royal responsibility.

  I heard the footsteps approaching behind me – I had heard them way before they had come up close enough for any normal person to hear them. Bare feet crushed the delicate shapes of the snow flakes that were scattered all over the length of the iced lake; I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

  “She’s here, right below you in fact.”

  “Well gee thanks Sherlock Holmes.” Two months worth of travelling with Aaron was to blame for the disdain that laced my words. “Listen I didn’t bring you along so you could find her, I brought you along so you could defrost her.”

  He didn’t respond to my harsh words, he just circled around me, staring at the spot right about the Princesses head. My gaze swept across Aaron’s body, there was no disgust in my eyes, just open curiosity. I never get use to seeing them in their natural form like this and even now as I looked at him, it was as if this was the first time I was seeing him. I dropped my eyes to meet the same spot and wondered how she would look for the first time when she took this form.

  “It’s already started.”

  My distracting thoughts were broken at his words and my head snapped up. I looked at him with puzzled eyes. His head was cocked to the side and his face was twisted in complete focus.

  “What do you mean it’s already started?? I thought you said it was way too early. That we would have to jump start the process ourselves.” I accused.

  He was silent for so long, I didn’t think he was going to answer me, but when he finally looked at me, he looked just as confused as I was.

  “I don’t understand it…” his voice trailed off and he knelt down, resting his knee against the frozen floor and resting one arm on his raised knee. He placed his other hand flat on the cold surface just like mine had been moments before.

  I hadn’t expected the intense sense of possession that flooded me, consumed me when Aaron placed his hand over her. I knew he wasn’t actually touching her and I was completely aware that I was insane, but the touch seemed intimate and because I wanted nothing more then to slap his hand away, I balled mine into fists to control the temptation. Something occurred to me then and I blurted it out before I thought about how crazy it would sound.

  “Do you feel anything towards her??” and just like I had suspected, Aaron looked at me like I had lost my mind.

  “What do you mean??” He asked slowly and his dark brows pulling together in uncertainty.

  I wanted to take it back, I wanted to pretend like I hadn’t just opened my mouth, letting out the crazy thoughts inside my head, but I was past the point of no return and I had to explain myself. “I mean do you feel any…connection to her??” I was even waving my hands around in front of me like I was an insane person. “Like a cosmic pull towards her??” I felt like an idiot, but part of me didn’t care because I desperately wanted to make sure that no one else felt this same link to her that I did. That she was mine even is she wasn’t. “Well??” I demanded when he just stared at me with that stupid perplexed expression.

  “I feel her energy…if that’s what you mean” His words came out slow, as if he were unsure of my reaction.

  “So you don’t feel it all the time, her energy, I mean?? Or is it only when you’re close to her??”

  “Yes.” He still sounded unsure about where this was going and then he specified, “Only when I’m close to her.”

  I exhaled my relief slowly, hoping he wouldn’t notice, “Just wondering.” I shrugged nonchalantly, trying to pass it off as indifference, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. Aaron wasn’t one to dwell on facts or details that didn’t involve the specific task at hand; he was pretty laid back in that way.

  “She’s awake.” He said catching my attention. I tried to peer into the ice expecting to see her.

  “I don’t see anything.” I said.

  “Well she is pretty imbedded in the ice. You won’t be able to see her, but…” he trailed off and I was starting to get pretty annoyed with that.

  “What?!” I didn’t want to admit, but I was getting anxious.

  “She can sense us…or actually…you.”

  For a moment I forgot how to breathe. The fact that she was aware of me –maybe not in the same way as I was of her- caught me off guard. Once again I was searching the frozen water hoping to catch a small glimpse of her. The urge to tunnel through the ice myself was so great, my hands shook. I looked at Aaron again making sure he wasn’t playing some vindictive joke at my expense, secretly trying to get back at me for my asinine questions earlier.

  “She can sense me??” I asked doubtful, “What does that mean exactly??”

  “I don’t know really. I’ve never felt energy like this before, it’s extremely strong and half the time I don’t even know who is giving it off the strongest - you or her.”

  “You can feel my energy too?? I thought you could only sense others from your kind??” I wondered what kind of energy I- we, we’re giving off.

  “I can’t, I mean I don’t, not usually anyway. This is the first time I have ever felt anything like this. I am the strongest of the LIGHT FIGHTERS, so that could be why, but I’m not positive.” He was completely bewildered by the situation.

  I had known he was the strongest of their clan. That was exactly why I had picked him to come along with me. I needed someone whom I c
ould trust to get the job done quickly and even though he was just a kid, he was in fact their most valuable. He interrupted my critic when he spoke again.

  “She’s scared,” he said. “She doesn’t know what’s going on. She doesn’t know who she is, in either of her worlds, but that’s just a side effect of the process. It’s different for anyone; she’ll get passed that once she is completely thawed out and around her normal settings.”

  He sounded like he was comforting me and I wondered if he could read my energy again because no sooner had he said that, pain knotted in my throat at the thought of her having to be down there alone and it made it difficult to swallow, I wanted nothing more then to be buried down there with her, comforting her, holding her. I shook my head angrily –why did my thoughts always have to go in that direction?! When I looked up, Aaron was staring at me, probably trying to figure out my emotions and I knew for sure this time he could sense my energy and I immediately felt guilty. I didn’t know much about the whole energy stuff, but I’m sure it wasn’t just something he could turn on and off when he wanted.

  I wanted to ask him about it, but he cleared his throat and looked towards the sky squinting. Shaking his head again, he still wore that same confused look.

  “I just don’t understand it.” He finally said. “The sun isn’t even at its highest point in the sky yet. There is no way this should be happening.”

  “How long will it take for her to completely defrost??” I asked.

  “Well once the process has started, it’s only a matter of a few hours, but a normal defrosting process is done closer to the warmer months when the sun is at its warmest. I’ll have to pull the sun closer to help speed up the process, but it could be no sooner then tomorrow morning or afternoon maybe, the sun isn’t very strong this time of the year.”

  “Well what are you waiting for then?? Get started,” I ordered. “The sooner we have her out of there the better. I don’t want her to be entirely traumatized now that she has had time to realize that she has been buried and frozen alive.” My voice was rough with worry and impatience, but I couldn’t help it.

  It was a hell of a way to wake up like that and it was made worse that she had no idea what was going on.

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