Cursed Ice Read online

  Cursed Ice

  Paranormal Fantasy

  Ann Gimpel

  Contents

  Cursed Ice

  Book Description, Cursed Ice

  Books in the Ice Dragon Series

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  About the Author

  Primal Ice, Dragon Time

  Cursed Ice

  Ice Dragon Series, Book Two

  Paranormal Fantasy

  * * *

  By

  Ann Gimpel

  * * *

  Tumble off reality’s edge into myth, magic, ice, and dragons

  Copyright Page

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © March 2019, Ann Gimpel

  Cover Art Copyright © March 2019, Fantasia Cover Designs

  Edited by: Kate Richards

  Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or people living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, e-mail, or web posting without written permission from the author.

  Book Description, Cursed Ice

  By his own admission, Johan’s always been one stubborn bastard. He’s wedded to his freedom, and the thought of bonding with a dragon has some pretty serious downsides. If he doesn’t sign on to become magical, though, he’ll be left behind—also not an acceptable outcome.

  Distant relatives to dragons, sea-serpents are gaining strength shockingly fast. Breeding farms spring up on distant outposts, spitting out all manner of evil. Banished eons ago by the dragon god, the serpents are making a comeback. As the dragons seek allies, they uncover still more atrocities.

  Katya, dragon shifter and twin to the dragon prince, thought she wanted Johan as her mate, but he has more rough edges than she counted on. Besides, the serpent problem supersedes everything. She’s used to dragons being in charge, but when a serpent almost steals her will, it’s quite the wakeup call her magic isn’t as potent as she always assumed.

  Is the age of dragons drawing to a close? If that’s true, what will come next?

  Books in the Ice Dragon Series

  Feral Ice, Book One

  Cursed Ice, Book Two

  Primal Ice, Book Three

  Author’s Note

  Ice Dragon is a trilogy, so a long tale split into three books that need to be read in order. I was fascinated by Antarctica long before I visited there, and my two trips were so incredible, I still stumble over words to describe the awe I felt at the vista of ice-crusted ocean, hardy mosses and lichens, and the proliferation of wildlife. Tame critters who are as likely to peck at you or sit on your lap as they are to put on an amazing show—as if you weren’t even there.

  A story about ice dragons has been percolating for a few years now. It was time to breathe life into it.

  Chapter 1

  My name is Johan Petris. I’m not entirely certain how it happened, but I’ve fallen off a cliff. Not a physical one, but one separating what I always believed was real from where I am now. I’m a metallurgical engineer, for chrissakes, and a Dutchman to boot. We’re a bit of a dour lot. Hell, we don’t even encourage our children to engage in flights of fancy.

  I admit to a closet fascination with science fiction and fantasy, but it wasn’t anything I’d ever have confessed to anyone. Not out loud. My work fellows would have had a tough time taking me seriously if they thought I entertained myself with tales of alien visitation.

  Or werewolves. Or vampires.

  I’ll spare you the details of how I ended up kilometers underground in a dragon shifter lair. That’s a tale for another day. Let it suffice to say I’m here, along with Erin Ryan, a doctor and biochemist. We’re deep in discussions with our dragon shifter hosts to determine what comes next. Not surprisingly, radical differences in our belief systems have turned our chat into a contest of wills.

  I feel for Erin, but I admire her spirit. She’s having a much rougher time than me absorbing the idea of magic being anything other than an abstract construct. Too nervous to remain seated, she’s pacing around the room asking questions. Blonde hair is billowing around her tall, spare body, and her blue eyes hold a worried cast.

  I’m not sure why accepting magic is real hasn’t been harder for me, but people are different that way. I have half an ear on Konstantin, one of the dragon shifters, as he describes several iterations of magic wielders. Only half, though. The rest of my mind is busy—reeling might be more accurate—with information about other worlds. Lots of them.

  Apparently, we’re headed toward a constellation of borderworlds to secure assistance from other magic wielders. Sea-serpents, a distant relative of the dragons, have invaded Earth. We’re the only ones who know about them, so, presumably, we have to act as the first line of defense—

  A brilliant flash I’ve come to associate with dragon shifter magic made me squinch my eyes tight. When I opened them, Konstantin had crossed the kitchen and grabbed Erin. She was writhing in his grasp, trying to get away.

  I wasn’t anxious to confront him. Richly muscled, he probably stood six feet six with shiny copper-gold hair cascading around his shoulders. But I couldn’t just sit there and let him manhandle Erin, either. She’d been one of my shipmates on an Antarctic research expedition. It’s how we ended up in the Southern Ocean.

  The dragons’ cozy kitchen stretched around us. Carved out of earth, its walls sported rich veins of gold, silver, and other precious metals. Most of the kitchen’s contents were tucked behind magical panels at the far end of the rectangular room. We’d been sitting at a good-sized table, one that could easily accomodate twenty, before Erin jumped up and began pacing.

  I hustled to where she and Konstantin stood and asked, “Is that really necessary?”

  “I won’t hurt her,” Konstantin growled.

  I’m certain he meant to dissuade me from further words—or action—but I didn’t back down.

  While I was considering what to do next, Katya, Konstantin’s twin and another dragon shifter, materialized next to me and hooked an arm beneath mine. “Come with me. We shall talk. Erin is safe with my brother.”

  Katya is stunning. About the same height as Erin, she has masses of copper-colored curls. Most of the time, she’s naked, which is a huge distraction. I admit I’m weak, but I’m a man, and we tend to be diverted by bare breasts and acres of leg. Both she and her brother have golden eyes with deep-green centers. In dragon form—she’s golden, and he’s black—their eyes spin, casting a hypnotic net.

  I felt power spilling from her, but I was helpless to do anything except acquiesce. It was a damned uncomfortable spot to be in. I value my free will, and it’s been in short supply lately. My mouth opened, seemingly of its own accord, and I murmured, “Of course. Where would you like us to sit?”

  “Can’t you see what Konstantin’s doing?” Erin squawked. “Whatever he left out, we all need to hear it. Together. In the same room.”

  I heard Erin, but her voice was coming from a long way away. Her complaint seemed petty, unimportant. When I twisted my head to look for her, she and Konstantin were gone. It s
hould have worried me, but Katya’s warmth, pressing the length of my side, was paramount.

  Somehow, Katya and I ended up one flight above sitting on one of the pallets scattered through a number of sleeping areas. She seized a length of fuzzy fabric and wound it around herself, almost as if she divined how much trouble her nudity created.

  Whatever she’d done to get me to follow her upstairs dissipated. Worry for Erin filled me. “Where has Konstantin taken Erin? And for what purpose?” I asked without preamble. I tried for a stern enough tone Katya wouldn’t blow me off.

  Or muffle me with magic again.

  She nodded. “It’s understandable you’d be concerned, but my brother would never harm her.”

  I folded my legs beneath me and said, “Konstantin indicated the same thing. That he would not hurt her, but you did not answer either of my questions.”

  “No. I did not.”

  “Why? I still know nothing about his intentions.”

  Katya curved her fingers and raked them through her thick, unruly hair. The motion stretched the fabric tight across her breasts. I forced my gaze upward with firm instructions to keep my eyes on her face, not on the outline of her nipples.

  After a pause, one that dragged out so long I was crafting what to say next to encourage her to talk, she said, “We’re in a precarious predicament. We have no time to waste while I dispel your fears about Erin.”

  I opened my mouth, but she shook her head. “Hear me out. We cannot leave you here in our home while we travel to various borderworlds seeking allies. If something unexpected happened, and we were unable to return, you and Erin would be stuck down here. There is no way to reach the surface without magic.”

  She spread her hands in front of her. “It’s far too dangerous to stumble around the universe with two humans in tow. For you and for us. We might end up fighting for your survival instead of lobbying for the help we so desperately need. Absent aid, Earth will be lost to the sea-serpents.”

  “How can you know?” I asked, startled by the adamant tone of her statement.

  “Because they’re like us. It means I understand how they think, how they operate.” She cast a sidelong glance my way.

  “All right. You ruled out several options. We cannot accompany you, and we cannot remain here. What is left?”

  She traded looking askance at me for raking me with an astute gaze that probably missed very little. “Only two options. We leave you on the surface—where you would be vulnerable to both the sea-serpents and the elements if we were gone overlong.”

  “Or?”

  “Or we make a bid for each of you to become a dragon shifter.” Her golden eyes never left my face.

  “What? But neither of you is even certain such a thing is possible.” I felt as if a mule had backed up and kicked me in the guts with both its rear hoofs.

  “No. We’re not,” she agreed. “Konstantin intuited Erin would be a harder sell than you. Fear lives in that one, although she covers it well. It’s why he took her to a more private location. He will lay out her options, and then she will choose.”

  “What happens if she says no to becoming a dragon shifter?” It was an easier question to ask than one about me because it was a step removed from my own fate. But I bet the answer would be the same.

  I ground my teeth in irritation at my cowardice. I didn’t usually avoid tackling difficult situations, but this one was so bizarre I didn’t have a place to slot it.

  “Konstantin will probably deliver her to that Polish research base the two of you have mentioned.”

  Understanding flooded me, right along with guilty relief. Erin would never opt to become a dragon shifter. Not in this world or any other. “We are here until she decides, right? Because both of us have to make the same choice.”

  “No. We’re here for two reasons. To move us out of the way, and for you to think about what you want to do.”

  I frowned, remembering an earlier conversation, one of the first we’d had with the dragon shifter twins. “But Erin and I are ruled by a single fate, correct?”

  Katya shook her head. “No longer true.” She offered me a soft smile. “For a transformation to have a ghost of a chance of success, you must want it with everything in you. The same is true of Erin. Neither of you can ride on the other’s coattails.”

  I turned the information over, considering it. “If I demur, you will see I end up at Arctowski, the Polish base?”

  “Yes. It will be a death sentence. Not right away, but quite soon. The nearest humans will be the first targeted by the sea-serpents.”

  “Mmph. So I would be better served having you leave me in Europe?”

  “You would, indeed.” She paused long enough to take a measured breath. “I would erase your memories. While I would be as careful as possible, you would lose some that are bound up with your time with us.”

  “I understand. Some of my memories of Erin would be at risk too.”

  Katya nodded solemnly. “Would that be a problem?”

  Her tone was studiedly neutral, so I couldn’t read what might lie behind it. Part of me hoped she might be a tiny bit jealous, but I was being ridiculous. “Not a problem so much as it pokes my control freak buttons,” I mumbled.

  “What exactly are they?”

  I chuckled. “Humans are an odd lot. We nurture the illusion we are masters of our own ships.” I took a breath and blew it out, my amusement fading. “Every time you or your brother uses magic to force an outcome, I resent the hell out of it. I am used to living in a world where people make requests, and I am free to accept or decline.”

  She knitted her coppery brows together. “Does that mean you never have to do things that bother you? Or that you disagree with?”

  “Of course not.” I stopped before blindly blundering forward. Perhaps the freedom I’d cherished wasn’t anything beyond a carefully constructed illusion.

  “So you’re not truly free?” she pressed.

  “I guess not, but…” My voice faltered. How could I explain the nexus between manners and social expectations and outcomes?

  “Never mind. It’s not important. You know your choices. What is your decision?”

  “Just like that?” Time shrank around me until I felt physical pressure compressing my chest like a steel band.

  “Yes. Just like that. I’m happy to answer questions, but when we leave this room, it will either be to travel to the place between worlds where we shall petition Y Ddraigh Goch for a dragon of your own or to a spot on earth of your choosing. Which shall it be?”

  She’d said she welcomed questions, and they bombarded me from all sides. “What if I try and cannot, uh, transform into something like you?”

  “Then we retreat to Plan B, and I deliver you somewhere on Earth.”

  “Minus my memories.”

  Katya nodded. “Of course.” She tilted her head to one side, and I couldn’t look away. No one had a right to be as beautiful as she was. Her skin glowed golden, almost begging me to reach out and stroke my fingertips over its surface.

  She dropped a hand on top of my thigh. The heat from her fingers and palm traveled through my thick, polar outerwear and prickled the skin beneath. “I’m not being cruel. Humans are a fragile lot. Your minds can only absorb so much. Holding memories of a failed attempt to bond with a dragon would eventually drive you mad. You would replay it over and over. You would blame yourself. You would want to try again, but once shut, that gate will never reopen.”

  “So, either way, I would lose my memories? If I fail at a transformation, or if I do not try at all?”

  Katya nodded.

  “I understand.” It was the prudent response, although privately I wasn’t certain she knew what she was talking about. How could she? From what she and her brother had said, they’d spent almost zero time with humans. Perhaps she was underestimating me. I rolled my mental eyes. Overconfidence had nearly been my undoing more than once.

  It was how I’d ended up chucked in the chromium dig
site with my femur broken. Erin set it, but Katya had healed me with magic. At the time, I’d had no idea how I’d recovered so fast, but I hadn’t questioned my fortune, either.

  “Questions?” Katya pressed.

  I wrenched my mind back to the ones uppermost in my mind. “This transformation. If it works, won’t it take really a long time for me to learn to control my magic?”

  “Your dragon would help with that. The main problem will be maintaining control over the dragon.” Breath rattled through her teeth. “They’re an independent bunch. When they’re not in your mind—or in their dragon form sharing your consciousness—they’re free to travel where they will.”

  “But we have only one body?” I clarified. “Either the man or the dragon.”

  “Yes and no.” She tossed an errant clump of hair over one shoulder. “The dragons have their own world. I suspect they’re corporeal in their own place.”

  “Why would you not know that?”

  “It’s a good question.” Katya’s nostrils flared. “Even though we’re bonded, the relationship is lopsided. My dragon knows everything about me, but the only things I know about her are what she wants me to know.”

  “You’ve never traveled to the dragons’ world?”

  “No. None of us have. It’s barred to everyone but dragons.”

  My forehead scrunched into a mass of lines. Obviously, we didn’t have hours and hours for me to quiz Katya. What could I ask that would cut through several layers of my ambivalence?