Chapter 21
twenty-one
We all saw her at the same time. We all stopped in the same second.
The sorcerer was not alone.
She stood there half hidden behind a big oak tree, its leaves dark, almost completely devoid of color.
Those colors would continue to fade the deeper into the forest we went, but here you could still see them.
The sorcerer was hiding behind a branch, only one of her eyes visible as she watched us curiously.
She wore black from head to toes, and a hood over her head that hid her hair completely, but she seemed old. Wrinkled.
Smiling.
Then I noticed the bald man standing not too far behind her, resting his shoulder against a tree, arms crossed in front of him as he looked at us.
He, too, was smiling, and he seemed younger.
He didn’t wear black but a light grey over his shoulders, and he didn’t mind that we could see him at all. He wasn’t trying to hide.
A bad feeling settled in my gut instantly. Something about sorcerers coming out in plain sight for you to see them…
“Keep moving.” Maera grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. The werewolves, who usually stayed about ten feet away from us, were close, very close. Right behind our backs now. “They’re not going to try anything funny. We will keep moving.”
Whether Maera said this in hopes that the sorcerers would hear her, I didn’t know. But continuing to walk deeper into that forest when I felt their eyes on the back of my head was torture. It was going against my every instinct to continue to move.
Then came more.
Maera didn’t let me stop walking. She kept holding me by the hand, which I appreciated, and she held her head up and her shoulders back. She never hurried, and the werewolves behind us did the same, stayed about two feet behind us, and eventually one of them began to whistle, too.
But the sorcerers didn’t stop us.
It was one of the strangest things I’d ever seen.
I could count eight of them, seven women and that one man, who were slowly following us from the sides, keeping their eyes on us the whole time, smiling to themselves, never uttering a single word.
Never attacking. My magic was on high alert, and the cold had numbed the tips of my fingers as I continuously held myself back from releasing it.
But I would. By God, the moment those sorcerers tried something funny, I was going to use all the ice magic and all the frostfire I could muster to stop them. Yeah, I was scared shitless, but I was also angry, and impatient, and fucking tired of being afraid, too.
“What the hell are they doing?” I said under my breath because more of them were ahead, on our sides. More of them, like they’d known we were coming, and they’d been waiting.
Thirteen sorcerers that I could see now—and I was willing to bet anything that more would be there soon as well. Just the weight of the air around me, the intensity of the magic that came with so many of them so close together.
I’ve never seen so many sorcerers in the same place before, I thought. The most I’d encountered were three—the same three who’d chased Maera and me off the edge of that cliff.
“They’re just watching. We don’t stop walking,” Maera whispered, and again, it struck me how calm she sounded. Like she’d never been caged by these people before. Like she really believed that if it came to it, we could take them, even though we were outnumbered.
“Maera, why are they watching us like that?” And why the hell were they smiling? So many of them—and just like I suspected, the more we walked, the more of them came through the trees. A whole fucking audience, none of them speaking to one another, just watching us.
“They feel you,” Maera whispered, and there went my heart, falling all the way to my heels again. “They feel your magic. It’s my best guess.”
“I’ve been here before. I’ve never—”
She stopped walking. Two of the werewolves who’d been behind us were now ahead, to our sides, looking forward.
At a sorcerer I’d seen before who had stopped right in the middle of our way.
It was the one who’d laughed, the one with dark reddish hair, the one with a corset, and boobs that nearly touched her chin. It was the one who’d chased after Maera and me that day, together with her two friends—and just like that day, she looked purely happy now, too.
Fuck, I hated that smile on her face.
“The dead have awakened.”
Four words, and it felt like I turned inside out at once.
Magic at my fingertips, on the palms of my hands, so cold it burned me.
“Walk away, sorceress. We’re only passing through,” said Maera, and I wasn’t sure whether the sorcerer recognized her at all, but she hardly gave her a glance before stepping forward.
“Oh, but we’re only here to witness Her Majesty’s return.”
“I’m n—”
Nails drove deep into my skin. Maera squeezed me so hard her nails left bloody half-moons on my skin.
My magic raged even more, coming up with the anger that seemed to explode from my very bones like a fucking volcano.
“Witness it from over there, then,” said Maera, nodding her head to the side.
The two werewolves who’d stepped in front of us started walking.
Maera pulled me to follow. The woman, who was a head taller than me, turned to give me a quick look.
Her yellow eyes shone, and I could have sworn she told me not to worry.
The four werewolves hadn’t spoken to me once, hadn’t approached me, but this woman, at least, didn’t look like she hated me.
Hand in hand with Maera, we walked ahead.
“But it’s so curious, is it not?” the redhead sorcerer continued to speak, but she was moving, too. Backward and to the side. To the already small crowd gathered on our right, slightly smaller than the one on our left.
So many sorcerers…
“We thought the Ice Queen was dead. We felt it. And now her magic is among us. It signals us. We had to see, didn’t we?”
Her voice was like daggers straight into my ears. I bit my tongue before I started screaming at her to leave me the fuck alone.
“After all, we thought she was dead once, too—the very same girl. A dead body with a long-dead soul. A supposedly dead soul, of course.”
She remembers.
I wasn’t sure why that surprised me—of course she would remember me. It had only been a couple months since she and her friends were looking down at my body, telling me I was way past saving, that I was going to die soon because Maera had scratched me.
“Well, you were wrong. She never died. The likes of you couldn’t kill a queen if you tried. Step aside, sorcerers,” Maera continued, and though we’d slowed down a bit, we were still moving. We were still walking.
And the sorcerer, with a deep bow of her head moved all the way to the right, hands with nails tipped like claws in plain sight. No potions and no magic. No weapons—except for that smile on her lips.
Then the whispering began.
How, someone said. Why? How do you bring back the dead?
Maera squeezed my hand to give me comfort, looked at me for a moment. She was concerned now, too. Of course, she was—we were surrounded by sorcerers on all sides. Even more of them had gathered, and they were following us. They were coming closer by the second.
Fucking hell, it was getting really hard to breathe easy.
“Keep moving,” Maera whispered when she caught me shaking my head.
“Why are they following us?” I said through gritted teeth.
“They’re just curious. They won’t attack.” Except she really didn’t sound like she believed that herself.
“And if they do?”
My words seemed to hang there in the air right over our heads. Maera didn’t answer, didn’t look at me at all.
Three more steps, and I felt like I was being suffocated by the very magic that was spreading underneath my skin like fucking ice shards trying to tear me apart from the inside.
I lost control of my own self so quickly that I took even me by surprise when I stopped. Took my hand back and turned around.
The two other werewolves who’d been walking behind us were confused, but they immediately stepped aside, backs turned to me, to Maera.
And the crowd of sorcerers who’d been following us was bigger than I thought.
Fifty people at the very least, most women, a few men, all bald for whatever reason.
All watching me—and they all stopped when I did.
My magic slipped out of my hands. I couldn’t keep it in if I tried—and honestly, I wasn’t trying just now. I wanted them to see.
“Nilah, what are you doing?” Maera whispered in my ear from behind.
“My name is Nilah Dune. I am not the Ice Queen,” I said slowly, so neither of them missed a word.
Whispers erupted all around me.
“However, I do carry her magic. You can all feel it.” I raised both my hands, lit up from within with the light that wasn’t silver or gold, but something in between.
The silver white shimmer that slipped out my fingertips spread about my hands, too, as if eager to make its presence known.
“We’re passing through Mysthaven to get to the faelands.
If someone tries to attack us, I will fight back. ”
All those words made my shoulders feel heavy, but I knew they had to be said. I didn’t want to continue to endure the pressure without knowing what was to come. If they wanted to attack me, I might as well let them know they weren’t going to win. Hopefully.
If they wanted to attack me, they could just do so now and be done with it.
The people absorbed every word I said.
Then a woman to my left moved forward, pushed aside two others who’d been in front of her.
Her nose was gigantic, barely any silver hair attached to the sides of her head.
She looked like she should have been dead a long time ago, yet she stood proud, with her head up and her shoulders back when she said, “It’s good to have you back, Your Majesty.
We’ve prayed for your return. We were not your enemy then, and we are not your enemy now. ”
To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Did you not fucking hear what I just said?!
These words died on my tongue before I convinced myself to say them, though, when the rest of the sorcerers began to mutter their agreement, and they all brought their hands to their chests, too.
“All we ask is your ear when you claim your throne—that is all. As it has always been,” the woman said, and others spoke out loud now, said, yes, yes, Your Majesty, your ear!
“Tell them what they want to hear—now.” A whisper from behind. Maera’s order was clear. “I will not lose you in a fight with sorcerers, Nilah. Speak.”
Except I wasn’t going to lie to these people, not when I knew how seriously they took everything around here.
But the magic was no longer slipping out of my fingers.
My frostfire wasn’t raging because suddenly I wasn’t as afraid as a moment ago.
Suddenly, I believed these people who stood there among trees and watched us.
I didn’t know much about their history with the Ice Queen, but I knew that the Frozen Court royals had given sorcerers this land, and they’d stood side by side through wars.
Vair had told me so, and I’d also read tales in the books on the Ice Queen’s shelves.
No, I wasn’t going to lie to these sorcerers even though Maera ordered me to do it, but if I ever for a moment considered that I might be in a position to speak to them, then…I would.
It was as simple as that.
“If I ever claim the Frozen throne, you will have my ear. I will sit down with you to discuss anything you want to discuss.” The words tasted bitter on my tongue, but I meant them.
If there was a universe in which I really was a queen of any kind, I would sit and talk to the people who used live beings as sources for their magic—fuck yes, I would.
I’d stop whatever the hell that was in any way I could, whether it was to force them or threaten them or even to give them an alternative, I’d do it.
After all, there were apparently rivers of power flowing about this entire continent. There would be ways. Better, way less crueler ways.
Of course, if was the keyword in my promise. And that if, even if the sorcerers might not know it, was an almost hundred percent no for me.
A second of silence.
The sorcerers seemed to measure my words. Look at one another. See if their own believed me.
And by some miracle, they decided that they would.
Whispers broke out among them once more, and suddenly they were stepping back slowly. Suddenly, they were all lowering their heads and moving farther away from us.
A hand on my shoulder. Maera spun me around to face her. “Let’s go,” she said, the yellow of her eyes dulled with worry.
I wasn’t, though. For a moment there, I was…
relieved. Even though the sorcerers were still there, even if they’d stepped back, I was still relieved, and I thought it was the end of it.
I thought they wouldn’t speak to us, wouldn’t stop us again, that they’d continue on their own way and leave us be.
But soon I realized that the sorcerers weren’t planning to walk away completely, only give us more space.
I turned, tried to calm myself, to tell myself that it was okay as long as they kept their distance—when a hand stopped right over my chest.
The werewolf woman who’d walked ahead of me.
The man on Maera’s side had his hand in front of her, too, and the two others who’d been behind were now at our sides, growling as they looked ahead. Growling, just like they did when they were in their wolf form.
My knees shook. I didn’t dare ask what they’d seen or heard or smelled. My heart stood perfectly silent, and it felt like every single sorcerer in that forest disappeared at once.
Then I saw red.