24
Valen
There’s shouting and banging doors as the estate scatters.
“Hurry. Over here!” Tania tries to usher Wren and Gensted through the door on the opposite side of the room with Zana, but neither of them move.
Gensted glowers at her. “If there’s trouble, then I have no intention of hiding like a coward.”
“Agreed,” Wren says. “We came to fight, so let’s fight.”
Gensted rounds on me. “I thought you said we had time. A little over a month.”
Delkin starts for the door. “She’s playing with us.” He snorts. “This is her way of showing us she’s still in control.”
“Someone could still get hurt.” I extend my hand and concentrate on my power, picture what I want in my mind. A second later, the ice begins to form. The shape elongates and sharpens, turning translucent and wickedly pointed at the tip.
“Magnificent,” Gensted says, bending to get a better look at the weapon.
“Careful.” Tania comes up beside me and rolls her eyes. “Too much flattery goes to his head. Trust me, you don’t want that.” She’s produced a dagger from Gods know where and has torn a daringly high slit in her silver dress. A line of creamy skin is showing, and despite the situation, it’s hard to look away.
“We don’t know who’s approaching, but let’s move our asses and help them—”
Tania runs for the front of the estate before I’ve even finished, with Gensted, Wren, Delkin, and me following behind. Gods. The woman is a force of nature. Fearless and fierce and always ready to take on the world. She’s kicked off her shoes, and my own feet tingle with the cold as she races through the snow. The link between us floods again, making me just a bit dizzy. Anger, adrenaline—and exhilaration. Tania may tell the others she’s happy with peace, with life at court and being bored, but it’s not true. She’s most alive in the fight. When there’s chaos and mayhem and blades flying, she’s in her element. This is the perfect place for her. Danger at every turn. Anywhere else and she’d be bored.
We make it to the front of the estate as another Winter Guard from the outpost races through the gates. The on-duty guards scramble to open them.
“Move!” the one at the front yells as his horse’s back hoof catches the edge of the fencing. “I lost track of the riders, but we’ve got company.”
Something sails between Tania and me, then crashes against the side of the building, embedding firmly into the mortar with a powerful thwap . A pinecone? Only instead of harmless, bark-like scales, these are razor-sharp blades.
“Down!” Tania tackles me to the ground as another projectile sails over us.
“What are we supposed to do against trees?” one of the guards screams as she closes the gate.
In the distance, several thick vines convulse and start creeping toward the estate. The closest reaches the gate, winding through the iron, and starts tugging. At first, it’s nothing more than a slight shake. But as each second passes, the vine grows stronger, its pull on the metal increasing until the gate groans and bends at the hinges.
“It won’t hold,” the guard who busted into the dining hall says. “They’ve been following me for several miles. I barely outran them here to warn you.”
One good swipe and my sword cleaves through the vine that’s wound itself into the gate. Instantly, three more shoot forward to replace it. “Cutting them back isn’t going to work. We need to think smarter.”
I drop to the ground and send my magic out. Beneath the gate, past the field, and down the hilpberry-lined path. The encroaching vines begin to slow, freezing on their way to us.
“Go,” I shout as they manage to wrestle the gate open. “Shatter the vines before they break free.”
With a gleam of excitement in his eyes, Gensted charges forward. He swings one of the guards’ blades, shattering vine after vine. In fact, he’s having such a good time decimating them with elite precision that by the time the rest of us catch up, he’s taken them all down.
As we head back to the gate, Gensted swings the sword over his shoulder and smiles. “I didn’t think it was possible, but you might be changing my mind about magic.”
“You’re the one who ended them,” I say, laughing. “You’re a beast with a blade.”
Gensted grins and hands the weapon back to the guard as we reach the gate. “I better be. I’ve been training since I was—”
The ground rumbles again, this time louder. Harder.
A sick pit forms in my gut, and my pulse spikes. Gods. It’s not over.
“No…” Tania stumbles to my side and shakes her head.
A new swath of vines bursts from the woods. They swarm, barreling back toward the estate—then stop. Fifty yards from where we stand, they hover, motionless.
“What are they doing?” Wren comes up alongside Tania. The Spring monarch is armed with a knife she must have grabbed on the way out of the dining hall, and her expression is nothing shy of murderous. Her dress is torn, and there are several smears of dirt across her cheeks.
“Maybe you should freeze them,” Gensted says. “Whatever it is they’re doing, it can’t be good.”
He’s right. I drop to the ground and send my magic out. The instant it hits them, the vines turn frosty, but they don’t freeze. Not solid like the others.
Wren grabs the gate. “Why isn’t it working?”
I concentrate harder, willing the cold to penetrate the vines, commanding it to freeze. The most it does is form large ice crystals along the vines. Ice they easily shake off. “I…I don’t understand.”
“Maybe you’ve just expended too much…” Tania glances at me, then turns back to the vines. “Or maybe there’s something different about these. Aphelian could be adapting. Changing something.”
I try again with the same result. “Fuck!”
“They’re just—” The vines convulse, then shrink back. Gensted tilts his head to the side, leaning just a bit closer to the gate. “They’re leaving?”
The vines twitch, then creep farther away from the estate. But they’re not heading for the woods.
They’re changing direction.
Down the hill and to the left. They pick up speed as they go.
The bottom drops out from my stomach.
“They’re heading to the village!” In my haste to move, my feet slip in the snow. I manage to catch myself as I go down, recovering quickly and finding purchase. There are others behind me. Tania, too. If the vines reach the village…
I breathe in deep and shift, slipping effortlessly into my wolf. Increased speed, heightened senses, and a powerful jaw. The magic I have while in Fae form is strong, but my wolf is a force to be reckoned with.
Despite my speed, the vines still make it to the village before I do.
The border is in chaos. It’s dark now, and most have moved off the streets and into their homes for supper. No one saw this coming. The vines crash through buildings and rip Fae from their homes. The screams that fill the air are horrific, but they’re also fuel. They spur me harder. I dive for the nearest vine, ripping into it with my powerful teeth. In seconds, it’s shredded, and I move to the next.
Tania flies past me, a whirlwind of destruction. She slices through a vine that’s trapped a small child, freeing the girl and swinging her around into the open arms of the nearest Winter Guard who’s just arrived to rush her from the fray.
To my right, the vines have devastated a small storefront. No one’s inside, but there are Fae on the street, confused and running scared. The building rumbles and shakes, and I see it seconds before it happens. The whole front is about to collapse.
Sprinting, I throw myself into an older Fae who’s stopped to catch his breath. He’s bleeding and bruised, and when he hits the ground, my canine ears hear the definite crack of bone, but he’s clear of the debris that would have crushed him. I grab a mouthful of his shirt and drag him to the tree line, where a small group of survivors has gathered.
“Valen!” Tania is across the square, hacking at a knot of vines that have bottlenecked between two of the larger buildings in the village.
I race to her side and let go of my wolf, shifting back into my Fae form.
“It’s replicating too fast. We don’t have any hope of holding it back this way.”
She’s right. They just keep coming, and we’re losing ground. If we don’t do something soon, they’re going to take the entire village and everyone in it. Since I can’t rely on my magic to freeze the vines, I have to try something else. I have to keep them from coming into the village. I rush to the center of the town.
Fae are crying, bleeding, screaming… There are so many dead. So many could still die. These Fae are my responsibility. I might not have confidence in my ability to lead them, but I can protect them…
“Everyone to me,” I roar.
“What are you doing?” There’s a subtle note of panic in the link.
Saving the town…
Tania and the guards gather everyone they can, and when the bulk of the crowd is gathered in the square, I drop to the ground.
I just pray I can pull this off.
Brace yourself. This might get uncomfortable…
I dig deep and pull on every last bit of winter inside me. Every single shiver, every chill… Cold gathers at my core. A churning storm of ice unlike anything I’ve ever summoned. I call to it, welcome it, and just when I think it will turn my blood to ice, I release it.
As the power explodes, a scream tears from my throat. It rips its way free, like a thousand blades twisting their way out of my body. In my periphery, something translucent forms. An ice wall that spears the encroaching vines and climbs higher and higher until it’s encased the entire town. There’s an otherworldly scream, and footsteps pound the earth.
“There!” someone shouts. “Cut that one.”
“Over here. There’s another piece. Hand me a blade!” another voice yells.
I shudder, then collapse as more footsteps shake the ground.
“He—he created a dome around the whole town…” Gensted’s awed voice sounds like it’s a million miles away.
“The main plant is trapped outside the village,” Tania says. Her voice is lower than it should be. Weaker. I hope no one notices. “The villagers are dealing with the pieces trapped with us inside the dome, but they seem mostly unresponsive.”
“Probably died when that dome sliced them off the main plant,” Gensted says, snickering.
“That’s the kind of power I need. With that, I can keep the Spring Fae in line!” Wren says. The excited tremor in her voice should worry me, but I can hardly think right now.
Two sets of hands haul me upright. Celpin and Kopic. “My friend…” Kopic says. I have no idea when he arrived, but I’m grateful. “You are—”
“Foolish?” Celpin supplies. He’s clearly irritated at what I’ve done, but at the same time, there’s pride in his eyes.
“He’s an idiot,” Tania says softly. She’s standing behind me, but more than that, I feel her again. Her concern, her exhaustion, and her pride. She’s completely spent by the power I used, but she’s doing her best to keep it from showing. “You were magnificent, Valen.”
Magnificent, eh? Does it earn me a—
“Quit while you’re ahead…”
While the dome isn’t completely transparent, I can still see through to the outside. The larger parts of the vine bang against the ice several times, letting out muted screams of frustration. After several moments, they seem to give up and fade from view.
“I’m okay,” I say to everyone. “I think we’re all okay.” What’s left of the town is gathered, staring at me, while above our heads, the ice dome begins to dissolve. The horizon beyond the town is clear. We’re safe.
For now.
Everyone in the square cheers.
I bend forward, bracing myself against my knees. The sounds of their joyful cries hit me hard. I did it. I saved them. I pulled on everything I had and came through for them. The feeling is… I’m not sure. Unparalleled. The Fae who believed he’d never amount to anything—never do anything of worth—saved hundreds of lives today. “It feels good, doesn’t it?”
I never imagined such a high…
We make our way back up the hill to the estate, and by the time we reach the gate, it’s not clear who’s supporting who, me or Tania. The battle left us both weak, but there’s a sense of victory.
There are five riders waiting, the two in the back carrying torn flags that whip violently in the icy wind.
“Those are the riders the outpost was talking about?” Celpin and a handful of Winter Guards come lumbering up behind me. “Who the hell are they?”
The bright blues and greens and pinks, the flashy adornments on the horses… The glaring display of bright Summer colors is nauseating.
“Sonofabitch,” I huff, stopping to catch my breath.
“Suveo,” Tania says. “It’s Suveo.”
“The Summer monarch?” Celpin snorts.
I can hardly believe what I’m seeing. “Looks like he had a change of heart.”