56. Maddy
Chapter 56
Maddy
I swoop after Kain, my entire body screaming in protest.
I can't stay frozen much longer. I'm drained of energy, and my heart has been beating so hard for so long that I'm sure it's ready to give out.
But there's no way I can let him fall now.
I catch him, his heat immediately melting the ice on my arms. His momentum is too much, and I'm too weak. We swirl into a spiral as we plummet. Below us, the ground has transformed, no longer packed earth but rivers of molten lava, flowing veins of liquid fire.
"Kain!"
His eyes flicker open, and the fiery wings erupt from his back once more.
He takes his own weight, gripping my arms and beating his wings hard, trying to pull us up.
I dig deep, drawing on any strength I have left, and together, we rise.
His grip is too hot for me now, though, and I hiss as my skin sears. He lets go in shock, and our eyes meet.
Time stills as we hover, a foot apart.
His eyes are clear, his body no longer spasming in pain.
"The Fire Court took Stutr's magic," he rasps. "I felt the palace below, and it was like a beacon. I channeled everything into it."
Together, we look down.
I gasp.
The earthen shell has melted away to reveal the Fire Court Palace in all its glory. Spires of black glass rise like frozen flames, their surfaces catching the lava-light in mesmerizing patterns. Golden veins run through the obsidian walls like lightning trapped in stone. Massive bridges arch between towers, revealing more buildings rising from the lava.
Exhaustion hits without warning, and I drop several feet before catching myself. Kain moves to catch me, but none of me is covered in ice anymore, and I'm forced to stop him.
"There," he says, pointing to a grand balcony at the top of one of the spires.
I manage to land, but my legs give out the moment they touch stone. The air here is thick with heat, almost too dense to breathe.
"Princess," Kain says softly, dropping to his knees beside me. "Foolish, foolish princess. Brave, incredible, powerful princess."
"We're alive," I say, staring up at him. Somehow, I still have tears left to cry.
"Because of you. You brought me home."
"I love you. I can't be…" I choke on my words.
He reaches out, then stops, his hand an inch from my face. "I will be by your side for the rest of eternity. I do not exist without you any longer."
More tears flood my eyes. "You're alive," I repeat. Relief is crashing through me, and I'm so exhausted I can barely think straight.
"So are you," he says with a smile.
"Thyrvi!"
With a thump, my bear appears on the balcony.
"Oh gods, Thyrvi!"
She gallops to me, ducking her head and pushing her nose under my body, trying to lift me. I wrap my arms around her, drinking in the delicious cold she gives off.
"I'm so sorry. It wasn't a fight I could bring you on, and I couldn't see you hurt."
"We defeated our enemies. And now, you have your wings. We are one now, forever."
I'm crying again, burying my face in her fur.
"Why are those people staring at us?"
I freeze, then snap my head up. "People?"
She swings her head toward one of the many ornate doors set into the wall of the turret at the back of the balcony. There's movement in the dark.
"Kain… Thyrvi says there are people there."
He leaps to his feet. "That's impossible." He strides toward the door and pulls it open.
I hear him suck in air, and then a female voice says uncertainly, "Prince Kain?"
There's a shriek of delight, and then Kain stumbles backward, trying to avoid the embrace of an elderly fae with white-gray hair and jet-black skin.
"Hella? You mustn't touch me! But… How are you here? I thought…" He stares at her beaming face in disbelief.
"We were trapped, Your Highness!" She steps fully out of the door with a look of wonder. "Fresh air…" She spreads her arms wide. Tears gleam on her dark cheeks. "Fates, I never thought I would taste fresh air again."
Fae rush out of the door behind her, all with dark skin and gray hair. Fire-fae. They all look as she does, disbelief on their faces as they move to the balcony edge. One female has tears streaking down her face as she pulls on the hand of a wide-eyed child.
All this time, the fire-fae were still here. Living in the dark, cut off from the rest of Yggdrasil .
Kain stares. "You've all been in here… all this time?"
Hella nods. "Yes."
"My… my parents? My brothers and sister?"
Grief shadows the elderly fae's face. "Killed. By the ice-fae before the Frost Giants sealed the court. I'm so sorry, my prince."
Her suspicious gaze falls on me huddled against Thyrvi's leg.
Kain moves between us protectively. "She is no enemy."
"If you say so, my prince," she says, clearly unconvinced. "We must find Lady Brenda. She has taken position as ruler since we were trapped. When she sees this…" She trails off again, staring at the sky joyously.
I feel a pulse of heat at my hip, and carefully pull the dagger from my belt.
You may return to Featherblade through the portal in the Vault of the Talekeepers. Hold this blade and will it, and it will be so. Your allies, and your family, need you.
The dagger falls silent, its warmth fading.
"Kain?"
He moves to me immediately.
"I'm sorry, but I have to return to Featherblade. My sister needs me."
"Then I'm coming with you."
"No, after so long trapped there and now this… You must want?—"
Kain shakes his head, silencing me. "I go where you go, princess. And besides"—his eyes gleam—"Featherblade owes me a pardon."