Chapter 34
Reyla
Frosty air bit into my cheeks the moment we stepped through the door, the sudden shift from the castle’s warmth to the outside world nearly staggering.
What should be a lush summer garden lay trapped beneath crystalline stillness.
This part of the grounds was vast, stretching beyond where I could see.
Almost nothing was blooming. Not in the usual sense, that is.
Ice cracked somewhere nearby, and I jolted.
A flick of Lore's fingers, and we all wore glasses that cut some of the glare. Farris shook his head, but when the glasses remained in place, he looked up at Lore and huffed. At least he wasn't dragging them off his face with his paw.
The paths looked like they’d been formed from pure crystal and equally encrusted trees arched overhead.
Their bark gleamed silver, their branches dangling icicles.
Every leaf appeared sharpened, not simply frozen but reshaped, some hooked at their tips.
Frost coated the veins as if someone had drawn them onto the mirrored surfaces.
High hedges glittered with a thin sheen, their greenery encased in ice crystals.
Fountains bubbled with tinkling sounds, and when I walked over to stare at a big one nearby shaped like a dragon, I gaped at the ice splinters cascading through the beast’s mouth, landing in the pool beneath where they fused to form an icy sheen.
Cold magic hung in the air, pulling at my cloak with invisible fingers.
Even the air tasted sharp, laced with a chill that sought my lungs, eager to freeze them solid. Farris let out a low yowl but nosed along the nearest path, his breath puffing into mist. His tiny feet left prints that vanished seconds later beneath creeping frost.
It’s beautiful, I whispered.
Lore nodded, studying a branch gouging toward him like it wanted to draw blood. Equally deadly.
Do you see a frostwilla plant yet?
Not so far.
A shout caught my attention, and I watched as a group of lords and ladies, dressed only in their gowns and summer tunics, skidded along a path to our right, their arms outstretched to keep from falling, their excited cries echoing around us.
The one at the rear fell, smacking onto his ass, and the others kept going, leaving him behind.
He scrambled to his feet, and with a shout, took off after them. They all disappeared down a curve in the path.
Ice flowers clustered beneath hedges, their crystalline petals holding trapped colors. Blues and purples bled through frozen surfaces like captured rainbows.
Some petals shimmered like blown crystal, glinting with fire where the light struck them.
Many blossoms were open, their edges gleaming, while others remained in tight spirals, whorled like the shells of frozen sea-creatures.
I crouched beside one. Frost clinging to the stem crackled, shifting toward my fingers.
Don't touch, love. Lore’s hand landed on my shoulder. They're all alive.
So are regular plants.
Not like these.
I sensed this plant was watching me, assessing me, and it wasn't finding anything it liked.
“A nasty flower,” he said. “These blooms are beautiful, but they lack the predatory elegance of the frostwilla.”
“What does it look like?”
“Silver petals curved like hunting fangs, glistening with their own inner light.”
Straightening, I peered in the direction the other group had run. Should we follow the others? They may know where to find the right plant.
I never follow. Lore took my gloved hand in his own and urged me down a different path. I always lead.
So arrogant.
Ruthless, love. I’m ruthless, remember?
My heart tripped over itself. How could I forget?
Pausing on the path, he tugged at my hood, making sure it shielded most of my face from the cold, and kissed the tip of my nose before taking my hand again.
Stay with me, mate. This is no place to get lost.
A scream ripped through the air, making my pulse come to a shuddering halt. I stared around but didn't see anyone nearby.
Lore gazed toward our left. Naveer has claimed another competitor, I'd say.
Somewhere in the castle, Naveer would be growing more radiant with each death that fed her immortality scheme.
I shuddered and not from the cold.
We hurried forward, rounding a bend in the path. Lore paused. Since he did, I did as well. As did Farris. He stood with his tail out straight, his ears pricked forward, and one front paw lifted. Only his nose moved, wiggling as he sniffed the air.
“It looks the same as the rest of the path.” I started to step forward again.
Lore held me back. It’s not.
A low vibration hummed beneath my boots. Nothing good ever came from the world around us humming. Farris growled, his ears swiveling back and forth before flattening against his skull. His fur rippled beneath his thick sweater, and he released a low whine.
The humming grew louder.
The glass-like surface of the walkway shattered. A hiss, and icy spikes launched up through like spears. They twisted as they rose, forming whip-like vines that spiraled and lashed through the air.
“Vines,” I snarled. “Why the fuck is it always vines?”
One gouged toward me. I flipped backward to evade a strike that nearly lanced across my chest. Farris darted after me, his small form weaving as he snapped at vine fragments trying to reform at ground level.
At least there was power here. I called in threads and bound them together, feeding them along my arm to my fingertip.
I shot lightning out, hitting the thickest part of the vine's stem.
It shattered, debris shooting out, one piece hitting my cheek with a sting that made me gasp, the rest falling to the ground where they were absorbed by the world around us.
Spinning, I sent a bolt into a vine rushing toward Lore’s back, severing it mid-air. It fell in splinters that hissed and melted into the path.
Farris anticipated the falling debris, positioning himself to catch small pieces in his jaws before they could scatter and regrow.
The air thickened around Lore. His face taut, he formed a fog that coiled across his boots, the vapor rising. He hurtled it outward, and it slammed into the storm of tendrils, melting at least half the spears before they could hit.
More spikes jutted up from the path in front and behind us. Farris pressed against my ankle, his body trembling with contained energy. His ears swiveled constantly, tracking threats I couldn't yet see.
There was nowhere to run or hide. The vines grew larger, thicker, striking out faster.
I blasted all that I could, decimating them with my lightning, and even tried to command shadows to cloak us.
The few in the area only shuddered and slunk away.
Not even love or intense pain could lure them into helping. Nullification didn’t work either.
Higher-pitched screams echoed around us. Lords and ladies finding this wasn't a simple wintery stroll but a trap?
Each cry that cut short sent a ripple through the air. Energy bleeding away, drawn back toward the castle like invisible threads. Naveer's garden wasn't only a test. It was a harvesting ground.
Lore and I pivoted, putting our backs to each other. Farris completed our triangle, his compact body coiled and ready. For such a small creature, he moved with incredible grace, his teeth finding weak points in the stems and snapping through them with his powerful jaws.
Blade in hand, I slashed at the vines, slicing across the ones I couldn't touch with my lightning. Farris worked just as hard, severing the root systems of fallen vines before they could burrow back into the frozen earth.
Lore slashed out with daggers infused with fire, and the tendrils withered, hissing and wavering in the air like whips, trying to strike him before pulling away.
He was relentless, severing one after another with guttural growls.
Calling wind and steam, he turned them into a spiraling vortex around us.
With a single thrust of his palm, he sent concentrated heat slamming into a knot of vines charging from our right.
His power exploded out in a wall of churning energy.
As more of them thrust up out of the ground, I spun, kicking and slashing out with my blades. The severed tips writhed across the ground, seeking my boots.
Farris anticipated each emergence, his nose leading him to weak points in the path's surface. His sharp bark warned us of incoming attacks from our blind spots.
Twirling, I sent lightning flashing out from my finger, curving it in a trail that melted whatever it touched.
Lore formed ice, reshaping it into jagged javelins he hurled with precision. When too many vines charged at once, he summoned a blaze that roared through them, turning them to steam.
We moved around as if choreographed, never pausing long enough to watch the other too closely, trusting we were safer fighting together.
Months of marriage and we move like extensions of each other, I thought, spinning past him to strike a vine at his blind spot.
Months or years or even centuries. His voice was fierce. Still wouldn't be enough time with you.
A massive vine reared up in front of Lore like a serpent, wider than a man’s chest, its pointed tip glittering with what might be sap or poison. Lore slammed his boot into the ground, and a geyser of molten stone rose beneath the vine’s base. The vine thrashed, trying to escape.
Two more vines flanked us. Farris launched himself at the base of the left vine, his weight insignificant but his timing perfect.
The one he attacked shattered, and the distraction gave me the opening I needed.
I jumped, landing crouched and slicing the one on the right in a quick motion.
Farris raced over and attacked the severed ends, biting them to smaller pieces that withered and melted into the ground.
Lore sent a wall of fire at the serpent vine, and it hit hard, encasing the vegetation and compressing it. When the flaming mass fell to the ground, nothing remained but a large puddle of water that quickly froze into the smooth path we'd been walking on before.
Breathing hard, I peered around, finding no more vines left to battle. I dropped my arms and let my lightning fade, though I kept one of my blades ready just in case.
Silence descended around us.
Lore's magic settled, and he let the wind catch his remaining flames and sweep them away. Only a few shadows lingered. I scowled in their direction, and they shuddered before drifting away, leaving ghostly trails in the ice that soon smoothed back into a regular path.
A thin line of blood trickled from a cut at Lore's temple, already freezing and crusting like red frost. I gently blotted at it with the sleeve of my cloak until he tugged my hand away, kissing the palm. A flick of his finger, and the cut sealed over, smoothing back to regular skin.
He held my face, turning it this way and that before healing the stinging cut. Leaning close, he kissed the area.
I will destroy anything that touches you, mate. Know that.
Even the cold? My breath misted between us.
Especially the cold. He kissed my forehead. Nothing gets to mark you but me.
Farris padded over to stand beside us, his tail wagging. He shook, sending a spray of melted water in every direction, then snorted and sat with a huff.
A flick of Lore’s hand and Farris wore a new, dry sweater.
“Are you hurt anywhere else, Wildfire?” Lore asked.
“No.”
“Good. Then she can live for now.”
“Would you really go kill Irridain’s queen?”
His lips curled into a slick smile.
When he held out his arm, I took it, curling my fingers into his forearm, gazing up at him with all the love I felt inside.
“Even covered in frost and battle-worn,” I said, “you're the most beautiful thing in this garden.”
“That's because I'm looking at you, love.”
With Farris padding beside us, we continued deeper into the frozen maze.