11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
Gerta
T he exhaustion of my body wins against the fury in my soul, and I find myself waking up from a deep sleep.
My head no longer throbs, but my thoughts are fuzzy. I am still well aware that I am in captivity. What I am more confused about is the fact that I’m lying in a straw bed and not on the hard floor. The blanket is wrapped around me alone.
The hearth still crackles as brightly as before, and I see my garments carefully laid around it. Kay, on the other hand, is nowhere to be seen.
Which is for the best . . . for more than one reason. Because my memories of the night I drank that potent ale have returned.
The longer the night waned, the wilder my dancing became. I’m not sure how many times Kay and I became tangled in the chain despite his reserved movements. And then when all the spinning churned my stomach too much, I was sick in the sparse shrubbery. Of course, Kay was there. Only, instead of standing as far away from me as the chain would allow, he held back my braid and the loose strands that had escaped.
If I weren’t so drunk, I would have realized that Kay wasn’t an ordinary prisoner sooner.
I shake my head because that’s not what matters. Heavens only knows how long I have until Kay returns, and I need to either escape or find a tool to help me prevent Kay from dragging me to Constantinium.
Cautiously, I peel my blanket off. No sooner do my feet touch the ground, though, than the door creaks open, cold air blustering in along with my enemy.
Kay’s normally too-analyzing gaze slides right past me as he closes the door behind him. However, I saw enough from the moment it was opened to know the blizzard is gone. The snow is a foot higher than when we stumbled in, but we’re free to go. Well, he’s free; I’m still his prisoner.
For the moment. I won’t stop fighting until I’m free, too. No matter the cost.
“The blizzard is over,” Kay says like that isn’t obvious. He keeps his gaze averted as he stacks freshly chopped logs in a pile by the corner.
Did he do that? Is there an ax outside I can use against him?
“I didn’t see any sign of our generous hostess,” Kay adds, his back still to me. “But I hope she— or he, if it’s not the Snow Queen at all— will appreciate this firewood in exchange for the soup we consumed and the blanket we sullied.”
I wrinkle my nose at how scandalous that sounds and quickly pull on my woolen undershirt before grabbing my tights. “It’s not a question of if this is the Snow Queen. And she won’t be appeased by firewood— she might even be offended.”
“Obviously, she makes use of it, or else why would she have a hearth?”
“To lure in desperate travelers.” I pull on layer after layer, glad to feel how warm my clothing is after drying by the fire.
“Then we should probably leave before she demands our hearts.” Kay’s voice is so deadpan I can’t tell if he’s serious or mocking me. “We’re a lot higher than I expected us to be, but I found an excellent piece of bark we could use as a sled to help us get back on track. ”
Back on track to my captivity? I think not. But for us to be so high so soon . . . This was definitely a magical trap. I need to leave before I am captured by someone new.
I reach for my boots, but at that moment, I see the cuffs still hanging from the top shelf Kay put them on. Except, his belt with the weapons is gone, and the cuff itself is hanging off the side.
Well, if the Snow Queen is going to demand a heart, it might as well be the one of the man demanding my freedom.
Grasping the chain, I pull it down as quietly as possible. Which, given its material, isn’t silent at all.
Kay turns in surprise. “What—”
I lunge at him, leaping over the side of the hearth. It’s at that moment that I remember I don’t have the key.
Changing strategies, I wave the chain at him like a whip. “Put my knife on the ground and walk away.”
He lifts his hands and studies the chain warily as he slowly backs away. “Gerta, it doesn’t have to be like this.”
“What? Us both walking away? Do you not want that?” I wave the chain as a warning.
“No, us chained together again. Don’t you trust me not to hurt you?”
I scoff. “Haven’t you figured it out yet? It’s my freedom I’m concerned about, dummkopf .”
He winces at the childish insult. “Yes, well, I still need to accomplish my mission, and you are that mission.” With that, Kay darts toward me.
It’s not what I was expecting, and before I can react, he grabs the end of the cuff. Then he uses it to pull me closer to him and grab my wrist, holding the cuff.
The sudden proximity has me remembering how long we cuddled under a blanket. That is the last thing I need to ponder, though— especially since he’s trying to cuff me again.
However, since he’s distracted by that, it gives me the perfect opportunity to slip my knife off him and hold it to his neck.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I hiss before glancing down at my now fully cuffed wrist. “Well, maybe I do a little. But I still think we can both walk away from this.”
“We will,” Kay assures me, like I’m terrified we won’t and not the one threatening his life.
Then he dives backward, knocking my feet out from under me in the process.
I grab at his hand that locked my cuff, taking him down with me.
My impact against the ground knocks the breath out of me. Then Kay lands on me, and I’m not sure I’ll ever breathe again. My knife embeds itself into his shoulder without my meaning it to, and Kay winces.
Then, as I’m still trying to sort things out in my mind despite the pressure on my chest, the lack of breath, and the drip of warm blood, I hear something.
Instead of wind, there is the sound of an almost Heavenly choir. It’s still distant, but it’s growing louder.
Kay looks down at me. “You can hear that, too, can’t you? You didn’t just send me to the Third Heaven, right?”
I shake my head as I remember all the tales. One always hears the Snow Queen before seeing her. “It’s the Snow Queen. She’s coming .”
He must see the desperation in my eyes, because he heaves himself off me, knife and all. Then Kay tugs me to my feet.
My boots are barely on before he’s tugging me out the door, the cuff on his wrist but the knife still in his shoulder. As it is, I’m holding my fur cap, not wearing it.
Kay swings the door open and tugs me out. I close the door behind us, and then we’re both rushing through the snow .
I can’t see her yet, but the choir is growing louder. It is dusk, so hopefully the darkness will disguise us and our footprints until we can put distance between us and the Snow Queen. Of course, she need only take one look at her cabin to know someone owes her a debt. Mayhap she’s in a good mood tonight and won’t hunt us across the mountainside . . .
Well, if she does hunt us, I’m certainly not going to make it easy for her.
Picking up my speed, I keep pace with Kay, who seems to have forgotten all about the knife in his shoulder. We’re back to being on the same side— survival.
The choir swells into a tempo, and the wind tugs my braid and garments in every direction. Still, I run.
But I can’t help but look back.
There were many nights when one of the older kids at Granny’s insisted that they saw the Snow Queen’s ice palace glimmering on top of Schneekonign , but she was always gone when I ran to the window. There were a few times as an adult who drank more ale than needed to stay warm when I thought I saw something that could have been the Snow Queen floating in the First Heaven but decided it must have been a star or the northern lights after I sobered.
Now I am certain I never saw her, and neither did any of the kids. There is no way they would have been giggling if they did, nor would I have so easily brushed it off if I were a witness.
Because seeing her now, a full-grown woman with flowing white hair and a still whiter gown floating at least six feet above the ground, I know one thing for certain. The Snow Queen is undeniable once one has laid eyes on her.
No, four things are for certain. Because with eyes so pale they’re almost translucent and a face as smooth as ice, it is clear that the Snow Queen is beautiful, too .
Also, she’s powerful, if the fact that she is soaring above the earth we mortals must tread on is anything to go by. There are no singers surrounding her unless they are invisible. The choir must come from the very wind whistling around us with greater speeds and twists than ever before. Yet not a strand of her hair is out of place.
Finally, she’s terrifying. Especially when such beauty and power is focused on me.
“I gave you the hospitality of my cabin and my stew,” the Snow Queen accuses, her voice shrill compared to the music the wind creates for her. “Yet you seek to leave without giving me my due?”
“We are both very thankful,” Kay says, fighting the elements to come stand beside where I am frozen in place. “I chopped you wood as an expression of my gratitude.”
“Chopped me wood?” She scoffs, and a pine tree is ripped from its roots and tossed to the ground at her feet. “I have no need for such paltry things! There is but one price that can repay the debt you have incurred with your theft, ingratitude, and mockery.”
“Please have mercy!” My knees buckle, like they think going prostrate on the ground would do me any good.
But I lived without bowing to anyone. I shall die the same despite these winds trying to drag me down.
“Mercy is a cool breeze on a summer day. That is not what I am.” The Snow Queen ascends higher, her blue skirts whipping at her ankles. “I am the wrath of death denied. You chose to survive my storm, and now you shall live on my terms.”
I stagger backward, feeling the precipice Kay warned me about pulling at my back. We are up very high. She wanted us desperately.
Would the fall grant more mercy than the Snow Queen ?
Kay doesn’t seem concerned at all as he glances about the snow like he’s dropped a coin.
I’m beginning to see why I succumbed to the temptation to tease him as a child. He is definitely different.
“But I am fair,” the Snow Queen adds, her gaze on me. “Only one of my stews was consumed, and only one of my blankets was used. Therefore, I require only one heart. Tell me, little ones— which of you will pay that price? Riddle me this. Two separate souls living by their own creeds must now choose whether to be freed or defy their codes. Whose heart will fold first, and whose shall succumb to the ice forever?”
My mouth goes dry. I should say Kay to liberate myself from both him and the Snow Queen. But now that I behold her in all her glory, I wouldn’t wish that fate on even my worst enemy. And Kay is indeed that.
“Thank you for your generosity,” Kay says, startling my focus back to him. He is now glancing up at the Snow Queen and looking entirely unconcerned.
Is he preparing to offer me up? I should have considered that option and acted in self-defense.
“But I must decline your offer,” Kay says. “You see, I don’t have a heart to give, and I require hers. So, with all due respect, I bid you farewell.”
“You dare challenge me?!” The choir becomes a near-deafening crescendo.
It hurts so much that I don’t even notice that Kay has put his arm around me. At least not until he is pulling my back flush against his front and he is dragging us both down to the snow.
The winds howl above us. Kay’s arms around me that have me leaning backward with him.
And then it is the pull of the ledge dragging us down the precipice.