Chapter 52
KORYN
Maura made a mistake. She should never have sent me through the Seven Gates. She should have sent Elodie, who would do whatever she said without a single question. Auri was powerful, too.
Instead, she sent me.
Mistake.
I may hate my bond with the Dark God. But I was no longer afraid to use it. I would never be able to make every right decision. A place in what the humans called heaven was an impossibility. But that meant I was free. I could do what needed to be done for those who could not defend themselves.
Maura was a shitty teacher. But the Dark God himself had filled the gaps in my education.
Frost and ice exploded out of me in every direction. The fae courtiers hurled themselves to the side, but they weren’t fast enough. The tang of blood told me that my sharp icicles found many points of purchase. They’d heal, and they would stay out of my way.
Maura was fast. She’d known I would fight. Good. It was time for her to stop underestimating me—and for me to stop underestimating myself.
Her flames roared higher, melting my ice and keeping Alize trapped.
I have the others, Isanara told me. She roared again, the sound reverberating off the circular walls and up into the dome.
Be gentle with Aurienna. I was disappointed that the covenant between Auri and me broke when faced with Maura’s power. But I understood the strength of Maura’s influence. I was so tired of hating everyone. There were plenty who deserved my hate. But not Auri.
She does not fight.
Isanara was on the other side of the burning pentagram. I could not see her or my sister witches.
Maura will kill her when she realizes. Unless I killed Maura first.
We cannot protect everyone.
Now was not the time for Isanara’s wisdom. I can damn well try.
Icy daggers formed at my fingertips. There was no point in hurling one when I could throw five just as easily. I didn’t have the training for precision, but I did have power. More power than I’d ever realized.
I flung the ice daggers at Maura. She saw me coming and ducked, her attention divided between protecting herself and keeping Alize trapped. I did not care that it wasn’t a fair fight; with Maura, there was no such thing.
She anticipated my second throw, my left hand following my right in rapid succession.
But she did not expect the blast of ice across the floor that came with it.
I’d never expected to hit her with my first throw of ice daggers.
The distraction worked perfectly. She lost her footing on the slick ice, her billowing robes tangling around her legs.
Maura crashed to the ground. I only had a second.
I dove into the icy sea that swirled inside me. I knew its depths thanks to Syleris. I was not afraid of it anymore because of Rylynn. I’d learned the lesson of the Peace Gate well. The only peace I would ever find was in protecting those I cared for and fighting for right, even when it felt wrong.
I slapped my hands together, pointing them right at Alize. I channeled all the power I’d called up through my arms into my palms. Then I threw them open.
A blizzard burst out of me all at once. Ice coated the floor. A vicious wind carried snowflakes as sharp as my icy daggers swirling in deadly spirals across the presence chamber. One spread for Maura, the other for Alize.
Maura threw herself to the side, but my familiar was there, jaws snapping.
Isanara roared again. The windows shattered. What was left of the crowd scattered, running for the spiral down into the tower and shoving each other out of the way to escape the sea of falling glass.
My spiral of frost hit Maura in the shoulder. She threw back her head as the pain took over. It was not just a single hit of ice, but thousands of tiny crystals invading her body, freezing her from the inside out, bit by bit.
I couldn’t take my attention off of Maura, not even for a second. I had to trust the power I’d sent Alize’s way to be enough to douse Maura’s flames. Garrick and Isanara would get her out. I had to keep Maura down.
You cannot master a power you do not understand or respect
I hadn’t understood Syleris’ words when he said them. Weeks later, I’d only begun to understand the depths of what my power could do. Was it enough to save Alize from Maura? I would find out.
I walked slowly toward her, blocking out the heat of the flames and the frenzied cries. I kept my eyes pinned on Maura, my focus on spreading the ice through her entire body.
Her lips turned blue. The moisture in her eyes started to sparkle as it froze. Her lips tore as she opened her mouth.
“Finally, you are something other than a disappointment,” she croaked.
I reached my hand out. Pale, glowing silver whirls wrapped around my fingers, over the back of my hand, until they caressed my wrist.
“I am going to kill you,” I promised.
My frost had reached her internal organs. Another minute, and I’d be able to freeze them entirely. Her bodily functions would stop. She would die, and the world would be better for it. Maybe it would haunt me. Maybe not. I could make peace with it either way.
“Koryn, you must stop. The king will be here soon, and we must be gone before he is.”
I did not recognize that voice.
She is not worth your life. And his life. That was Isanara. I knew it was Isanara. But it felt so far away, obscured by the swirling torrent flowing out of me.
“Koryn,” a male voice said. I knew this one, too. It was as familiar as my own and much dearer. It was rough and alluring and—scared.
“Witch,” Garrick said.
I broke off the torrent of power the same way that Syleris had shown me—sudden, sharp, taking away all of its impact at once.
I stumbled backward. Garrick was already there.
Maura’s eyelids remained open; they were frozen in place. But as I watched, her chest moved. It was just enough to confirm—unconscious. Wounded. But not dead.
A spiked tail curled around my arm.
It went against every instinct to turn my back on Maura.
But then Garrick was at my side, Alize hanging off of him. She screamed as I hauled her against my side so we could carry her between us. Burns marred the left side of her body. She’d heal, I told myself.
“This way, now,” said the same voice as before, the one I’d recognized but ignored. “Through the passage,” she urged.
Passage?
A second later, it appeared. A single point of bright white light spiraled outward and then opened up, the air itself tearing apart the presence chamber to reveal a dark, snowy mountainscape.
The Queen of the Fae did not give us time to think.
She ushered us beneath the spiral of white.
I braced myself, ready to hit a solid wall or feel that same tearing sensation that had accosted my senses when Syleris took us from the presence chamber to the bedroom.
But stepping through the passage was like walking through a door.
One moment, Garrick, Alize, Isanara, and I were in Balar Shan.
The next, we were in the shadow of snowy mountains that I recognized by instinct.
Alize slipped in the snow. I pulled her tighter, only to touch a burn. She screamed, wrenching away from me.
“I have her,” Queen Parry said.
She caught Alize by the underarms, where she wasn’t burned, and lowered her down onto the snowy ground.
“How did you do that?” Garrick demanded. He spun back to face the passage, watching it for some sign of threat or danger.
My mouth still hung open.
Parry pressed some snow into Alize’s hand and then gently placed it atop her burned shoulder before straightening.
“It is old magic. House Pendragon’s best-kept secret,” she said. “I trust you can keep it.”
I did not care where her strange magic came from. It had gotten us out of Balar Shan. Garrick nodded, but he had not sheathed his sword.
“This is as far as I can take you,” Parry said, already leaning back down. Alize moaned and swayed, barely conscious, but Parry supported her deftly. “The king will notice my absence, and I must get Alize to safety, too.”
Garrick’s brow creased. “My mother—”
“Already safe,” Parry said, her mouth pressing into a line. “I sensed things might go awry.”
“How do I know—”
“You will have to trust me,” she said plainly. “We are out of time for explanations. Good luck. Lift the curse. Edmund and I will try to keep Balar Shan standing until you do.”
Have you ever seen magic like this? I asked Isanara.
She lashed her tail from side to side. I did not meet many people before you.
I guess not, then.
If Garrick asked, I’d go back through the passage.
I’d fight my way through Balar Shan at his side to make sure his mother was safe.
I would try to get Isanara to stay here, and I’d fail.
It had taken every bit of cunning I possessed to convince her not to fight Maura or the fae king on her own while Garrick and I were compelled.
Parry did not wait for permission. She’d already made herself clear. There was no time. She carried Alize gingerly, supporting her without touching her burns in an incredible show of strength, even for a fae.
Garrick let her go.
We watched as she closed the passage and opened a new one. The location was indistinct, too dark to make out distinguishing details. Parry muscled Alize through it, and then they were gone. Garrick, Isanara, and I stood alone at the foot of the mountains, darkness and snow overhead.
Garrick slid his fingers between mine. He lifted our joined hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the inside of my wrist. Right atop the Lifebind.
“What now?” I asked, knowing there was only one answer.
He lifted his gaze to the mountaintops. “To the Unknown Gate.”