The decapitated witch’s body lay sprawled on the table, bleeding a dark blue blood. The firelight wavered over her gnarled limbs.
That acrid smell, bitterness I could taste… “I think it’s a tooth from the Ollephest.” I sniffed the air again. “You smell that bitter scent? That’s how the Ollephest smelled. And the witch said, ‘You killed our monster.’ I think the blade was meant for my heart, and the witch probably knows I’m all out of my magic.”
Lyr pulled his hand away from Gina and locked his piercing gaze on me. “I can’t combat the Ollephest’s magic. Only someone from the Meriadoc line can do that. You killed the Ollephest. You were the only one who could hurt it. You need to use your magic.”
“But I don’t have it, Lyr!” It occurred to me that he didn’t know what had happened. “I didn’t get the chance to tell you. I didn’t get my magic back. I had to kill Richelle.”
Lyr rose, then cursed in Ancient Fae, and the sound hissed over the room. “I knew Salem’s plan was a waste of time. And now you and your human are both dying.”
Gina rasped, and the sound curdled my blood. “I don’t think I can breathe normally.”
My own breath was coming in short, sharp bursts, and I was still pressing against the frosted wound. It didn’t seem to be helping her at all. Instead, it seemed like I was just turning my fingers to ice.
“Why did you jump in front of that knife, Gina?” Seeing her hurt was somehow worse than being hurt myself. I healed fast. “You’re human. You break easily.”
She inched away from me, trying to sit up on her own. She looked so scared that I wanted to hug her again. “You always took care of me. Honestly, I didn’t really think this through…” She closed her eyes, grimacing. “If I’d thought it through, I would have maybe blocked it with a chair instead of my own body.”
“Let’s get you somewhere more comfortable, at least.” Lyr leaned down and gathered her in his arms, then carried her over to the sofa. He laid her down on the mossy green velvet—on her front, so it wouldn’t hurt as much—and gently wrapped a blanket round her.
I covered my mouth with my hands, adrenaline still flooding my body. I surveyed the room, drawing a blank on what to do next. If only I had my magic, I could fix this… I could fight the Ollephest magic.
The door swung open, and I whirled, ready to murder someone. But it was Ossian and Shahar. Ossian carried a paper bag of what smelled like Chinese food. “Aenor’s back! We should’ve gotten more.”
It took him a moment before he noticed the witch corpse at his feet, and the second one draped over his kitchen table, spilling blood.
“Okay, what the fuck?”
I threaded my fingers into my hair.
Shahar’s eyes widened. “Where is my brother?”
I took a deep breath. “Okay, here’s the summary. Richelle is dead. I don’t have my magic back. I don’t know what happened to Salem, and one of these witches stabbed Gina with an Ollephest tooth. I can heal her, but I need my magic back to do that.”
Shahar crouched by Gina, staring at the wound in her back. She brushed her fingertips over the girl’s neck. “You’d better act fast. I think you have a few hours to fix this before… you know.”
Panic crept up my neck, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to think.
Lyr touched my arm. “We can get your magic back within minutes. Beira has promised to return your magic to you. You would be able to heal Gina.”
“You want me to trust another ice witch? After all this?”
I noticed that Shahar was sidling up to him, looking at him with keen interest.
“Beira has been isolated for thousands of years,” he said. “She’s done nothing but issue prophecies. She promised me she would cure you. And if you let her, you can heal Gina.”
My eyes were on Gina, who was resting her head on her arms, watching us from the sofa.
“She really wants to return my magic to me?” I asked. It was tempting, but… “Before, she wanted to take my magic from me. Remember the binding collar situation?”
His brow furrowed. “Yes. She foresaw what would come to pass, that Salem would unleash the fire. That you would struggle to control your power. These things did happen. But she knows that your heart is pure, and that you can now master your magic. Do you remember, when I first sent you to Beira as a test, she said that you were true of heart? It was her decree, and it still is. If she had ill intensions, she would have killed you then. It wouldn’t have been hard. She is on your side, Aenor.”
I shot a look at Gina on the sofa. Was it just me or had her lips taken on a bluish hue?
I was running out of time.
Lyr touched my arm again, gently. “You’ll be back here in ten minutes. Your divine hex will be gone, and Gina will be okay. Beira is the most powerful healer among the fae. More powerful than Richelle, even. She said she would send you back to me as soon as you are healed. You’ll be back in the portal again.”
My heart was beating so loud that I thought I could hear it echoing off the walls. It seemed I had to try this, for Gina’s sake. What other options were there?
I looked deep into Lyr’s pale eyes. His body glowed with that faint, golden magic, and as he held my gaze, I felt certain of one thing: he was trying to help me. We’d had our differences, but he cared about me.
It was a gut instinct, and it was enough of a push to get me moving. “Okay. Let’s go to Beira.”
Relief crossed his face, and he turned, leading me outside. “I’ll open the portal. This will be over soon. All of it. You can return to your life as it was.”
Gods, I wanted to believe it. I followed Lyr outside, onto the shore, desperately scanning the sky for Salem. Where was he? He should be back by now. Once again, it was that sharp feeling of absence—the bond between us broken. The worry was eating at me.
Lyr frowned. “What are you looking for?”
“Salem.”
He heaved a sigh. “He’s immortal. He’ll be fine. Gina is the one you need to worry about.”
I rubbed a knot in my forehead. “Fine. I’ll find him when I get back. And if anyone hurt him, I’ll use the sea to crush them against the rocks.”
Lyr stared at me, and I realized I sounded a bit like Salem. “Okay. Listen, I’m leaving the portal open. When Beira has fixed you, she will return you to me. I’ll look after Gina here.”
He turned away from me again, and I felt dark magic ripple out from his body as he spoke the words for the portal spell. His pale hair whipped around his head, caught in the sea breeze. Amber light beamed from his broad shoulders. He took a step closer to the shore, and a portal spun open before him—ice-cold water, shimmering under the starlight. I hugged myself as I looked at it.
Lyr gestured for me to jump in, and I held my breath and leapt. Then I sank under the frozen surface.
As I drifted deeper, I stared up at the portal, and the last rays of Lyr’s magical light disappeared. When the light finally faded, one question whirled around my head like churning ocean waters.
Was this a mistake?
35
Aenor
I slipped deeper under the water until I felt sure my muscles were freezing, cells bursting.
When I finally saw the rays of milky white light, I had just enough energy to kick my legs. My head breached the surface, and icy air clouded around my face. My teeth were chattering so hard that I was about to bite my tongue off.
I looked around me, searching for signs of Beira, but my muscles were so rigid that I didn’t have a wide range of movement. I saw only the whorls of snow in the air and the distant naked trees of her forest. They jutted from the snow, dark skeletons spearing the white landscape.
“B-Beira?” I stammered.
She came out of nowhere, and I felt her claws raking against my scalp as she lifted me from the frigid water. The Ancient Witch of Winter threw me down on the snow, and I rolled over to look at her. My dress was freezing, ice against my skin.
Gods, I needed a f
reaking wetsuit.
I looked up at her, hopeful. I’d forgotten how tall she was, though—that she towered over me at ten feet. Delicate blooms of frost spread over her blue skin, and long white braids draped over her bony shoulders. She wore white ragged clothes.
I rose, hugging myself. “Thank you for seeing me. Lyr said you could help me”—I held out my contaminated arms—“with my divine hex.” The hex was moving over my collarbone now, inching closer to my heart.
Grinning, Beira beckoned me toward her with a purplish-gray fingernail. Her single bloodshot eye blinked.
I took a step closer, still looking up at her. Would she draw this out for long? I wanted warmth again. I wanted to be out of here.
Then she spoke in her strange, halting speech, and the sound echoed off the icy landscape. “Punishment.”
I took a deep breath, the cold air freezing in my lungs. “Yes, that might be what this was. A punishment for a man I killed long ago. Can you help?” My teeth chattered. “I’m running out of time.”
Grinning, she nodded. Then she licked her long, yellowed teeth. Her tongue was pointed, sharp.
She turned away from me, her feet crunching in the snow as she trudged toward the trees. My heart sank as I watched her walk away. We had to go somewhere?
She stopped and turned to look at me again, that frozen smile on her face. Another purple fingernail, beckoning me to follow. She wanted me to join her in the skeletal forest.
I clenched my teeth, scanning the sparse trees. When I looked behind me, I could see only a vast white expanse. I’d thought this would all be over fast…
I wanted to get back to Gina, to Salem. I wanted to know that everyone would be okay. But it seemed I had another trial to pass.
I followed after the Winter Witch.
Between the thin, dark trunks, something moved within the snow. Vortexes of flakes, hair whirling within them. As they spun closer, I started to recognize what they were—the women with snow-white skin and blood-red eyes, twisting between the trees. They wore crowns of dark twigs, and they whirled silently like snow squalls, pale hair whipping around them.
I shivered at how eerily silent they were despite so much movement. Lyr had called them leanhaum-shee, and I remembered the feel of one of their venomous tongues, the painful poison that had shot through my thigh.
I cast a glance back at the portal, its surface crowded with chunks of ice. Then I trudged on after Beira.
All this hinged on the fact that I trusted Lyr. Was my instinct wrong?
I wiped some of the falling snow from my eyes, and as my vision cleared, I spotted a structure between the trees. It didn’t look like much more than a crooked pile of rocks, just barely tall enough for Beira to enter, but that was what we were heading for. As we approached, I saw that there was a crude doorway in the front. Snow blanketed the jagged roof, thorny sticks jutting from its surface.
Grinning, Beira turned to me. Keep me warm for a spell. Her words whispered inside my skull, the voice rising in my own mind.
I nodded, but dread was starting to creep over my skin like winter frost. I glanced at the sky, finding only whiteness and falling snow.
Beira beckoned me again. She wanted me to follow her into that house, to keep her warm. The only thing I knew about her was that she was desperately lonely, starving for company. Her lack of love made her wither like a blighted plant.
The darkness at the opening of her house yawned like a great void, and I didn’t want to go in. But Gina needed me to get on with it.
Beira beckoned me again, and I took another step closer, my heart thrumming. If something went wrong here, would Lyr come for me?
She bent down and crossed into the darkness of her house.
I lingered outside for a moment, scanning the snowy forest around me. Now, the leanhaum-shee were spinning closer, hair whipping wildly through the air. Their spiked crowns spiraled. The threat of their poisonous tongues drove me inside, into the darkness.
I’d expected a bit of warmth in here. A hearth, maybe. Instead, I found only darkness and the sound of my own breathing.
“Beira?” I whispered.
With my arms wrapped around myself, I took a deep breath and suddenly realized what the most uncomfortable thing about this place was. It didn’t smell like anything. As a fae, I relied on my sense of smell more than humans. In here? It felt like being dead.
I wanted to turn and head out of the house again, but there was no light coming in through the doorway. And when I took a step, I bumped into a stone wall, glacially cold.
“Beira? Lyr said—” I stopped myself. How stupid I sounded. How monumentally stupid.
Lyr said you’d help me.
I hated being helpless.
I took another step, but my fingers brushed against another wall. Had she trapped me in here?
That wretched hag had set a trap for me.
The icy air was moving through my muscles, freezing me to the marrow. Breathing hard, I started to feel the walls around me, looking for an opening.
But as I did, ropes of ice twisted around my wrists, tightening roughly. The bindings jerked my arms behind my back with a ferocity that felt like it might snap my joints. The ice curled around my ankles, tightening. I fell to my knees, arms wrenched behind me, tied to my ankles. I leaned against the wall to stop myself from falling over, my heart in my throat.
I was hog-tied on the frozen dirt, barely staying upright. The only thing I could hear now was my heart beating, so loud it was like a war drum. Frozen in here, it was hard to breathe.
Fingertips of ice stroked the side of my face, brushing my hair off my cheek.
“What do you want?” I asked.
Another stroke of her fingers on my cheek, and dread slid down along with them. Her voice rang in my mind once more. I want a keepsake from you. A treasure. To keep me warm.
“What keepsake?”
We’d done this before, hadn’t we? I’d given her my ring—a little gift from Gina. She’d seemed so lonely, so desperately lonely, and a ring from a friend had seemed to make her happy. She lacked love, and had somehow known that the ring was imbued with love. It had been enough for her.
What did I have this time? A comb in my satchel, and that was it.
I heard her exhale loudly, and a bubble of pale gray light floated from her mouth above my head.
I was shivering hard on my knees, bent backward in an awkward position. I leaned against a wall. Still, with the new light, I could survey the room. I found myself only about a foot from a wall with little alcoves inset in the stone. The alcoves were decorated with bones, children’s teeth, and trinkets. A chipped porcelain clown grinned at me—a child’s toy. I grimaced at it, wondering where she’d gotten it from.
My ring gleamed from one of the little alcoves, a relic of my last visit.
These were her keepsakes.
“Do you want my comb?” I asked in desperation. “A tooth? What?”
Gods, this was insane. Anger was surging in me—at Beira, and at Lyr for sending me here.
The bubble of light floated closer. Awkwardly, I shifted on my knees, taking in a few more of her keepsakes: a snuffed candle, a doll’s head with no eyes, a frozen bird frosted in a bell jar. An old, rusted knife that I desperately wanted in my hands. A key, dangling on a ribbon.
The frozen ground bit into my knees. I wondered if this was a trial or an execution.
Beira kicked me with one of her large feet, nearly knocking me over, but I steadied myself on the wall again. Her toenails were the purplish hue of a drowned, bloated corpse. I looked up at her, at how her back hunched under her ceiling. That wide grin split her face.
Then her voice whispered in my mind again: A keepsake. A treasure from you.
What a miserable existence this was.
Made sense, I guess. One of her names was Queen of Misery.
But what was it that made her so sad? I remembered the old story Mama used to tell to scare me at night. I hadn’t even thought sh
e was real at all, hadn’t spent much time thinking about it.
Mama would sit on the edge of my bed, a glass of wine in her hand. She would tell me to be careful, to listen to her orders, or Beira would get me. The Queen of Misery would drag me into her hell.
Mama’s eyes had gleamed as she looked down on me in my bed.
Beira was a princess in a fae kingdom, until her cruel husband threw her in an ice dungeon. There, her mind became twisted and warped over time, turning her into the Winter Witch. And now? She steals bones and hearts as prizes. That is what happens if you trust men, Aenor. And that’s why you must listen to me, always.
The husband who threw her in an ice dungeon…
The sphere of light beamed dully in front of her face. And now, at last, I was starting to piece it together.
I looked up at her, breathing fast. “Tell me what keepsake you want.”
Something that belongs to me.
Her smile faded abruptly, and she bent down, shoving her furious face in mine.
Then, she spoke in her croaking voice, and it rumbled over my skin. “My husband, King Salem.”
36
Aenor
The words made my heart skip a beat. Her bloodshot eye blinked, her mouth contorted in fury.
Lyr had sent me here to my death. How could I have been so wrong about his intentions?
“I don’t know where Salem is,” I said.
Her terrible laughter rang off the stone walls, and her icy breath misted my face. She spoke in my mind. He’s here. You die together. Your pain will keep me warm, forever. It will heat me.
Here?
The puff of light moved through the air, and I shifted on my knees, inching my position slowly to the right. I nearly toppled over, but then I leaned against the wall as I managed to turn—
My heart was ready to leap from my chest when I saw him. He knelt in front of the far wall, arms chained behind his back. His head lolled forward like he was dead, and his gaze was on the ground, body completely stiff.
The ice was an inch thick over his body. Worst of all, thin iron spikes pierced his chest, jutting out from under his collarbones. A metal collar encircled his throat, chaining him to the wall.
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