The closer we got to the tundra, the better Peony seemed to feel. “Do you remember Kayden and Kassius?” she asked.
I rolled my eyes. “How could I forget?” Kayden and Kassius were rich vampire twins, who were as good-looking as they were cruel, and they ruled Nocturnal Academy.
“I wonder what happened to them.”
I shrugged. “They’re probably running one of their daddy’s businesses and torturing their fae servants.”
Peony’s expression grew somber. “I actually hoped that one of them would buy my contract.” She fell silent. “Before the Wild Hunt, I used to think they weren’t so bad.”
“I underestimated them too.” Kayden and Kassius had been annoying, but I never viewed them as a real threat compared to our teachers and potential buyers. The Wild Hunt changed all that when they’d nearly violated Virgie and drained her dry in front of everyone.
“Thank you for stopping them.” Peony met my gaze. “If not for you, Virgie would be dead.” Tears entered her eyes. “I was so weak. I let my fear dominate me. If not for you…” she choked up. “I wouldn’t have done anything. I would’ve allowed them to break her, then kill her. I was so pathetic.”
I swallowed hard and put my arm awkwardly around Peony’s shoulder as we both stilled mid-flight, hovering above the trees. “Do you want to take a break?”
She wiped at her eyes. “No, I want to keep on going.” So we did, because sometimes you had to run away from the pain until you were ready to face it.
A long time passed, and I wondered if I should just drop it, but I didn’t want Peony’s past choices to eat at her. “It’s time you forgive yourself. Virgie has.”
Peony inhaled deeply and didn’t respond for a long time. Just as I decided not to bring the conversation up again, she said, “I’m grateful that she’s forgiven me, and I know I’m a different person now. I’m proud of who I am now, but I still get sad and ashamed when I think of who I used to be.”
I nodded. “It’s always hardest to forgive yourself, but you have to let it go. If you allow your guilt to control you, you’ll only be miserable and won’t help anyone. Peony, I need you. The faelands need you.”
She gave me a wobbly smile. “Thanks. This feels nice.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to assume being in my charming company is nice, not flying through this fae-forsaken place.”
She chuckled. “Ditto to both, but what I actually meant is that it’s nice to work with others and for a greater good.” She huffed out a breath. “Believe it or not, but it’s actually exhausting and very unfulfilling to be a selfish bitch.”
I laughed, my voice ringing out through the flatness. Peony and I were laughing together. Who would’ve thought this would ever happen? Then I saw something below that made me come to a halt. I grabbed Peony’s arm. “Peony!”
“What? We’re still far away from Petra.”
I shook my head and pointed at a dot below, a dot in an area clear of the dead, fossilized trees. “Come with me.” I dove, and she followed. We lowered until we hovered a few feet above the ground. There, struggling from the cracks, was a flower. Okay, so it was a tiny flowering cactus, but still, it was beautiful, and it was alive.
“We found vegetation,” Peony said in a mesmerized voice.
“No.” I’d been monitoring the ground the whole time, terrified that we’d miss Petra. “This wasn’t growing here until I started laughing.”
Peony’s forehead furrowed. “Are you saying we made this?”
I nodded slowly. “When the Summer and Winter fae unite, this place will be healed.” Excitement bubbled up in me. “We might not have the ability to reunite the wastelands with the other fae realms since I need the heir of the Summer Court to work that magic, but you and I can make it a little better. Our combined magic will help us.”
Peony’s gaze narrowed. I’d seen that look thousands of times before. She was plotting. “Excellent. That’s how we’ll get Petra.”
I blinked, and Peony smirked. “Come on, you didn’t actually plan to walk up to her and ask her nicely if she’d work with us?”
“Well, no…” But I hadn’t really thought the details through. I was still coming to terms with having to work together with someone I hated. I hadn’t given time to think of how to handle Petra. Sure, I expected her to be confused, then furious, when we found her, but finding her was an abstract idea. It was a good thing that Peony was a planner.
“What did you have in mind?” I asked.
Right above the tiny cactus, Peony shared her plan with me. “What do you think?” she asked once she was done explaining.
“That will work. Let’s put some distance between us and the ground.” My headache was worsening. We rose and set off again, eating as we flew. The apples helped somewhat and alleviated my symptoms for a bit, but they slowly returned as the sun got lower in the sky and the dull blackish-blue set in. The air chilled and now even the skeleton pines grew farther and farther apart. I shuddered at the corrupted magic. Finally, the land jutted upward again as we reached a mountainous area.
“We’re close,” Peony said, slowing down. “Maybe an hour or two from Petra and...Olwen.”
I scanned the dark sky, glad it didn’t get completely dark. I spotted what we needed and pointed at a cave set well above the ground. “Let’s get a good night’s sleep before we face them.”
The small cave protected us from the wind and the cold temperatures outside. I wished there was something we could use as a makeshift pillow or blanket, but no such luck. “It’s pretty cold, but we’re still far away from the tundra.” I sat down on the floor, trying to find a smooth wall to rest my back against.
Peony joined me, sitting down so close next to me that our shoulders were an inch away from brushing. “We’re maybe a full day of flying away from the tundra, give or take. This is the equator.”
I nodded. Peony had always had a knack for sensing things in her environment, probably a side effect of her plant magic. “It makes sense for Petra to stay close to the equator. Her power won’t get drained as much, yet she doesn’t have to deal with the extreme cold.”
Peony didn’t reply, and I dared to voice the worry that had been niggling at the back of my mind. “You’re sure that she’s still alive?”
“Yes. Positive.”
I released a breath. Good. Because while working with Petra would be a disaster, not having her would leave us helpless and force us to fully rely on Virgie and the others to get us out of here. I trusted Virgie, but who knew how long it would take her to get the crown, and if she, Nathan, or Caleb could open the portal with it. My guess was that things at their end weren’t progressing since we hadn’t received any messages for a while. The first message had been reassuring, the second one useless. They didn’t want us to go after Petra, acting like I didn’t know she was dangerous, acting like Peony and I could afford to just sit around and do nothing.
Peony’s head fell on my shoulder, her breath evening out. She was falling asleep. I should get some rest too. I put my head against hers and allowed my body to finally relax.
I stirred as the sun poked through my eyelids a while later. I blinked my eyes open to find it was morning. The wastelands sure seemed to have a ratio of 80 percent daytime, 20 percent nighttime. Despite the strange way time flowed here, I was grateful for the extended daytime as it meant we’d stay somewhat warm in the tundra.
I joined Peony at the cave’s entrance. She was staring into the distance, her neck bobbing up and down, her body tense. I put my arm around her shoulder. “It’s going to be all right. It’s a solid plan.”
Since we didn’t have any belongings, we didn’t need to pack up. All we did before we took to the skies was eat our magical apples twice, then put the regrown ones away. The mountains rose all around us, marking the equator. I could see no end to them. We didn’t speak much.
After an hour of flying, Peony descended toward an old, dry riverbed, and I followed suit.
; “How far away are they?” I asked.
“Not far. Maybe ten minutes. They’ll be close enough to sense an apple tree.” Peony landed on the ground. We were between two mountains, and the riverbed curved out of our view on both sides. Wind snapped through the area. My feet touched the cold, hard earth, and I was grateful I’d had a day at the equator, allowing me to get acclimatized to how much magic this part of the wastelands drained out of me. It was definitely much worse than the desert. I didn’t even want to think how my magic would react to the corrupted tundra.
Peony ate her apple again. Before it regrew, she removed a few of the seeds. She put the regrowing apple away, then with the help of my ice, softened the earth enough to dig a hole and plant the seeds.
She extended one of her palms, and I pressed my palm against hers while she moved her other hand over the earth we’d dug up. The plan was simple—use the apple tree to capture Petra. As a powerful plant fae, Petra must’ve been able to create some fruits and vegetables to survive, but none would be as satisfying or have the nutrients the magic apples held. The smell of the apples, carried on the wind, should send her running.
At least that was the hope. I waited as Peony’s tree grew, only taking a few minutes, thanks to us combining our magic. It was sad to realize how prosperous the faelands could’ve been and how many fae lives could’ve been saved if only the two courts learned to coexist peacefully instead of fighting each other.
Peony dropped her hand from mine. The apple tree was just a few feet high, with whitish purple blossoms, but those fell away as it bore a few golden fruits, hopefully enough to get Petra here, yet not too many to make her suspicious.
Peony and I hid behind a large boulder, waiting.
Nothing happened for an hour, then two. The sun crept to the highest point of the sky. Did we need to make the tree bigger? Could Petra even sense it? Did she sense me and decide not to come? Peony had reassured me that all Petra might feel was her magic as they were both from the Summer Court, but that Petra would dismiss the possibility of another Summer fae being here upon seeing the tree, believing it was a remnant of better times when the faelands weren’t split.
Just as my muscles began to protest from all the crouching, something materialized far down the ancient riverbed. I squinted. Yes. It had worked. Not one, but two figures were dragging their limbs toward us like zombies. I swallowed. One had long, matted blonde hair and wore a faded yellow gown. The other one had a long beard and hair that was no longer pitch black, but salt-and-pepper. He wore a tattered, faded black suit and a withered ice crown. I gulped. Olwen had aged a lot since I’d last seen him, despite fae being immortal.
Peony pinched my hand. “We need to act before Petra eats an apple.”
I nodded, trying to snap out of my shock. I had to be ready. I couldn’t let Petra gain any strength.
We could only wait as the pair drew nearer, closing the last tens of feet between them and the tree. As predicted, both Petra and Olwen’s suspicious nature was overshadowed by their hunger. They scanned their surroundings but couldn’t resist the pull of the apple tree, heading toward it like it was their salvation. Petra salivated while Olwen panted hard and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
I let an ice dagger materialize in each of my hands, hoping that if my father had sensed me, he would be smart enough to hide this information from Petra. Next to me, vines appeared in Peony’s hands.
Petra stepped closer, but halted six feet away from the tree with Olwen. Even with her gown, I could tell she had lost weight. Olwen, too. Both their wings had dulled to a weak, translucent white with just hints of gold and silver. Though Olwen had left me to fend for myself for eighteen long years, my chest hurt at the sight of his sunken cheeks and thin frame. He didn’t look like the once-proud Winter king anymore. With us being twenty feet from the tree, the sixteen feet range was too much to get a good shot in. I could try, but I didn’t like my chances, especially when we only had one try to get this right.
Petra didn’t move. Her green eyes were narrowed. Her yellow dress had turned a bleached color and had several tears. Her billowing cape looked filthy and sported several holes. Neither spoke. Could they even talk anymore?
I wanted her to make the first move, but I also didn’t want to wait forever. A cramp had started in my leg, and everything inside of me screamed to attack. I turned to Peony. “Now,” I mouthed.
I spread my wings wide and rose, allowing ice daggers to materialize around me and rain down on Petra.
She cried out in shock. So did Olwen. The sun blinded me, but I could tell that Olwen’s icy daggers shot my way, glinting. I blocked them with my own. Did my father not recognize me? Or had he decided I was a traitor?
“What the hell?” Petra shouted.
Peony remained silent. Vines shot up for me, brown ones filled with thorns. I let my ice wrap around them, killing these barely-alive plants, but it didn’t work quickly. I dodged, flying to the side, but the vines followed me. Shit. As one lashed for my face, a protective green vine whipped up front of me. Thank the fae for Peony.
The surprise factor hadn’t done much for us. I needed to subdue Petra with brutal force. End this quickly. Dodging her vines, I flew down toward her. By now, the ice daggers weren’t coming for me. Olwen had backed off and was watching the fight. Petra was shooting her vines at a crazy speed, so that all I could do was block. But I could subdue her without magic. I wasn’t starved. I had an advantage.
I pulled my wings in and dropped, crashing right into her. We tumbled to the ground and hit the earth with a thud. Petra put her hands around my neck and squeezed, green eyes full of hatred. She was stronger than she looked. Her hand, no, vines, tore into me, burning my flesh with their salmon-colored flowers as they scraped my skin. I tried to fight, tried to choke her in return, but the poison slowed my movements as it invaded my veins. The poison joined the corrupt ice magic pulsing through me. My body turned into a rag doll. I was unable to move, helpless as Petra grinned wickedly, pinning me underneath her and choking me.
16
Virgie
Caleb, still disguised as Christoph and wearing a guard uniform, led me down to the storage rooms of the Summer castle. My heart pounded as I prepared for the worst.
Nathan had violated his vow to King Peter fully. There was no convincing himself or his draconian vow that he wasn’t breaking the loyalty oath.
Caleb pushed on a brick, and the wall swung open to reveal one of the many hidden corridors in the castle. As soon as he closed the door, he said, “We found the Shield. Nathan tried to dig it up. That’s when the pain hit.”
“Will he recover?” I panted as I hurried down the narrow corridor, gulping down too much air.
“I don’t know.” Caleb’s tone was clipped.
The dark passage led far away from the main storage area and opened into a musty, brick dome with a single golden orb floating near the ceiling. The orb was so bright, it looked like the sunlight that once existed in the Summer lands. King Peter must’ve summoned it to feed the rows of potted, white Shield plants growing in the room, his secret greenhouse. Smart. The hidden room would be hard to find for any fae that hadn’t grown up in the castle and wasn’t close to King Peter, and impossible to enter for the vampires, who’d be fried within seconds. It seemed that he didn’t trust his allies too much after all.
I realized all of this vaguely as I rushed toward Nathan, who was lying on the floor, clutching his chest with one hand and holding a Shield plant with his other hand. He groaned in pain and his glamour had dropped to reveal his true form. His golden wings were dimmer than usual, and sweat ran down his face. The white, bell-shaped blossom trembled as he maintained his grasp.
“Nathan. Let go of that.” I snatched the blossom from his hand. His eyes were squeezed shut in pain. He was alive, but for how long? “Nathan. Look at me.”
The deep furrows on his face smoothed slowly. I placed my hand on his shoulder, projecting calm and relief into his mind, but it was
hard to get through to him. His mental shield was up, probably from the pain he was suffering. Nathan had stolen from King Peter. There was no way his mind could hide this fact from his consciousness. One wrong thought had made his vow turn against him.
“We need to get him out of here,” Caleb said. “King Peter could return any minute.”
The thought of what King Peter would do to Nathan turned my stomach. Nathan’s face contorted with pain.
You did not steal from the king, I spoke into his mind, hoping my thoughts were sinking in. You were just looking at the plant. He has another forty of them. You were only curious. You are serving your court as the best High Commander it has ever seen.
“Virgie.” Nathan’s eyes opened slowly, his weak silver gaze falling on me.
“I’m here. It’s going to be alright.” Maintaining Zeeba’s appearance, I caressed his cheek. He relaxed under my touch. “We’re going to get you out of here. We’ll take you to the gardens so you can rest.”
“Not there,” Nathan said. “Too dangerous.”
I nodded, too relieved about Nathan recovering to think up another option. Also, my mind was distracted with another pull that had manifested itself as soon as I’d stepped foot into the castle. Kristen. The oath I made to keep her safe was tugging at me.
Then there was the matter of getting the crown. But with Percival in his chambers and unlikely to come back down for the rest of the night, getting the crown would have to wait. “We need to get out of here and find Kristen,” I said. If I resisted my oath much longer, I might start to suffer from pain as well. Also, leaving my friend, especially after she held up her end of the bargain would be just plain wrong.
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