“My magic boosted hers, and my spells were stronger with her help,” he said. “When I stopped holding her hand, the connection disappeared. Immediately. But when I broke our connection, you used mage magic on your own. You shouldn’t be able to do that.”
From the way he was looking at me, it seemed like he thought I knew why I could.
I didn’t.
But I could guess.
“You heard Sage and Thomas yesterday,” I said. “I’m stronger than Aunt Bella.”
“You are,” he said. “But you’re not a mage.”
“No kidding. You only remind me every single day.”
I expected a smartass remark. But he continued studying me, like he could find the answer if he looked hard enough.
My heart beat faster, and I shifted on my feet. “Maybe this was different because it was dark magic,” I said. “Unless you tested that with Aunt Bella, too?”
My aunt specialized in dark magic potions, so it wouldn’t surprise me.
“I didn’t,” he said. “Like I told you earlier, I only use dark magic when it’s absolutely necessary.”
“And why’s that?” I tilted my head and held his gaze, challenging him. “What aren’t you telling me?”
And why did it feel so good to use magic like that? Why did it call to me and tingle through my veins, even now?
What was his magic doing to me?
He ripped his gaze away from mine and looked over my shoulder, out the cave entrance. “It won’t be long until the other cyclopes realize something’s wrong,” he said. “Let’s get that egg and teleport out of here.” He glanced up at the orange egg glowing on the topmost shelf. “Do you want to do the honors, or should I?”
I sucked in a deep breath and glared at him. He was purposefully avoiding answering my question.
But he was right. We were wasting time standing there talking.
We’d get the egg now.
He’d answer my questions later.
“I’m doing it,” I said, and I climbed the shelves, lifted the egg off the small pedestal, and teleported back to the yacht.
30
Selena
Five days.
That was how long Julian and I had been trudging through Hypernia’s frozen wasteland.
The only signs of life were the evergreen trees dusted with snow. Other than that, there was nothing.
As promised, our pack had been waiting for us when we’d returned from the Underworld. Another pack was there, too. It was full of gear to survive in the tundra—proper clothing, an insulated tent, snow boots, and more.
The gear helped, but no one was meant to survive out there. Especially not fae. It was freezing, I was miserable, and I hated this. Julian was toughing it out without complaint, but his wings were dimming slightly every day. I assumed mine were, too.
We were shivering so much that it was impossible to have a conversation as we walked through the rolling, snow-covered hills. To make it worse, our compass had frozen, so we had to travel at night to follow the North Star and sleep during the day. The cold wiped so much energy out of us that we fell asleep the moment we got inside the sleeping roll.
The aurora shined brighter and brighter the farther north we traveled. And the brighter the aurora shined, the more my hope grew that we’d reach our destination soon.
The first glow of dawn appeared in the east, which meant it was time to search for a spot to set up camp.
“How many more days can this possibly take?” I asked Julian.
“I don’t know,” he said, like always.
He didn’t know how big Hypernia was, since it wasn’t on any of the few maps he’d seen of the Otherworld. Everyone simply knew there was nothing there. Hypernia could be five times the size as the rest of the Otherworld, for all we knew.
It better not be. I couldn’t keep this up for much longer.
We reached the top of a hill, and I stopped to look out at the endless white expanse. Then, something tiny, cold, and wet landed on the tip of my nose. Another fell on my cheek, and then two more.
Snow.
Flakes of it drifted down from the sky, transforming the tundra into a place out of a fairytale.
I tilted my head back and smiled. “It’s beautiful,” I said, and then I stuck out my tongue to try catching some of the snow.
“Have you never seen snow fall before?” Julian asked.
“I lived on a tropical island and wasn’t allowed to leave,” I said. “Of course I haven’t seen snow fall. Until now, obviously.”
He watched me in amazement.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said, but then he reconsidered. “You just look so happy. It’s the first time I’ve seen you smile since we got back from the Underworld.”
“You haven’t exactly been Mr. Smiley yourself,” I said.
“Can you blame me?” he asked. “I’ve been your verbal punching bag about how much you hate the cold from the moment we crossed into Hypernia.”
“Because I do hate the cold,” I said, gazing back out at the flakes of snow blanketing the trees and frozen hills. “But this is wonderful.”
“It is,” he agreed. “Want to set up camp here for the day?”
“Yes.” I smiled again, but this time, it wasn’t because of the cold.
It was because for the first time in a long time, Julian was acting like normal.
“Perfect.” He pulled an ax out of the ether. “I’ll chop up some firewood while you set up camp.”
It was the same routine we’d done every other morning. But this time, as I put the tent together, I felt lighter. Happier.
Maybe the snow was a sign that we were getting close to the Holy Wand.
Suddenly, a blast of wind from the north nearly knocked me down. Then another, and another. I picked up the packs, struggled against the wind to get to the tent, and shoved them inside.
The temperature plummeted, and the snow fell faster. Icy flakes slapped my cheeks. My blood felt like it was freezing in my veins.
The trees where Julian had gone for the firewood had disappeared behind an opaque sheet of white.
“Julian?” I held onto my hood and spun around, searching for him. “Julian!”
The wind roared, freezing my cheeks and muffling my cries. Each breath of air burned my lungs. My eyes watered, and I could barely keep them open against the hollering gusts of wind.
Panic raced through me. Julian was out there, and he was blind.
But he didn’t have to be. Because how did ships find their way to shore in a storm?
A lighthouse. A beacon to guide their way.
Focus, I told myself.
I stopped moving and screaming. Then, I closed my eyes and dug inside myself. My magic was sluggish in the cold, but it was there, waiting for me. I called on it, gathering it and bringing it to the surface until my body buzzed with it.
Warmth rushed through me. I opened my eyes, and the snow around me was glowing light blue. It was reflecting the electricity that danced along my face, since that was the only part of my skin not bundled up with clothing.
But the glow didn’t even reach the tent.
It wasn’t enough.
So I removed my mittens, shoved them into my pockets, and flexed my fingers. I wasn’t nearly as cold as I’d been earlier. My magic was keeping me warm.
I can do this.
Electricity surged through me.
I raised my hands above my head, gathered more magic, and pushed.
Bolts of lightning shot out of my palms and up into the sky. Wind spiraled in a vortex of snow with me in the center. I was the beacon, and I wasn’t going to let the light go out until Julian found his way back to me.
“Selena!” Julian stumbled into view and dropped a pile of wet wood at his feet. His steel gray wings nearly disappeared against the white of the snow, and his hair was frozen stiff against his forehead. But he was alive.
I released my hold on the lightning and ran into his arms.<
br />
He shivered so much that he could barely hold me. “You’re warm,” he murmured, burying his face in my hair. “So warm.”
“It was the lightning.” I pulled back and looked at him. The wind had burnt his cheeks red, and the cold had turned his lips blue. “You’re frozen. We need to get you inside.”
I held onto him and helped him into the tent.
My heart dropped when we entered. I hadn’t had time to close the entrance flap, so snow had blown in. It covered the majority of the floor.
I cursed and buttoned the flaps closed. My fingers were so cold that they kept slipping, but I sent electricity into them to keep the blood flowing and pushed through. It was the perfect amount of electricity to warm my hands but not burn the tent.
Then I turned to Julian. He’d kneeled in front of one of the packs, and was struggling to pull out the sleeping roll. His body shook, and his wings were the dimmest I’d ever seen them.
I hurried over to help, removed the sleeping roll from the pack, and laid it down on the only dry area in the back of the tent. “Take off your clothes and get in,” I said, pointing to the sleeping roll.
He forced out a weak chuckle. “This is hardly the time to be propositioning me,” he said.
“I’m not ‘propositioning you.’” I removed my cloak and threw it next to the sleeping roll. “I need to keep you warm, and I can’t do that with all of these wet clothes between us.”
His lips formed an O of understanding, and he moved to take off his gloves.
By the time I’d removed my outer garments, he was still struggling with the buttons of his cloak.
I rushed to his side. “Let me,” I said, and I removed his clothes as fast as possible.
His eyes followed my every movement. “Always in a rush to get me naked,” he joked, his voice shaking.
“You know it.” I gave him an encouraging smile, holding him close as I helped him into the sleeping roll. I quickly removed my undergarments and slipped inside next to him.
His eyes were closed, his face nearly as white as the snow, and he didn’t stir.
“Julian.” I climbed on top of him, grabbed his shoulders, and shook him. “Wake up. Open your eyes.” I shook him harder, needing him to listen.
The wind howled, an invisible monster trying to shred its way through the tent and sink its icy claws into our skin.
Julian still wasn’t moving.
I was about to risk jolting him with electricity, but then he cracked his eyes open and smiled. “Selena,” he mumbled, dreamlike, as if he were in a trance. “I love you.”
“And I love you,” I said, lowering myself so my body was flush against his. He was so cold. Unnaturally cold. “And I’m not letting you freeze to death.”
I wrapped myself around him, closed my eyes, and focused on my magic. It hummed inside of me, weak after I’d used it to create and hold the bolts outside. But it was there, ready and willing to bend to my command.
Good. Because what I was about to try… it was risky. I’d never done something like this before.
But Julian’s skin was frozen. His breathing was slow, his pulse weak. Even though I wasn’t a doctor, I could tell he was almost hypothermic. If I didn’t try this, I wasn’t sure he’d make it through the storm.
Please work, I thought, talking to my magic more than myself. Please don’t hurt him.
I tugged on my magic, pulling it slowly up to hover beneath my skin. Warmth rushed through me, and Julian moaned, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“Selena,” he murmured, his lips brushing my ear. “Whatever you’re doing, don’t stop.”
“I won’t,” I promised, focusing on keeping my magic just under the surface. Enough to warm him, but not to burn.
The inside of the sleeping roll warmed, too. I was a heater keeping us both from freezing, and I was going to get us through this storm no matter what.
After what must have been an hour, Julian’s breathing deepened, and his pulse strengthened. His wings shined a bit brighter, too. The wind had let up, no longer battering the tent, and the sleeping roll was as toasty as it got in front of a campfire.
I pulled back and studied Julian’s face, relieved that color had returned to it.
He cracked his eyes open and smiled.
“How do you feel?” I spoke slowly, as to not lose my concentration on balancing my magic.
“Amazing.” He rolled onto his side and pressed a soft kiss on my neck, just below my ear. “You’re amazing.” His lips were warm again, and I shuddered as electricity surged up my spine.
My magic was millimeters away from spreading out in currents across my skin.
But I took a deep breath, containing it. “You can’t do that to me when I’m like this,” I said. “It’s dangerous.”
“All of this is dangerous.” His eyes flashed with mischief, and he moved down to kiss my lips.
I pulled back, and my breath caught in my chest. Because he was looking at me with as much desire as he had back in that field, and the intensity of his gaze nearly set me on fire.
It took everything in me to control myself.
“You don’t get it,” I said once my magic was ebbing safely under my skin. “I could burn you, like I did in the forest. Or worse.”
“Then relax,” he said slowly. “Let me keep you warm for a bit.”
I paused to think—which was difficult with him looking at me like that. The storm had slowed. The tent was insulated, and the sleeping roll was warm enough that it didn’t seem like I needed to use my magic to heat it any longer.
So I pushed my magic down to mere embers, snuggled closer to Julian, and tilted my head up to look at him. “Are you propositioning me?” I teased.
“You bet I am.”
My heart fluttered, he lowered his lips to mine, and for the first time in a long time, everything between us was perfect.
31
Selena
Since we were traveling at night, the next “morning,” was a bit after sunset. We had our typical breakfast of golden apples, packed up camp, and set off. The walk was long, monotonous, and cold, like always. But the aurora was extra bright—as it had been every night in the North—and it helped guide our way.
Julian and I walked closer together, chatting more than we had before.
But during the lulls in conversation, I couldn’t stop thinking about our time in the Underworld.
“Something’s been bothering me,” I eventually said.
He glanced over at me, worried. “What’s that?” he asked.
“Gloriana thinks I’m some kind of ‘chosen one’ who’s going to use the Holy Wand to bring peace back to the Otherworld,” I said. “But we have to hand it over to the Empress when we return to the citadel, so we can win the Games and get to Avalon.”
“We do,” he said.
“So what are we going to tell the guardians of the wand when we reach our destination?”
And should we really hand the wand over to the Empress at all?
He stared straight ahead and continued forward, his eyes hard. Finally, he stopped and faced me, as serious as ever.
I stopped as well, holding onto the straps of my pack to brace myself.
He glanced around, like he was making sure no one was nearby to listen. Of course, the coast was clear. “You heard why Gloriana hid the wand,” he said. “Do you think her guardians in Hypernia will let you near it if they know you’re going to hand it over to the Empress?”
“No,” I said. “That’s what I’m worried about.”
“As you should be,” he said.
“So what do we do?”
“We lie,” he said. “We tell them what they want to hear. And we know exactly what that is, since Gloriana laid it all out for us when we dined with her.”
I stilled at how wrong that felt. “That won’t work,” I said.
“Why not?”
“For starters, the entire Otherworld watches the Games,” I said. “They know why we’re after th
e wand.”
“They know the Empress sent us to bring her the wand,” he said. “They don’t know what we’ll do once we get it.”
“So you want us to pretend we’re not going to give it to the Empress,” I said. “You want us to lie and say what, exactly? That I’m the Queen of Wands, and I’m going to use the wand to defeat the Empire and bring peace to the Otherworld?”
It sounded ridiculous.
But what if I can actually do it?
I shook the thought away. It was crazy. I wasn’t some kind of savior. I was just a girl, doing everything she could to get back home.
But Julian nodded in approval. “That should do the trick,” he said.
I searched his face for a sign that he was joking and found none.
Then his expression softened, and he reached for my hands. “Maybe it’s not a lie,” he said. “Bridget said the fate of the world depends on you. Gloriana thinks so, too. But they didn’t give us any more details. So maybe the fate of the world depends on you giving the wand to the Empress.”
I shuffled my feet in the snow. “I’ve wondered the same thing,” I said. “But Gloriana specifically said I was going to use the wand. How can I do that if I give it to the Empress?”
He took a deep breath, and I knew I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say.
But suddenly, the ground rumbled. A deafening crack filled the air, and the ice split about fifty yards ahead of us.
Julian held his arm out in front of me. “Stand back,” he said, and we both stilled, watching the crevice widen.
The gap grew to about twenty feet wide, then stopped. It went on in both directions for as far as I could see.
I guess we’ll have to jump.
We had more than enough room to get a running start.
But then, huge hands with stubby fingers shot out from it and gripped the frozen edge. They pulled themselves up—giant, troll-like creatures with snow-white skin, bulging muscles, and heads too small for their bodies. There were ten of them, and their armor covered just the necessities.
The Faerie Wand (Dark World: The Faerie Games Book 4) Page 13
