Lex and Camille didn’t head straight to the grave caves. They stopped at an overlook just beyond. And Lex couldn’t believe what she saw.
Garrin stood with his back to her, facing his father. But that wasn’t what had her growing cold. It was the frozen monoliths of her friends lined up next to the king: Jas, Elena, Derek, Em, and every single one of the others. And not only Lex’s friends; the Dark Queen was frozen beside her husband as well, her alchemists now standing among the king’s army.
Camille sucked in a breath. “This won’t work. We must leave.”
Lex swallowed, unable to look away. “Why would the king do this?”
“Power, fear… Who is to say? He will commit terrible acts for what he desires.”
The king had raped Camille. She knew better than anyone the lengths he was willing to go in order to gain what he wanted.
Lex should leave. It was over. Everyone she’d counted on to help her get Garrin out was frozen in ice, including her mother. But her feet wouldn’t move, and her chest was tight with adrenaline.
She couldn’t stop staring at Garrin’s back as he faced off with his father. He was alone. “There has to be another way.”
“There is no other way.” Camille touched Lex’s shoulder. “Child, I am powerful, and I barely escaped Dark Kingdom with my life. There is no match for the Dark King and his army.”
Lex couldn’t see Garrin’s face, but she could see the king’s expression. He smirked.
Lex gritted her teeth. There was no one to help her and Camille fight off Casone. And yet… “I can’t leave.” Garrin had never abandoned her. Regardless of if she was obligated to risk her life for his, she was about to. “We can do this, Camille. You’ll create a portal, and I’ll boost it. We’ll pop in, grab Garrin, and leave just as quickly.”
Camille closed her eyes and pressed her thumb and forefinger to her forehead. “That is a terrible idea.”
Lex swallowed, her throat tight. Everyone she loved was frozen. And Garrin was trapped. “You’re probably right. But will you do it?”
Camille moved closer. “It will take me seconds to create another portal to escape. Seconds that will see us captured.”
Lex closed her eyes and extended her senses. “I feel them. The powers of my mother and our friends. They’re not dead. They’re still there, and so are their abilities.”
“And frozen as they are, our friends cannot do anything with their powers.”
“No, they can’t. But I can.”
Camille’s eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”
Lex looked across the clearing. “I see their power…just as easily as I see the wind blowing snow off that mountaintop. Just as easily as I see the condensation of our breath in the frigid air.”
Camille’s brow furrowed, and then she looked at Garrin. “What do you propose?”
“I’m most familiar with Garrin’s power. We’ll portal to the cavern entrance where Garrin stands, and I’ll cover the soldiers and alchemists in snow. Enough snow to slow them down and create a distraction. In the meantime, you’ll create a portal for us to escape.” Lex’s eyes burned and emotion filled her chest. “We can’t take the others. I’m not confident in my abilities to do more than distract. We’ll leave, as you said, and return to fight for our friends another day.”
“It is all we can do for now,” Camille agreed.
Lex’s hands shook as Camille formed the portal. She didn’t know how much longer Garrin would be in front of the cave, and she didn’t want to risk the king returning to the castle to an even greater stronghold. They had to act quickly.
She focused on the energy Camille’s magic gave off, stepped inside the portal, and boosted it, as she’d done before. One moment they were on the overlook and the next they were beside Garrin, minus the bumpy landing of a regular portal.
Lex called to the snow.
But not before one of the alchemists caught sight of her and threw out his hand.
The snow dropped midair, some of it scattering on top of the soldiers, but most of it drifting off.
“And here we are,” the king said, and clasped his hands as though pleased. “Just as I predicted.”
Garrin turned to Lex, angry red welts, blood, and bruises not hiding the resignation on his face.
Lex’s chest rose and fell rapidly. He’d been beaten. Worse, a massive gash in the region of his heart left blood puddled in the snow at his feet. A puddle Lex hadn’t been able to see from behind.
The king’s expression was smug. “We waited so patiently for you, Lexandra. Or should I call you puppet master? I’m told you draw on others’ powers. How convenient. My son was convinced you wouldn’t show, but I was more optimistic.”
Lex tried to call to Garrin’s magic. And then to Camille’s. Her mother’s magic wouldn’t rise either. Lex could see everyone’s ability, including the soldiers’, but she couldn’t make any of it work for her.
She looked at the alchemist who’d reached out to her, strain contorting his expression as he kept his arm raised. He was blocking her power, and that hadn’t been a part of her plan.
“Yes, my men have you well in hand,” the king said. “My alchemists suspect that, with practice, I’ll be able to use your powers to access all magic.” He smiled and shook his head. “The possibilities are limitless. With an infinite ability such as yours, I’ll be able to enlarge crops and create summer houses. But it seems we’ll need to wait until you see things my way. I cannot have an unruly magic-wielder in my land.”
Casone flicked his fingers, and just like that, Lex was frozen too.
Panic made her mind race. She couldn’t move, not even to close her eyes. She felt no cold, no physical pain, though she was aware.
Oh my God. Oh my God. She’d be trapped inside ice for as long as the king wanted.
Muffled voices filtered through the block of ice that entombed her. Her eyes that wouldn’t blink provided a hazy view of Garrin fighting soldiers off to reach her.
A moment of sheer panic percolated up her chest. But she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t do a damn thing.
Garrin wrenched out of the grip of a soldier and placed a hand to the ice surrounding Lex. She felt him push magic at her. But it was so darn weak. Weaker than she’d ever sensed from him before. And blood continued to trail at his feet. He was dying.
Nooooo!
Garrin’s gaze was pure anguish. And then rage. Even as his life’s blood poured from his chest.
He backhanded one of the soldiers and stole his sword, then charged the king, clashing metal with the guards surrounding Casone.
The king turned his head from side to side as though disappointed. And then Lex heard his muffled voice. “Had I any notion of your success in finding the prophesied one, I never would have sent you on these quests, son. I needed to appease the people, and I thought the prophecy a good distraction. I too raged at the magical barrier when Kushiel first created it. But now? Now I see its benefits. No one in this land can stand against a Branimir. We are all-powerful.”
Casone pinched his chin thoughtfully. “Lexandra is special, I’ll give you that. Once she cools off for a hundred years or so, I’ll make good use of her.” He pulled out his sword. “Until then, you will pay for attempting to remove her from my land.”
The Dark King lashed out in a motion so swift that Lex barely caught it.
Blood poured down Garrin’s torso, his severed arm sinking into the snow.
Lex mentally screamed.
Casone Branimir would kill Garrin if it made him more powerful.
Garrin collapsed to his knees, his head bowed. And then he tipped to the side, unmoving.
Lex’s mind was a haze of anger. And then she sensed it. The heat in her hands. She was no longer being controlled by the alchemist, either because he was distracted or too arrogant to believe she could use her power while frozen.
But she could. It was right there at her fingertips.
She didn’t release the power she’d used to heat ice until it shattered. She allowed it to emanate off her slowly, heating the monolith from the inside until her body was as nimble as her mind and she could blink again.
And no one noticed, too preoccupied by the king and Garrin.
“Camille, dear,” the king said, “take us back to my castle.”
Camille moved to her son, whose face was ghostly white. She touched Garrin’s leg, and Lex sucked in a breath. Camille looked up at the king. “I will never do as you say.”
Lex felt the burst of power that swept off Camille. She was holding on to Garrin, which meant she could escape with him.
But the king and his men were faster.
Two soldiers lunged forward and stabbed Camille just as she opened her portal. She crumpled to the snow beside her son.
A low growl came from Lex’s throat. Garrin was dying. Camille was dying. Her friends had been buried alive in ice tombs…and Lex was furious.
No longer slow and controlled, Lex sent out a burst of fire energy, and the ice surrounding her shattered. She fell to the ground and looked up at the king with pure rage.
The king’s eyebrow rose, and he held up his hand to the alchemist. “Interesting. What else can you do, I wonder?”
A lot, thought Lex, as some of the puzzle pieces of Mertha’s memories finally came together.
She slammed her fists to the ground, so hard they went through snow and ice and vibrated off solid stone. She drew on every ounce of energy she possessed, and some she didn’t know she had, and pushed heat into the rock and beyond.
There was a fraction of a second between her fists slamming and the snow melting around them. But like a breeze sweeping a cornfield, the magic burst out and melted every droplet of snow and ice as far as the eye could see.
The king’s head jerked this way and that, and he stumbled on the fresh stone beneath his feet. “What have you done?” He turned to the alchemists, who were cowering. “Block her magic!”
Even if the alchemists didn’t look frightened, Lex wasn’t about to let them control her again. She tossed them off the cliff with her mother’s power.
In the next moment, her mother and all their friends rose from the side of the cliff in midair. They must have unfrozen along with the land. And they looked pissed.
Isle threw out her arms, and she and their friends landed on solid ground, swords drawn.
And they weren’t alone.
