Amund’s portal deposited them at the perimeter of New Kingdom and the Land of Ice, where towering, snow-covered mountains spanned as far as the eye could see.
Lex jerked out of Garrin’s arms and glared. “Damn you!” Her gaze was hot as the fire Garrin could throw with his hands. Until she looked beyond him.
Her eyes rounded, and her body tensed. “Nooo!” she screamed.
And continued to scream.
Garrin stared at the female, confused at her lack of control. His chest tightened as her cries turned hoarse, choking sounds coming from her throat.
Lex’s eyes glassed over, and Garrin signaled to Zirel, but Zirel was already running to him.
Zirel touched Lex’s forehead, and she fell limp in Garrin’s arms.
“Her fear is a problem,” Zirel said.
Garrin was as frustrated as his men, and fearful for the fragile female. “The only way to Dark Kingdom is through the Land of Ice.” He gently set Lex on the ground and searched for signs of New Kingdom soldiers who may have followed them.
The portal creator huddled not far away, his complexion gray, his chest rising and falling in exhaustion. “Amund?”
The burly Fae rubbed his face. “I need but a moment.”
In a moment, New Kingdom guards would track them. “Can you get us deep enough inside the Land of Ice?”
Amund nodded. “One more portal. That is all I have in me until I rest.”
Amund was in terrible shape. Should he be attacked in his condition, he would succumb to his injuries, unable to heal. But they were out of options. “It is enough.”
With Amund’s help, they soon passed into the great white abyss.
Inside the Land of Ice, mountains jutted toward the sky, craggy, in shades of gray, blue, and white, the peaks stretching farther than even Fae, with superior sensory perception, could see. There was no anchor in this land, and disorientation was a death sentence.
Exhausted, they huddled together and blocked the cold wind from Lex’s small form.
Zirel stared at the girl, who looked peaceful in sleep. “She will wake soon.”
“Yes,” Garrin said.
Zirel peered around. The wind blew so hard that it was difficult to stand, let alone walk. “She is terrified of this place—not that I fault her.”
“Nor I,” Garrin said, “but it will make the trip more difficult.”
Amund lay on his side, unmoving, his eyes closed. “If she was truly the prophesied one, she would be able to take us to Dark Kingdom.”
Garrin steeled his gaze. “It is unfortunate the girl shows no sign of her powers, but there is something about her… I am certain she is the one the elders spoke of. Our circumstances may have changed, but not our purpose. We will not fail our people. We will bring the girl with us.”
He grabbed the canvas bag that held their supplies and pulled out a heavy coat made of Fae material resistant to cold. He eased Lex’s arms through the sleeves and secured the front, tucking her head and long hair inside the hood. Next, he covered her hands with gloves.
His brow furrowed. She would remain warm for a time. But it wasn’t the cold that concerned Garrin. It was the strange fear of snow she carried with her.
He looked at Zirel. “You must keep the girl asleep while we travel.”
Zirel gave a quick nod. “Yes, Your Highness.”
Lex was lying on frozen ground so cold it seeped straight to her bones. “Thirsty,” she said, and tried to open her eyes. When she finally managed it, she struggled to focus. “Cold.”
Rustling came from above, and a warm blanket covered her.
She rubbed her eyes, finally getting them to adjust, and looked down. At some point, someone had put her in a coat and gloves—not that it made a difference when lying in snow. Another coat now rested on top of her.
“Better?” Garrin leaned over in nothing but a sweater, while the other two Fae crouched nearby in coats like the one that covered her.
Garrin had given her his outerwear. In the middle of this awful, arctic place.
She closed her eyes against the images that flashed across her mind. The ones she’d had before she passed out. Given the temperature beneath her back and the clothing the men wore, she was still living her worst nightmare.
“It isn’t too late to return me.” Her teeth chattered, and it was difficult to swallow. All she wanted was to return to her uncle.
Was Jas really Fae like them? These men sounded like Jasper, with their English accent that held tinges of Germanic influence, but it was hard to imagine it being true. “I won’t tell anyone you took me. I promise.”
“Shh.” Garrin’s strong arm slipped beneath her back and lifted her upright. He placed a bowl to her mouth, and she flinched. “The bowl is made of ice, but you must drink the water. You are dehydrated.”
Lex sipped and experienced the sensation of freezing from the inside. She winced and turned her head. The coat Garrin had laid over her was losing the heat from his body. She shifted and pulled it closer. “I’m so cold.”
Garrin murmured something off to the side, then his face was in front of her again. “The coat contains our magic and protects against the worst of the cold, but not all. You retain heat better when I carry you, but we must rest for the night and give you more food. You’re not eating enough.”
Her body shook, her tongue thick. “I told you I wasn’t strong enough. Not for this. Not for anything. We have to go back.”
A haze of regret crossed Garrin’s cool gaze. “We’ve traveled for several weeks, and—”
Her eyes widened. “Several weeks?”
“—there is no turning back if you are to survive. We must get you to Dark Kingdom as soon as possible.” He reached to the side, then held out something brown. “Eat more leaves.”
She made a face, her memory hazy but clearing the longer she stayed awake. “You’ve been feeding me those. They taste awful.” She looked past Garrin at the frozen landscape. The cool wind cut through her flesh, and her throat bobbed. “How has so much time passed without me knowing?”
“Zirel is a healer, but he can also blur memory to some degree. We felt it best for you not to remember much of this land.”
If only she could forget the entire experience. “When will we be past the snow?”
Garrin’s expression stiffened, and Zirel and Amund glanced at each other. “Not for a while,” Garrin said.
She’d never forgive Garrin for taking her to this place. She might not have had much back home, but at least she’d been safe. “Jas said he sensed the cold.” She looked at Garrin. “You are the cold.” Her tears chilled and froze in their descent before she could wipe them away. “Should have listened to him. Should have listened…”
Amund leaned closer, crowding her along with Garrin. “What is she talking about?”
“Lex,” Garrin said, his tone low and commanding. “You will not be harmed. This is my land, and I will protect you.”
“Protect me? But the snow…” She shook her head, visions of an avalanche making her heart race. “This is torture.”
Garrin’s strong throat bobbed. He glanced off, and when his gaze returned to hers, it was hard and unyielding. “You must eat and drink more, but you cannot allow yourself to panic. It drains you of energy.” He took off his glove and set a shockingly warm and gentle hand on her cheek. “Be calm, Lex. You are safe. The snow cannot hurt you.”
She wanted to lash out at his arrogance. Instead, she looked into Garrin’s bright eyes and saw an emotion that mirrored her own. “I’m scared.”
Zirel moved closer, but Garrin raised his hand in a staying motion. “She must get used to this land.” He sat beside her, and that was when Lex fully saw her surroundings.
The snow and ice and mountains—she couldn’t stay here. It would smother her. It would stomp her out like an ant on a roadway. She moaned, and her head throbbed.
Garrin pulled her to his side, his arm wrapped tightly around her. He placed his gloveless hand on her forehead, where he stroked her hair back beneath her hood.
“It’s too cold. The snow,” she said, but her breathing slowed at his touch, and she no longer felt the sharp blade of panic she had a moment ago. The vision of the avalanche was still in her mental periphery, but blurred and harder to grasp.
“If you remain calm, Zirel won’t need to make you unconscious—”
She turned sharply and stared at him. “Is that what you’ve been doing to me?” She hadn’t believed him when he said they’d been here for weeks. It seemed impossible, but if he’d been knocking her out and messing with her memories?
Lex tried to move away, but Garrin held her close.
“The land frightens you, making you incoherent,” Garrin said. “Our actions were necessary.”
She squeezed her eyes closed. “None of this is necessary. Why didn’t you return me when you could?” Lex felt lightheaded, her chest moving up and down too rapidly.
“Control your breathing, and I will build a dwelling to keep you warm tonight.”
Her palms clenched and the wind on the mountaintop whipped the fur lining of her hood. “You aren’t listening to me. I wouldn’t need a dwelling if you hadn’t taken me!” This time she scooted away, and he allowed her.
Garrin stood and looked off. “If I could save my people any other way…”
Lex’s eyes burned with tears she held inside. They’d only freeze on her face anyway. “And I’m your best option?”
He glanced back. “Unfortunately.”
Lex huffed out a breath. This jerk… “I’m going to fail, and then what? I die, and you find option B? I suppose one human life isn’t a big deal in the scheme of things.”
“It is far more complicated than that.” Garrin’s face was less expressive than his eyes. But right now, those eyes grew haunted.
He moved a couple feet away and looked out at the white horizon. “Dark Fae have traversed this unforgiving land for millennia. It was only during the last few hundred years that travel through the Land of Ice became nearly impossible. Our magic falters when it never did before. We’ve lost many lives attempting to escape our prison.” He looked back. “The prophesied one is the only way out. You are the only way for my people to leave Dark Kingdom. And to leave we must go through the Land of Ice.”
Lex pressed her fingers to her forehead. “You’re talking in riddles, and my head feels like someone is stabbing it with a knife. For the hundredth time, I don’t have powers. I can’t send us through space like Amund or heal like Zirel. And I can’t help you cross this awful place.”
“But you will.”
Lex growled in anger. Garrin was stubborn, and now they’d die because of it.
His mouth twitched. “You are feeling better if you are making angry animal sounds. You must no longer fear me.”
She wasn’t hyperventilating, no. Not since he’d distracted her with his warm hand stroking her forehead. And as seriously pissed off as she was at his taking her from the only security she’d ever known, he was right; she didn’t fear him anymore.
How could she fear a man who risked death by giving her his only coat? Seriously, why wasn’t he freezing? Zirel and Amund had on their coats, and even they bounced on their heels to keep warm in the frigid wind. “I’m too annoyed to fear you.”
“I will keep that in mind the next time you panic,” Garrin said, his mouth turned up.
She shot him a death glare.
Choking sounds came from the other men.
Garrin’s brow quirked. “You know, Lex, I’m not used to insolence from females.”
Her teeth chattered harder. She huddled inside the hood and pulled his coat closer to her face. “Jas says I’m more headstrong than people realize. I must be getting used to you.”
“I would like for you to grow used to me.” Longing simmered in his eyes, then he said, “If I could have avoided all this…” His jaw clenched, and he seemed to grapple for words. “It is of no matter. I hadn’t anticipated your powers would not be formed. We expected you to be in possession of your magical ability, given your year of study. How old are you?”
So she wasn’t what he expected? Shocker. That was what she’d been telling him all along. “Twenty.”
“Twenty?” Garrin’s chin jutted back.
“It is odd,” Amund said, his brow furrowed.
She looked at Zirel, who was also staring at her strangely. This was getting annoying. “What is odd?”
“You are past the age in which Halven come into their powers.” Garrin picked up a handful of snow in his gloved hand, and Lex watched it melt faster than it should. Especially in below-freezing temperatures without a coat. He glanced at his men. “Once we are in Dark Kingdom, we will speak with the elders and inquire as to why her ability lies dormant.”
Her jaw dropped. “You kidnapped me…and you’re not even sure what I can do?”
Garrin bristled and wiped the moisture from the snow onto his pants. “The prophecy didn’t specify when you’d come into your magic, or even what it would be—only that a child of Dark blood would become my people’s savior. No one from Dark Kingdom has stepped forward to claim such an ability in the hundreds of years of our isolation. The only conclusion was that the prophesied one lived elsewhere.”
Lex let out a pained sigh. “That sounds like an extremely vague prophecy.”
“Perhaps, but our elders are never wrong. Come.” He stretched out his hand to her. “It grows dark and cold. I will show you something, if you allow it.”
Lex reached for Garrin’s gloved hand, and a shock wave of sensation ran up her frozen limb through the layers of clothing that protected her.
She slammed her eyes shut. The charge she felt whenever they touched was getting annoying.
He tipped his head in the direction of an area that was relatively flat on the mountain. Lex peeked at it and took in a dizzying view of the rest of the area.
She closed her eyes and breathed in and out slowly.
When she opened her eyes again, Garrin was watching her patiently as though waiting for her to calm. “You’ve witnessed Zirel’s ability to heal and Amund’s ability to create portals for travel. Are you not curious about my abilities?”
He was trying to distract her—and it helped. She couldn’t deny she was curious, though she wasn’t about to tell him that. “No, but you’ll probably show me anyway.”
He chuckled and held up his gloved hand. He turned it over as though studying it. “Fae handle temperature variations better than humans, but even my men cannot withstand the Land of Ice for long without proper protection. I will show you one of my abilities that will keep us warm overnight, but if you feel frightened, you must calm yourself like you did a moment ago.”
Lex gripped the edges of the coat that dwarfed her body and huddled inside the fabric. She was turning into an icicle even with Garrin’s outerwear layered above her own. “I have no idea what you plan to do, so I can’t promise you anything.”
His mouth turned up. He didn’t look at her like the campus curiosity she was back home. He didn’t avert his eyes when he spoke to her, and he seemed pleased at her stubbornness. “You experienced some of my magic in your dormitory. Do you remember?”
A shiver added to her existing chills and coursed through her. “I remember the cold. And then it was gone and we were inside the cave.”
“You are part Dark Fae, Lex, and what I gave you was a taste of my powers. Your innate ability to deflect my magic indicated you are my kind and not another Fae from another part of Tirnan. You are whom I say you are, no matter how you spent your life before I found you.”
The wind blew harder around Garrin, whipping his wavy, dark hair across his forehead.
And then he raised his hands, and the snow around them rose too.
