Garrin created an ice ledge with what little power he had left and shortened the distance across the ravine. He hadn’t enough energy to make a bridge. Not that he’d attempt it. Too many bridges had failed under eerie circumstances at the Great Ravine.
Which meant that so could his ledge.
He ran a heavy hand down his face and looked at Lex at his feet, huddled in his coat he’d covered her with.
“Go,” he said to Zirel. “Make the leap.”
There was no time to second-guess their actions. This was their only option, and even if it worked, Garrin wasn’t sure how he’d get Lex to his kingdom before she…
He wouldn’t think of it. He’d come to care for her, and he refused to imagine anything worse happening.
Zirel took several steps back, then, with a running start, he jumped, using the ice ledge as his leaping-off point.
Garrin held his breath as his friend flew across the ravine no human or Fae eye could see to the bottom of.
The healer hit the ledge of the opposite side and clung to the cliff, half of his body dangling off the edge. After a moment, Zirel slowly pulled himself up and over.
He stood and raised his hand, signaling for Garrin to proceed.
Garrin looked at Amund, who lay on his back.
The soldier waved a hand in a shooing motion. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Amund didn’t appear in any condition to cross the ravine. Given the urgency with which they needed to reach Dark Kingdom, Amund’s ability was extremely useful to steer them in the right direction, but the longer they waited, the worse Lex’s condition got.
Garrin and Zirel had had slightly warmer weather and vastly improved provisions on their way across the Land of Ice. The return trip was the worst he’d encountered. Even so, Garrin owed it to his men to return them home safely with or without him.
He secured his coat around Lex, knotting the sleeves across her waist to tighten the extra layer, and brushed off frost that had formed around her nose and eyes.
He swallowed and held back an emotion he’d never experienced. It very much felt like the panic he’d seen in Lex. Only he wasn’t worried for himself; he was worried for her.
There was no room for error. Garrin picked Lex up with numb arms. Like Zirel, he paced several steps back, took in deep breaths, and ran as fast as he could toward the ravine. At the last second, he leapt off the icy ledge he’d created, clutching Lex to his chest.
Garrin had a split second to realize he wouldn’t make it across.
He twisted and hurtled Lex toward the other side of the ravine.
In the span of a heartbeat, Garrin saw Zirel fling his body forward and grasp the hood of the coat secured to Lex—before she slid out of his grip.
“No!” Garrin shouted as he fell, arms windmilling through frigid air.
But there was nothing to grab on to. He was in the center of the ravine, falling head over heels, and he couldn’t see Lex anymore.
And then he glimpsed her. Her small body hit an outcropping above him and flopped like a rag doll.
He reached for his magic, willing it to respond.
Snow flurries whipped around his face, but that was all he could conjure.
Nothing solid.
Nothing to cushion Lex’s fall. His energy and magic were drained.
It was over, he thought as he plummeted, his body aching with the knowledge he was responsible. Why had he never considered he’d fail her?
Garrin roared, the sound bouncing off the cavernous walls. His eyelids iced over from moisture, his hair freezing along with his limbs.
And then he was falling no more. His rapid descent slowed to a stop until he was suspended inside the seemingly bottomless ravine.
He looked up and saw Lex suspended as well. “Lex!”
She didn’t move.
Garrin swung his limbs, attempting to reach the side of the ravine, but he went nowhere.
A light caught his eye. He stopped flailing and searched for the source. Because it wasn’t coming from him. He’d barely the strength to breathe, let alone summon fire.
The yellow glow grew and…heated?
And then it became blinding, heating the walls of the ravine until a mist formed and the walls dripped with condensation.
One wall in particular.
The wall of the ravine across from Lex dissipated as though melting in on itself, forming an alcove with the bright light emerging from inside.
Garrin reached for the knife he kept in his boot and pulled it out.
But it wasn’t a beast or even an army coming for them in the mysterious ravine.
It was a woman.
The woman who emerged wore simple village clothes from his kingdom. She looked pale as she wiped at her eyes and searched beyond the alcove.
When she saw Lex suspended in air, she let out a pained cry and ran to the edge, her arms outstretched.
Lex’s body floated to the woman. She cradled Lex in her arms on the cave floor, rocking and running her hands down Lex’s face.
Before Garrin could figure out what was happening, the woman’s head swung in his direction.
He started to fall again, descending to the infinite bottom. Yet all he could think was Lex was in the arms of a stranger, her body near death. “Lexandra!”
Garrin halted midair as though he were on a string, the abruptness knocking the air from his lungs.
He slowly floated up, level with the alcove where Lex and the woman were.
“Who are you?” the woman asked. “And how do you know my daughter?”
Daughter?
