Katja wasn’t protectingusfrom the wolf.
She protected the wolf fromme.
Realization is a bolt of lightning. My spear fractures midair, falling in jagged frost shards to my feet.
The fenriswulf snarls. Lunges.
I act on instinct.
Casting both arms wide, I call ice to me. Not sharp. Not deadly. But strong. I turn my magic loose.
Crystals fill the air, swirling and twisting. I need everything. As much as I can. The forest vanishes behind a curtain of ice, a blizzard of frost. I gather it all. It surges from me in a giant blast of cold.
Silence falls.
Ice creaks.
Slowly, the last of the glittering frost settles to the ground. Behind it, a solid frozen block towers before us, taller than any fae. Inside, the fenriswulf glares through the ice.
The beast is frozen mid-step, a broken shackle dangling from one foot. Its flanks heave. Intelligent eyes scan in every direction. But it can’t move. The threat is contained.
I can’t believe I did that. Has my magic ever been that strong before?
A cheer breaks out behind me.
“That was brilliant,” Juani exclaims.
“I knew we should have told you,” Johannes agrees.
“Told me…?”
“Your magic is amazing!” Aili says with awe.
Katja flutters to the ground in front of me, breathless but composed. “Thank you for not hurting him. That was quick thinking.”
Heart racing, I take a hesitant step forward. “That’s Mikael, then? I was right?”
“Yeah,” Helkki says far too cheerfully, bouncing ahead to press both hands and then her entire face to the ice cube. “He’s a fenriswulf. Cool, right?”
“He sure is cool now,” Juani quips, then collapses into laughter.
The rest of us stare uneasily at the giant wolf-cicle, until Katja gasps. “Where’s Lark? How did Mika break free?”
My heart takes off racing again.
Thisis what they do every full moon. This is their ‘boys’ night’. Lark must…what? Chain Mika up? Lash a vicious beast to a tree and hope for the best?Drowning idiots!
But if Mika is here—
What happened to Lark?
Chapter 26
Talvie
The forest falls silent. Only the wind moves, shaking frost from needled boughs.
The fenriswulf that is Mikael stands imprisoned in my block of ice, tracking our every motion, muscles twitching beneath thick fur. The sheer power contained inside my icy prison is a sight to behold, but all I can think of is what this means for Lark.
