Domenic reached frantically into the very core of his power, the unfathomable depths of it. His magic radiated through the tree, and immediately, buds sprouted from its barren branches. Petals unfurled. Leaves revived to their lush, golden glory.
But the frost still came.
As the last leaf tore away and disappeared into the storm, a part of Domenic tore away with it. He doubled over, retching, as the warmth of Summer’s magic ebbed from the alban roots beneath him. As Winter conquered this land as its own.
He managed to lift his head to spot Ellery a short distance from him, staring stricken as the scurge’s vortex closed in.
Domenic threw himself against her and pulled them both against the trunk, and she clung to him as the world caved in around them, the feeble glows of their wands the only light against the all-consuming dark.
Even if this loss wasn’t their fault, it might as well have been.They’d gotten ahead of themselves. They’d gotten distracted. Whatever they felt, whatever they wanted, these stakes were too great to risk another failure.
There won’t be another failure,Domenic promised.Not ever again.
As Domenic held Ellery against his chest, a cry of defeat wailed in the wind.
no battles can amount to victory
until Summer’s traitor is condemned
XXVIELLERY
WINTER
Ellery watched worriedly as Domenic ducked back into their private train compartment. “All right. Peak went to the sleeper car.” He slid the door closed and locked it.
“In that case, let’s—”
“Wait.” Domenic’s soundproofing enchantment seeped down the paneled wooden walls, ruffling the curtains. Then he collapsed onto the bench across from her with a haunted, red-tinged stare. “Okay. Now we talk.”
Their train hurtled south to Gallamere. Although the weak light of morning crept through the windows, neither of them had slept. Kythion and the rest of the ghasts had vanished after Winter turned the alban tree, and the worst of the storm had vanished with them. Yet even after Domenic and Ellery had reunited with Peak and the NDC, driving down the same highways that had taken them to the compound, several hours passed before they’d emerged from the fallen territory’s new border.
Now, Ellery’s fatigues were tattered and bloodstained, her feet blistered inside her combat boots. She was exhausted but unable to rest; starving but unable to choke down more than a few bites of food.
“I…” She swallowed. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Neither do I. I mean, twelve hours ago, we were talking about retaking the fallen territory. And now Winter doesn’t just have the North. It has, what—almost a third of the country?” Domenic slammed his fist on his own thigh. “What the hell just happened, El?”
“We lost. That’s what happened.”
The train car rumbled beneath them.
Ellery had fled Nordmere on a train much like this one, but instead of a quiet ride in a private compartment, she’d been packed in with other evacuees. Mile after mile of anxious chatter and babies wailing and pained groans from the wounded. The stench of sweat and grime and dried blood. Ellery whiled away the hours trapped in a corner seat, peeling back strips of wood from her armrest.
But her fear then was nothing compared to what she felt now. She’d been so confident, so convinced of their inevitable victory.
So wrong.
“At least we got another prophecy piece,” she muttered finally.
Domenic choked out a laugh as he fixed his gaze out the window. “I still wish we could’ve told Peak.”
“Me too. But you know we can’t.”
“Do I? The man took on Kythion single-handedly. Do you really thinkhe’sSummer’s traitor?”
“Of course not.”
“Then why aren’t we telling the Council?” he demanded. “Because we think it could be Iseul? Hanna? Glynn?”
