I’ll let them drown, instead.
My magic coils tighter in my chest and I let them come just a little farther from the safety of their ships. There will be no retreat.
The snow responds to my command next, kicking up into flurries that obscure their sight, just before I slowly curl my hand shut, calling for the ice to crack beneath them.
A sound like the world splitting open snaps through the night. The ice fractures beneath them in a sudden bloom of veins, wide and gleaming, spidering across the surface in a flash of silver-blue light.
Some try to run and others freeze, but it makesno difference, they’ll all meet the same fate. I just wanted to hear their screams of fear first.
With a single breath, I bring my hand down, willing the ice to melt into the lapping water beneath.
Sheets of frost retract beneath their boots, plunging them into the dark water below, only for me to lift my hand, palm up now, willing the same ice to form above them, sealing them into their final resting place.
Still, I am not finished.
I lift my other hand toward the ships that linger behind, looming silhouettes still locked in the frost.
Ice spears erupt from the depths, splitting hulls open with clean, devastating efficiency. Metal shrieks under pressure as the vessels begin to tip, but I don’t allow them to simply sink. The ice wraps around them, curling up and through every crevice. Only then do I order it to pull them down into the depths of the ocean to rest alongside those on foot. I watch the ships slowly disappear until water laps over the destruction in smooth, rippling waves.
As a scream echoes faintly across the expanse, I will the ice to lock them under.
I turn from the cliff without looking back.
“You shouldn’t have come for my people.”
Chapter 18
Wren
Sharp, anguished screams ring in my ears before fading into the sound of gunfire and the crackling roar of burning forest. Smoke clings to my throat even as my eyes fly open, breath catching hard in my chest as I bolt upright in the bed.
I take deep, ragged breaths in an attempt to calm the staccato rhythm of my heartbeat.
I'm not on the shore.
I'm not in the forest.
The nightmare doesn’t let go so easily.
My breath stutters. I press trembling fingers to my chest, trying to ground myself in this version of the world. The one I…rewrote.
A warmth spreads through my body as a thought settles: I will take the nightmares, every single night, if my power truly saved all the lives that would havebeen lost, and the lands that would have been burned away as collateral damage.
A knock sounds at the door.
When the door opens, the fae woman who enters is nothing like the tall, statuesque figures I’ve seen in this court. She’s smaller, shorter than even me by a few inches, with a rounded face and soft purple eyes. Her silver hair is woven into a single braid that rests over one shoulder, tied at the end with a thin chain that dangles with charms. She has the classic pointed and elongated fae ears, but a warmth emanates from her that is decidedly not fae.
I’d wandered the halls last night when sleep escaped me and none I passed had given me a second glance or nod. They simply acted like I didn’t exist, which was jarring after the warm reception I received from the shifters.
The small fae woman carries a collection of fabric in her arms, each piece shimmering faintly in the morning light.
“I hope I’m not intruding, my lady,” she says gently. “The High King asked that I bring this newest design for your first full day in court.”
My brows lift at her formalities and I manage a weak smile as I brush a loose, frizzy strand of dark hair from my eye. “You’re not intruding. I’m just still waking up, and please, call me Wren.”
She nods and steps lightly toward the wardrobe inthe corner, lifting a gown that gleams like polished snow. Sapphire silk, sheer sleeves embroidered with frost patterns, and a corset that looks like it was sculpted out of starlight.
I blink at it. “Is that…for me?”
