Avalon was still gaping at their horses as he pulled her into the Iron Forest.
~
Hours later, when the moon hung high in the sky, Avalon and Hadrian were holding very still, like statues. They were huddled together on a sturdy oak branch, two dozen feet above the ground in the Iron Forest. A short distance away, the Dark Elves had made camp. It was by luck alone that they and their beasts hadn’t yet picked up their scent, but one wrong move could change everything.
The Elves were cooking something over the fire, but despite how hungry Avalon was, the smell of it made her want to throw up. She’d caught sight of Butterscotch and Graymist several times, but it was too dark to see much of anything, least of all the red irises she swore she’d seen in broad daylight.
Avalon shifted to bring circulation back into her foot. “When will they leave?” she grumbled, rubbing at her tingling ankle as blood flooded back in. “I have to pee.”
“At least you don’t have someone leaning on your bladder,” Hadrian sighed. It was true; his back was pressed against the tree, and Avalon was leaning back against him, cozied up between his legs against the night’s chill.
As Avalon waited for sleep to claim her, she thought about what the Wraith had said about undoing the curse with love. It was one of the few things she’d opted not to tell Sable. The warrior had been trapped inside the Iron Blind for ten years; aside from her brother, whose memory had been wiped, who else could possibly love her? Avalon felt bad for even thinking it. She’d considered Levon, Sable’s childhood friend, but the chances of finding him were slim to none. And even if they did find him, would he believe what they told him?
Avalon sighed and readjusted, snuggling closer to Hadrian. Finding the sacred stones was a good start, and they already had the Book of Elements. Avalon hoped that would be enough to break the curse, but if the Wraith wasn’t lying, they would need the stones to be placed inside the book by someone who loved Sable.
Along with the Water Stone, they’d found two of the three Tears of Hilsian. They still had to locate the Star of Midra, the third Tear, and the Moonstone. The task was difficult, but they were already halfway there.
Avalon’s thoughts slowly drifted away, scattering like sand as she slipped into a deep sleep.
~
Elden covered for her as she made her way through the camp, disguised this time as a raven. She wasn’t sure how far she could make it before the wounds in her back proved too painful to go on.
Although the chances of being identified while in this form were slim, Elden made a point to take the quickest way out of the camp, the most unoccupied of paths. Sable fluttered above him from tree to tree and from tent to tent, until she made it deep into the shadows of the woods.
He didn’t wave goodbye, but she knew he could see her. The Wraith could see everything.
It took her nearly all night to make it from Midra to the Realm of Wind. She flew as fast as she could, biting back cries of pain as each of the wounds in her back threatened to tear wider. By the time she made it over the bordering mountains and into the Realm of Ice, her wings gave out, and she dropped like a stone in water to the forest floor.
Fresh snow broke her fall, and she shifted back into her Fey skin. Her hair was crusted with blood and her eyes stung with tears. She crawled several miles through the snow before she could find the strength to stand up. The sun was inching above the horizon as she removed the ring and staggered toward the gates of the House of Ice.
The guards posted on the gleaming walls caught sight of her. They called out and rushed to her aid, weapons instantly forgotten.
She took another agonizing step, but her boot slipped in the snow, and she went down. The tree of ice that stood above Hannelore’s grave glowed like liquid silver in the distance.
The guards tried to help her up, but she recoiled. “Hunter,” she gritted out.
And then she fainted.
~
Avalon woke up early the following morning to find that Hadrian was gone. Her heart shot into her throat, and in the midst of her panic she nearly fell out of the tree.
She blinked, gathering her bearings.
There was a rope tied securely around her waist, tethering her to the trunk of the tree. She swallowed, feeling nauseous as she realized this rope was the only reason that she didn’t fall to the ground below.
A note was secured beneath the rope. The paper was torn, Hadrian’s scrawl nearly indecipherable.
I’ll be back by dawn,it said.Don’t worry—and please don’t move.
—Hadrian
Avalon sighed and peered through the canopy of the trees. The sun was rising, staining the leaves a bright orange. Dawn, and he wasn’t back yet.
There was no sign of life anywhere that she could see; the Dark Elves must have left sometime during the night. Her eyelids slid shut again, exhaustion overcoming her.
She awoke perhaps only minutes later to a strange, persistent snuffling coming from somewhere below. Carefully, she leaned over far enough to see.
