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Lainule? You’re kidding! I didn’t know it was her.
Yes, she broke your concentration. She will tell you about it herself.
Wondering how Lainule had thrust herself into the plane of Air, I shook my head. Druise was finished with my hair, and so I thanked her, stood, and headed out to the Court, where Lainule was waiting with Wrath and the others.
She gave me a long look. “Ulean told me what happened. The Elemental wasn’t aligned with Myst, I think. But there are powers in the wild now that are chaotic and running mad. This was not your fault. But we have to take you in hand and teach you how to direct these abilities that the fan transferred to you.”
I gazed into her eyes. “How did…did you…”
“Remember, I told you that I owned the fan before you?”
I nodded, sensing that some sort of revelation was on the horizon.
“Cicely…the same thing that happened to you, happened to me. The fan’s powers—became a part of me. But I learned to control them.” She smiled then, tipping my chin up. “This is why I know how dangerous it can be to call them forth.”
“There’s more. The Snow Hag stopped us today.” I told them about what she’d said. “Myst is nearer than we feared. And her Shadow Hunters are regrouping.”
Lainule let out a sigh. “We’ll send out scouts. That’s all we can do for the moment, but at least we are forewarned.”
“And now, wife, I must take my daughter and her fiancé to see their new home. Your friends may attend.” Wrath motioned for me to follow. The others fell in behind Grieve and me, and we trailed after my father, out the door of the Court, while my mind whirled with thoughts.
Chapter 5
We exited the Barrow and I wondered just how we were to find our way into the realm of Winter. No one had yet told us how the realms were connected, and it wasn’t something obvious to figure out.
Wrath paused and looked back at me. “The path to the realm of Winter is found outside Summer. Are we all here?”
I glanced around. Grieve, Chatter, Kaylin, Luna, Peyton, and Rhiannon…and me. All waiting. And behind them, Lainule waited, her robes shimmering gold and green. Her hair was turning fast now, the highlights auburn among the gold.
“We’re here.” I steeled myself.
“A moment.” Wrath motioned to the side, and Druise ran up carrying a heavy cloak the color of twilight. She draped it around my shoulders and fastened it with a silver pin in the shape of a holly leaf. I rubbed my hand on the material. It was soft, almost like velvet, and warm.
I looked up at my father. He smiled and shrugged.
“You may be destined to become the Queen of Ice and Snow, my daughter, but even you will find the realm harsh and cold at first. That will change, of course, but for now, best you be protected. The rest of you, cloak up. Grieve and Chatter will be fine, but mortals and half-bloods must take care.”
And out came another servant with a cloak for Rhiannon, matching mine but in a deep hunter green with a gold brooch, and slipped it over her shoulders, fastening it for her. Yet another servant carried cloaks for Luna, Peyton, and Kaylin. When we were all ready, we headed toward the portal, following my father.
As we emerged from the portal, I saw what my playing with the winds had wrought. The sky was shimmering with snow, the pale sun that had been trying to peek out through the clouds the past few days was gone, and a cutting wind was blowing the snow into high drifts. I’d taken Myst’s handiwork and made it worse.
“Once we stop the Indigo Court, at least winter will fade normally,” Luna said.
I bit my lip. “It will fade here, but…” I glanced at my father. “Where Grieve and I will be living, it will be perpetual winter, won’t it?”
He nodded. “Yes, my dear. And Rhiannon will live in perpetual summer. I have a feeling you two are going to break tradition, though, and come out of your realms more often than Lainule did, or Tabera.”
Grieve took my hand as we turned in a direction I had not yet been in—this was not the way to where we had found Lainule’s heartstone, nor where we had journeyed to the realm of the Bat People. Instead, we were heading into the core of the forest, toward the Cascade foothills. There was no path here, but as Wrath moved forward, the bushes opened up for him, pulling back under their heavy weight of snow, as if they sensed his coming and acknowledged his presence.
“Who was the King of Winter? You said Tabera was murdered by Myst. But what about her King?”
He paused and turned. “Tabera was married to Shatter. As always happens when a queen dies and is not replaced, he died with her.” The look on his face told me that his death had not gone easy.
“Did Myst kill him, too?”
“No.” Wrath glanced up at the snow that fell softly, with a muffled hiss, around our shoulders. “When Myst came to this land, when you were her daughter, she didn’t attempt a coup of the Winter Court. Not until this past year. She hid in the shadows for centuries, biding her time, and bred her court.”
I had wondered about that—my memories of that time were nebulous, coming in snippets, and I had no clue of how things had gone down other than what I’d been shown.
