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I started to turn to Check, but as I did, a low growling filled the air as shadows moved out of the forest to attack us. What the hell? I couldn’t see who our attackers were at first, but then the snow cleared for a moment. We were facing a group of Shadow Hunters.
Damn! I’d left my dagger at home. I looked around wildly for a weapon, but Grieve shoved me behind him, where Check and three of the other guards surrounded me, dragging me away from the fray. Frantic to help, I tried to make them let me go, but they held firm as the remaining six guards and Grieve moved to attack.
“I can call the winds—I can summon—” I’d barely managed to get the words out when one of our guards went down.
“We’re closer to Marburry than Eldburry! Get the Queen and King-Elect out of danger!” Fearless glanced over his shoulder at us. The Vampiric Fae attacking him began to loosen his jaw and was quickly shifting form.
“Watch out! Behind you!” My scream cut through the air as the Shadow Hunter launched himself at the guard. They went down in a scuffle, blood flying.
I managed to break away from the guards and through the haze of swirling snow, I whispered, “Gale Force.”
As the wind swirled around me, catching me up, I reveled in the power, but when I felt myself slipping, I forced myself to focus solely on the Shadow Hunters, aiming directly for them. I fought the seductive siren song of the wind, and when Ulean blew around me, I reached out to her for help.
I need to control this thing. I need to use it rather than be used. What do I do, Ulean? How do I rein it in?
She whistled by, buoyed up by the swirl of air. Focus on the core of the storm. Can you see it? Look for it, it will be a sparkling note—a brilliant chord in the middle of the symphony.
I looked. When I was caught up by the thrall of the winds, I could see into their realm, and now I looked this way and that, and then—I saw it. A white-hot core, a light so bright I could barely look away once I’d seen it. The heart of the storm. The heart of the wind.
I see it! What now?
Do not dive into it—no matter how much it calls to you, resist. Instead, reach out, touch it, and demand it obey you. Tell it what you want it to do.
I hesitantly obeyed, and when my fingers met the light, a shiver raced through me, like a lover’s seduction, and I wanted nothing more than to give myself over to it. But I remembered what Ulean had said, and instead I steeled myself against the call.
Obey me. Follow my command.
The wind did not respond. I tried again, forcing as much strength and control as I could into my words as they filtered through the slipstream. After a moment, the wind began to bend, and the light responded.
I pointed to the Shadow Hunters. Attack them and only them.
And the storm responded, barreling down on the group, driving them back. The Shadow Hunter attacking Fearless let go and began to back up, but the storm still caught him in its grasp, tossing him into the air like a light breeze might catch up an autumn leaf. The Vampiric Fae retreated into the woods, and I retracted the winds, willing them to calm, and ran over to Fearless, dropping to my knees by his side. He was limp and bleeding against the snow.>As we approached the throne, my guards fell to the side, as did Grieve, and then Wrath swept in to stand by Lainule’s side, his jet hair sparkling with frost now. I gazed up at my father, willing him to be young again, willing him to stay and guide me, but even as I wished, I knew it was simply that—a wish, a dream, and not a possibility.
Drummers beat out a tattoo as Lainule motioned for me to come forward. I approached, alone and feeling like the weight of the world was hovering over my head, a silver sword held by a thread of ice and snow.
And then it was a blur…
“Do you, Cicely Tuuli Waters, accept the burden of this crown…”
“Do you accept responsibility for the lives of your people…”
“Do you bind yourself to the Court of Snow and Ice…”
“Do you give pledge by your life, your soul, your heartstone, to protect and defend the realm of Winter…”
“Do you leave past allegiances behind and cleave only to your responsibility as Queen of Winter…”
“Do you pledge to lead the Court of Snow and Ice in honor, courage, in both light and in darkness…”
The questions went on and on, and to each I murmured an affirmation, losing myself in the cadence of the ceremony. The lights flickered their cool light, and I had only eyes for Lainule and Wrath. I had been born for this moment, been led back to New Forest, been thrown into the fray against Myst, and she was still out there, waiting for me, hating me for taking the throne she could not have for her own.
And then…the last question came.
“Will you wear the crown, in joy? And will you wear this crown even when it weighs so very heavy upon your brow that you wish you were no more of this world?” Lainule lifted up a silver circlet like the one I’d been wearing, only more elaborate. Entwining silver vines coiled around each other, creating a delicate yet sturdy diadem. They met at a point in the center to wrap around a glowing black onyx cabochon. Below the gem, a clear, single diamond sparkled.
“I do so swear.” I gazed into her eyes, my stomach flipping as she raised the circlet and lowered it around my head. The hairstyle Druise had given me allowed her to slip the ends behind my ears, and the crown settled onto my head with a shudder.
“Then, all who witness, hear and know this: Cicely Waters has taken the burden of this Court upon her shoulders and will now and forever be the Queen of Winter, the Queen of Ice and Snow. Let all who behold her fear and tremble. Let no one question her authority. Hail the Queen of Winter! Hail the new Faerie Queen of the Eldburry Barrow!”
