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Gavin looks at me, his eyes filled with concern. He draws his bottom lip through his teeth, clearly troubled. “I’m not really supposed to...”
“Please.” I bat my lashes at him and try to make myself seem unassuming. Hunching my shoulders, I bend over and let a shuddering sob escape me. “Just for a moment. I’m sure it would be fine. Then I won’t ask again.”
He shifts on his feet, staring at me, before turning around. Veronica is on the other side of the van, talking to someone on her FaePhone. The wind is blowing, and I can’t hear what she is saying, although curse words make it to my ears every so often. I feel sorry for whatever poor soul is on the other end of that call.
Sighing, Gavin reaches into his pocket. “Fine.”
A spark of warm hope comes to life in my stomach. Gavin pulls out a thick, silver key, and I suck in a breath. Time seems to slow as he places the key in the cuffs.
My heart is a drum pounding in my chest. My eyes are lasers, watching his fingers slowly turn the key.
A second passes that feels like an hour, but then I hear it.
A soft click fills the air.
I gasp, my heart thudding in my chest as the thrum of magic in my veins returns to me. It isn’t quiet. It isn’t slow.
My ice magic rushes into me like a powerful wave. Tingles run through me, from my head to my toes, and I feel like myself for the first time in months.
And not a moment too soon.
A shriek fills the air as Veronica turns around. Her eyes widen as my cuffs fall into the white snow, disappearing from sight instantly.
“No!” she yells.
But it’s too late.
I inhale deeply, letting my magic return to me like an old friend. I can smell everything. Hear everything.
My fingers tingle as I draw on the well of my birthright power. My hands twist in the air, and a dagger made of ice appears in my fingers. Gripping my weapon, I slam it into Gavin’s chest. A bone-chilling strangled cry escapes him as bright red blood blooms like a winter rose on his gray plaid shirt.
He staggers towards me, raising his hands. “Why?”
“It was me or you,” I whisper. Reaching out, I brush a hair back from his face as he falls to the ground. “I’m sorry it had to end this way.”
Truth.
I would have rather not killed him. He didn’t seem like an overly bad man.
But when faced with my life or his, I would choose mine every time.
A crunching comes from behind me, and I turn. Magic tingles in my hands, and I clench my fists around a new dagger as I eye Veronica. The Autumn Fae looks out of the elements here, and the gun in her grip only makes her seem even more out of place.
Modern weapons have no place in the North.
Eyes filled with violence meet my gaze. “I can’t let you leave,” she snarls.
At that moment, I know only one of us is leaving this place alive.
“It’s not your choice,” I reply.
Not waiting for a response, I summon the entirety of my birthright power. I dredge it up from the depths of my soul, and my veins tingle with the strength of my magic. It pulsates within me, and I can practically taste the frigid, icy power rushing through my veins.
It’s been years since I’ve used most of my power. The amount of magic needed to survive outside of the Northern Court is child’s play compared to what I grew up with.
But right now, I will use everything I have. My mother didn’t raise a fool, after all. I had created an opening for myself, and I will not let it go to waste.
Waving my free hand, I release my grip on some magic. The temperature plummets, and Veronica screams as gusts of wind surge out of me.
