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“I haven’t done anything,” I said, fighting more tears that threatened to spill. “I gave you what you wanted. Do what you brought me here to do.”
“If you haven’t noticed, I can’t. That means you’ve tricked me somehow, and if you’ve tricked me…” her eyes darkened. “I am going to murder every single person you care about right in front of your eyes. Do you understand me?”
I blinked at her, suddenly feeling a weight… lifting off my shoulders. “I’m sorry for you,” I said.
“Sorry? You aren’t sorry yet, but you will be.”
“No, I mean it.” I shook my head. “To be so insecure, so wrapped up in your own image, so incapable of letting something go that you would go to these lengths to make yourself feel better… didn’t you have family on Earth? Didn’t you have any loved ones you could’ve turned to when my father confronted you about the way you treated my family?”
“He didn’t confront me; hedestroyedme. In no world did the punishment fit the crime, but that’s what you Fae do, isn’t it?The Coldest Fae. Never have I seen a namesake more deserving than that one. You and all your wretched, selfish kind care for nothing and no one.”
“I really wish you could see the irony in your words. All this started because you were selfish and unkind, but you’re condemning my family—and my people—for being exactly that.”
“This conversation is irrelevant. I want to know what you’ve done, and how you’ve tricked me. Maybe, if you’re forthcoming, I’ll go easy on some of your relatives.”
“I’m telling you the truth, Malys. Whatever plan I had, it failed as far as I know.”
“And what was your plan?”
“My Queen!” yelled one of the guards posted near the stairs leading up to the balcony. “It’s the wolf—” his voice turned to a gargle as a huge, grey wolf leapt toward him and sank its teeth into his neck. Blood sprayed into the air, some of it splattered against the floor. The wolf didn’t skip a beat, though.
Just as quickly as it had bitten the guard in the neck, it released the guard as it landed on the ground, coming to a skidding halt a few feet away. It stared at Malys, fangs barred, chin covered in Fae blood. “Release my sister,” Radulf growled. “There’s time for you to save your hide yet.”
“Radulf!” I shrieked.
“How did you get out of your cell?” Malys snarled.
“Did you really think a couple of magic runes and iron shackles would keep me chained down forever? Did you so quickly underestimate Winter’s Son?”
Malys spun me around and held me in a vice-grip, positioning me between herself and my brother. “Take one step toward me,” she said, “And she dies on the spot.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
Malys brought her left hand up to my cheek. I saw an eerie green light begin to radiate from it, a green light that made me instantly feel sick to my stomach. I tried to hold onto my composure, but I wanted to gag, to hurl. Whatever spell she was cooking up, I had no doubt it could do exactly what she needed it to.
My only saving grace so far, though, was that she needed me alive. But what if she decided to give up on her goal of Arcadian domination and just…went nuclear? Not only was this woman unhinged, she also had incredible powers at her disposal, and she may have just run into the final road block that would stop her from getting what she wanted.
“Let her go,” said Radulf, “And you can still walk away from this.”
“And go where? There’s nowhere left for me to go.”
“Exile. You can leave and never come back. If it was good enough for my parents, it’s good enough for you.”
“I will never submit myself to that.”
“Well, you’re going to have to dosomethingif you want to make it out of here with your skin… because I’m not the only problem you’ve got to deal with right now.”
“And what does that mean?”
As if they had been summoned, several people came rushing up the stairs Radulf had just fought his way through. First came Grandmother Evie, then Grandmother Pepper, then came Melina, with Gullie flying beside her. Grandmother Helen was next, her green cloak billowing in the wind, and behind her… Valerian.
Grandmother Helen took her place in front of the pack she had brought with her to the rooftop, lowered her eyes, and extended her right hand toward Malys. “Get away from her, youwitch!” she yelled.
“You,” Malys hissed. “I should’ve known you would find a way to become a thorn in my side yet again. Andyou—how are you still alive?! I watched you bleed to death out there on the snow, how have you come back?”
“Even a half-competent witch would’ve been able to spot the Sigil of False Death etched into the gemstone hanging around his neck,” said Helen. “Just like they would’ve been able to spot the Tunnelling Sigil that lives inside the gemstone my granddaughter has been carrying with her. But you’re not even half-competent, are you Whitmore?”
“It’sMalysWolfsbanenow, and if you think you’ve gotten the upper hand by coming here, you’re wrong. All you’ve done is trap yourself in here with me, my guards, and my Wenlow.”
