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“It is terrible,” Aspen agreed.
“Yet they fearmypower.”
“Firstly, you’re the only one who can send the demons back and seal the underworld’s entrance. You are the hero to our people that they can never be, and it’s unsurprising they’d envy that. And your winter magicisstrong. Unleashing an avalanche? Crafting a sword of ice in seconds to stab your enemy? Your abilities will only grow as winter begins in earnest and you have more time to practice your magic.”
“Which they are ensuring I don’t have,” I said bitterly.
“I think your theory about gaining immunity to the forget-me-nots is possible though.” The pixie finished applying a fresh bandage to my back and buttoned up the tunic I’d donned before she arrived. “After all, the flower only affects fae, by making us forget how to even wield our magic. Sometimes, that we even possess any. But you are part human. I imagine there’s a part of you that’s unaffected. That part of you can help you remember.”
I nodded slowly. “I think I have some memories I can cling to that will help me.”
Aspen squeezed my arm. “As often as I’m permitted to visit, I will. I have so much more to share with you, but first...you need rest.” She shot me a look. “I’m going to contrive a way for you to leave the castle and meet with some of our rebels. Or, better yet, I’ll find a way to let you visit some of the wounded returning from our battles with Ashwood and let rebels and non-converts witness your compassion. It’ll instill further belief in those on our side and gather more to our numbers. Gods know King Preston and Queen Nerissa haven’t deigned to visit their suffering soldiers or any of the bereaved family after sending their own to fight for them.” She scowled.
With that, Aspen had left me with a leather satchel of dried forget-me-nots she’d pilfered from the castle’s storage room within the armory, where the king and queen horded many of the flowers to use against their enemies.
But I couldn’t use them here, in these enchanted rooms. Glancing out the window, I surveyed the blood-red sky. There wasn’t much daylight left, but perhaps it would be enough before there came a risk of demons escaping the underworld and stalking the halls.
When I poked my head out the door, I studied the guards posted outside my rooms. I decided to feign boldness, like I was confident in what I was doing and where I was going, and I stepped outside. No one stopped me.
Realizing I wasn’t trapped in my chambers—only the castle, it seemed—I crept down the hall and toward the staircase. Garrick stood from a bench against one wall, where he’d been reclining in the shadows, sharpening one of his knives. He was fully armed, even with a sword strapped to his back, which reminded me that Silverfrost wasn’t safe at night with the underworld creatures that were regularly escaping.
“What are you doing?” Garrick’s gold eyes studied me almost warily.
My heart slammed painfully against my ribcage. Maybe he’d been ordered to stop me if I left my rooms. Maybe his blood oath would compel him to work against me, whether he wanted to or not. His expression was his own, but just because the siblings weren’t controlling him now didn’t mean he wasn’t bound to their long-term orders.
I stepped forward cautiously, the satchel swinging from the belt I’d fastened around my waist. “I want to practice,” I whispered, conscious of the guards posted not far away.
Garrick raised an eyebrow in question, as if silently asking:When the king and queen have suppressed your magic?
“I have to try.”
“All right.” Garrick frowned thoughtfully. “I know a place we can go, but we can’t linger long.” He cast a glance over his shoulder out the nearest window.
I nodded in understanding. Without another word, Garrick proceeded toward a different set of steps, waving for me to follow him.
At the top of a winding, narrow staircase, Garrick shoved open a door and we stepped out into the chilly evening. I gazed about in wonder. We were at the pinnacle of the castle’s tallest tower, surrounded by a stunning view of snowy mountaintops bathed in red and gold as the sun sank in the west. “Beautiful,” I murmured.
Icy air plucked at my loose hair and made gooseflesh rise on my bare arms.
Garrick’s arms snaked around me, enveloped in the warmth of his furs. Though his hands never touched my bare skin, it still felt intimate to be in his embrace. I swallowed my gasp of surprise and delight. The warmth of his coat dashed away the cold, and his earthy scent surrounded me.
For a moment, he didn’t move. I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. So close, yet so far. I ached to turn and wind my arms around him. To taste his lips on mine.
Would he welcome the advance, if we could risk it?
Too soon, he pulled away. My hazy thoughts cleared, and with it, the reminder that now wasn’t the time to profess feelings. I had limited time to learn to wield my magic. The daylight would vanish far too soon.
As if sensing my nerves, Garrick murmured, “Remember, you are powerful, Starlight. You were made for this. The land knows you. Its magic is yours.”
Steeling myself, I plucked a few forget-me-nots from within my satchel, holding them in my palm despite the pain and despair that flooded me as my magic seemingly snuffed out. Closing my eyes, I tried to picture pinpricks of light in a darksky, the silver glow bathing Garrick’s face when he’d studied the constellations with me. I thought about the way magic flooded my veins with power, igniting a strength in me I’d never known I’d possessed before.
Human.I squeezed the petals in my hand, not tightly enough to damage the brittle flowers but enough to embrace the pain they brought. I pictured my power unleashing, snow howling through the air and tiny shards of ice stinging my cheeks. The roar of an avalanche. The cold of a sword made of ice in my palm. The beauty of a pattern of frost.
For an instant, a familiar chill filled me. Not the cold of terror or discomfort, but the gentle touch of my magic. I could almost hear ice crackling and forming around me. Almost sense the fresh, wet scent of snow lingering in the air.
But when I opened my eyes, everything was as it had been before.
“Try again,” Garrick urged. He stepped nearer, his eyes gentle, and my stomach clenched with the desire to take his hands in mine.
