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A flush of ruddy color painted Demos’ cheeks, and I giggled. “You’re blushing.”
“Am I?” he asked, amused. He kissed my head and stood. “Come on. We have lots to do before we head back on the road.”
Groaning at the thought of getting back in the saddle, I sat up. “Where’s Lucius?”
“He’s downstairs. We wanted you to get as much sleep as you could.” He handed me my boots and a clean pair of wool socks.
“We, huh? I like hearing that.” I was one lucky girl.
After a quick scrub with water from the basin and a brush through my hair, I was dressed and heading down to the public for whatever meal the establishment had available. I was starving and wouldn’t even bat an eye if the only thing it offered was stale bread.
Fortunately, it was a steaming bowl of porridge with walnuts, honey, and dried berries—delicious and perfect for the weather that had taken a turn outside. From my vantage point at the table, I could see the snow falling outside in deep drifts.
“Not good travel weather, I’m afraid,” the inn lady said, taking my empty bowl. “Where yons headed?”
“North,” I answered.
I must have made a face. She laughed. “Well, hopefully it will turn. But I tell ya, never seen a thing like it, this weather. Awful stuff. You’d think we pissed off Lady Winter with the way it’s a’been here lately.” She shook her head and walked to the next table, where I saw Ander, Pateus, and a few others sitting.
Her words had my food sitting heavy in my stomach. Lady Winter was indeed the cause of this, but not because she was mad. I wasn’t sure why she was anything, actually, but I knew pain and heartbreak when I saw it, and that was exactly what I needed to do—find out what was hurting her and fast. If the winter continued to be this brutal, and worse, if spring were months and months away, then the people of Titus were in danger, regardless of war.
Demos joined me and looked out the window as well. “Think you are up to visiting the In-Between again?”
The thought of going back to that realm made me want to run back upstairs and hide in the bed. But the inn lady’s words were still in my mind. “I can try. Isn’t there another way to reach her? You said we were seeing what she was seeing, feeling, in her mind. What about where she really is?”
He seemed to think it over. “Perhaps there’s a way. Phobius and I have tried and failed. But we can try with you.”
“What about… him, the winged-one?” I still had no idea who that dark voice in the winter forest was. Was he even a real being?
“I wouldn’t worry about him. He can’t get to you, Melos. Not from there. Just focus on Boriel. She’s the one we need to wake up.”
“Who is he, though? I know you and Phobius have some idea.”
He shook his head. “That’s a story for another time and place.” When I huffed, he smiled. “I’m not keeping it from you, Sierra. Just…” He looked around the busy room, and I understood he didn’t want to tell me here among all these people.
Sighing, I took his hand and held it. It was comforting and warm and real. “When do you want to do this?”
“Now would be best before we have to set out.” He stood and handed me my cloak. “Come. Let’s go find Phobius.”
We found him outside the inn. His clothing was covered in snow, his cheeks and nose reddened from the cold. And gods was it cold. I hadn’t felt cold like this since my last winter in Providence, which meant our trek further north might just kill us.
Demos briefly explained to his brother what we wanted to do, and the three of us went back inside and up the stairs to where their room was.
As before, they bared their chests, but this time they had me touch a specific “spell.” With my hands pressed against their warm skin, I closed my eyes as more warmth entered my palms, twining along my bones like a fuse.
The In-Between “waiting area” took less time to reveal the entrance into the elemental’s forest as it had before, and I wasted no time finding the iced-in woman. Nothing had changed with her—she was still encased in ice, still weeping. But along the perimeter were people. Women. At least a score of them. Some kneeling, some floating above the snowy ground a few feet in the air. All of them watched me with knowing looks.
I knew instinctively they were the Sisters of the Old Ways. Like me, they were watching the elemental, but no one had gotten close, all were a safe distance away. I could have sworn one of them was Lady Lordes, but I hadn’t the time to really take her in.
Why hadn’t they approached the elemental? It didn’t take me long to realize why: as soon as I got a few yards closer to the weeping woman, my bones felt like they were made of ice, coming into contact with a barrier that threatened to shatter them like a hammer. How was I going to reach her?
I took a big mental breath and concentrated on the block of frozen crystal that contained her. I needed to get inside. Needed to see.
See with a different sense. Those words from a certain elemental from my rite in Ordelpho popped into my head. As if Esta were here, I nodded and concentrated on my center, then shut my eyes and… felt.
In my mind’s eye I was passing through a hallway with ceilings so high the area echoed. Blue gray light lit the granite floors from the wide stained-glass windows on either side. Robed men passed through me like specters of wispy smoke. I heard a hollow sound of a deep timbre of voices. A choir?
The hallway changed into stairs that led down, down, down. Dark stones. Damp air. Dripping. Cold.
