by Everly Frost
“You need Frost magic,” I say, not wanting to touch the wound in case I make it worse. “The sunlight will keep burning until we counteract it.”
But how to help him? There isn’t a single Frost fae who will touch him… except maybe… Evander… whom Nathaniel tried to kill…
A groan of frustration builds and my stomach drops a thousand miles. Evander has always been protective of me, loved me, but he’s even more stubborn than I am. He might blame me a little for invoking the Law, but he blames Nathaniel more.
“Not a drop of blood.” Nathaniel groans.
“What?”
“Can’t spill my blood… The fire cauterized the wound. No blood. She didn’t break the Law.”
That’s how she got away with hurting him. But if she’d succeeded in killing him, she would have died too. She’s a suicidal assassin. Which makes her even more dangerous.
His head sinks all the way onto my shoulder, his forehead pressed to the curve of my neck, facing me.
I’m frozen as I try to think of the quickest way to contact Evander. At this time of the evening, Evander would normally be up on the platform, preparing to fly out to the Border. In fact, he’d usually be gone by now, but after the events of the day, he might have delayed his departure—if we’re lucky.
“Aura,” Nathaniel whispers against my neck, breaking into my thoughts. “You’re naked.”
The flurry of my thoughts stops.
So I am. The blanket I used to put out the flames rests across my lap, but I’m completely bare from the waist up and my chest is pressed against the ragged edges of his burned shirt.
“Shh. I need to get help.” I need to figure out how to get him to Evander. The platform is too far away and Nathaniel’s too heavy for me to carry him there. Evander has to come to me—but how to call him? Dear stars, how?
Nathaniel’s right hand shakes violently, filled with tremors, his wounded arm unsteady as he raises his fingertips to my face. The space between us lights up and I remember what I looked like in the mirror when he touched me.
“So damn beautiful,” he says.
His hand falls away, shivers running through his chest.
He’s going into shock. He’ll be unconscious soon.
I try to swallow my panic, the panic that I didn’t expect to feel. “Nathaniel?”
He doesn’t respond and the room is quiet again.
Somehow, the silence clears my head. No matter how much hatred my people have for the Fell, I’m bound to Nathaniel. I bound myself to him. Sure, I did it without knowing what I was doing—I didn’t do it on purpose, but I did it with purpose. I swore that one of us would die by the other’s hand.
He will not die except at the end of my blade. Mine.
Accepting this rationalization of my feelings, I think fast.
Treble will be waiting on the platform right now too, ready for me to come out and take my evening ride. If I were a Dusk fae, I could communicate with him from a distance, but I’ll have to hope that a whistle will work.
Easing Nathaniel’s heavy body onto the floor beside the wall, I turn him onto his left side so that his wounded arm doesn’t touch anything. The damaged blanket falls away from me as I run to the window, my fingers already to my lips.
I whistle as loudly as I can, sending prayers to the stars that Treble will hear me. He’s trained to identify my whistle from other sounds, but I’ve never called him from this far away before.
I whistle again, growing more desperate, trying to get moisture back to my dry lips.
If he hears me, he will be here in seconds—
The crackle of lightning and Treble’s thudding wings fill me with relief. A sob rises into my chest. That damn panic again.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a beautiful sight as when he drops to the window, arching his wings to slow his descent. Blue-gray lightning streaks around him and lights up the darkening night sky.
“Treble! I need your help!” I call across to him, trusting him to understand me. “Please call Cadence. Tell her I need Evander to come to me right away.”
Treble’s wild eyes swivel to the room behind me. His eyesight is incredibly strong, so it will only take him seconds to see Nathaniel’s burns. Not to mention, the smell of burning flesh fills the air around us and it’s hard to ignore.
With an answering shriek, he banks away from the side of the tower so he can crack his wings—a double-crack that indicates an emergency. For a moment after that, he becomes quiet, coasting as he communicates with Cadence.
I take advantage of the moments before Cadence arrives to run to the closet and pull out an oversized shirt to cover my nakedness before I race back to the window.
Seconds later, Cadence appears in the distance. She spears toward the tower at full speed as if she’s going to hurtle right into it. Her wine-colored wings are alight with crimson electricity. At the last possible moment, she swoops to the right.
Evander leaps from her back, diving through the air and the open window. His flight is perfect. The wind he controls catches his body and slows his descent, allowing him to hit the floor on his hands, somersault, and land on his feet. He’s dressed in full armor but hasn’t put on his facemask yet.
“Aura! What’s wrong?” His gaze immediately lands on Nathaniel. He jolts to a stop and takes a firm step backward. “What happened?”
“We were attacked by a Solstice fae. She burned Nathaniel—”
“And you want me to stop the burn.” His clipped response tells me I’ll have a fight on my hands.
“I need your help, Evander.”
He whirls on me. “Why?” he demands. “That creature tried to kill me.”
“No, he didn’t!” I grab Evander’s arm, refusing to let go even when his eyebrows draw down in a threatening scowl and the air around me freezes so cold, it would make any fae cower. Despite what Nathaniel said about Evander stopping any torture of the Fell creatures, Evander isn’t known for his mercy. He’s had to fight very hard for respect—and he still doesn’t have it.
“If Nathaniel wanted to kill you, he would have slit your throat while you lay helpless on the ground,” I say, anger growing in my voice, and my power rising to brighten the space around us. “You know it’s true.”
Despite my statement, there’s no give in Evander’s expression, no softening. “He attacked us, Aura. He had a plan to hurt us. I won’t help him.”
“What about our plan?” I throw my head back, daring him to contradict me. “We planned to kill him. Him and all of his people. One by one until they’re all dead. Isn’t that our plan?” I glare into Evander’s face, searching for an unstiffening of his jaw, a hint of understanding. Anything that tells me he’s hearing me right now.
Deep anger grows inside me when I don’t see it.
He pulls away from me, but I refuse let go. “No! You don’t get to walk away from me right now. I don’t know what Nathaniel was planning to do this morning—what he really planned—but this path we’re on now… this is my doing. I made this happen, not him. If you don’t stop the burn, then by the time I meet him in the combat area, he’ll be half-dead.”
I allow my power to trickle through my hand into Evander’s stiff arm, a cold, angry burn. I haven’t thought of Nathaniel as a creature for hours, long enough that I hate using that description, but nothing less will convince Evander.
“Fighting such a pathetic creature while he’s dying will be a dishonor to me,” I say. “Is that what you want, Evander? For me to dishonor myself and our family this way?”
He stares down at Nathaniel with an angry twist on his lips. He looks at me again and his chest deflates. “No. I don’t want that for you. I’ll stop the burn. But I’m doing it for you. Not for him. His people killed my mother. I won’t ever forget that.”
I know his pain. I’ve felt it all my life. But Nathaniel wasn’t the one who lit our lives on fire. I want to tell Evander that I don’t give a damn whom he does it for, but I hold my tongue and release
his arm, watching carefully as he kneels beside Nathaniel.
Evander draws on the cold around us, the frosty breeze wafting through the open window, to build a stream of icy air beneath his palms.
Frost particles land on Nathaniel’s arm and shoulder, his collarbone, neck, and chest where the burn is spreading, the cold temperature slowing the angry damage, counteracting it, until the redness fades and the burning stops.
I drop to my knees beside Evander as he finishes his work.
“I’ve stopped the burn,” he says. “But his skin is badly damaged. You need a healer for that.”
I resist the urge to gather Nathaniel’s hand into mine. I can’t do anything in front of Evander that suggests my motives are anything other than strategic. Not that I really understand my motives right now, but I know I need courage and Nathaniel has more bravery than I’ve ever seen.
I bite my lip, knowing what I have to do to help him. “I have to go home, don’t I?”
Evander’s expression softens for the first time. “Only if you want the Fell creature to be whole and healthy when you fight him.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “I was so angry when I left…”
“Then don’t go back. It’s up to you.”
He rises to his feet, towering over me for a moment before he offers his hand, a peace offering of sorts. “You have to go back eventually.”
“Crispin won’t help me. He hates the Fell.”
Evander makes a sound in the back of his throat that reminds me of the disapproving noises Nathaniel makes. “He’s your only option.”
I nod, knowing Evander’s right. Then I swallow hard. “The Law stops me from leaving Nathaniel’s side, but I need clothes. Can you bring me boots and armor from my room?”
Evander’s unhappy hum grows louder. “Need underwear too?”
I grimace a ‘yes’ at him. Thank the stars he’s my brother and has a very practical approach to life.
He’s gone before I can say another word, returning quickly with a full suit of armor, a new pair of boots, and some underclothes. I guess it doesn’t take long to choose my clothing when the only items hanging in my closet are suits of armor.
“Make it quick,” he says, handing me everything before he turns his back and fixes his gaze out of the window at Cadence, who coasts next to Treble. “The Queen’s ordered reinforcements to the border in case the Fell creatures try to attack. I’m due at the border already.”
I don’t waste a moment, hurrying to change. “How many reinforcements?” I ask as I dress.
“Everyone she can spare. She’s having dinner right now with her most senior Night Guards. All of the minor guards are being sent to patrol the border. I need to get out there before it turns into chaos.”
“What about the Ball? Is that cancelled?”
“Hah! And stir up unrest? No. She’s keeping this all quiet. Don’t be surprised if I’m not there though. Talsa is coming with me to the border too.”
When he speaks Talsa’s name, his voice softens for the first time since he arrived. It’s not exactly the right time to congratulate him, but I don’t know when I’ll get another chance.
“I’m happy for you, brother,” I say.
His expression softens even more as I do up the final clasp on my armor. Encased in the sleek material, I feel in control again.
A cold sense of determination fills me.
I know who I am in these clothes. I know what I’m capable of. I am still the Queen’s champion. I am still the commander of her guards.
I twist my hair into a quick bun at the nape of my neck, pulling up my hood, but I don’t worry about a facemask. “I’m done.”
Evander gives me a quick half smile and then a firm nod as he turns back to me.
I return the nod before I focus on Nathaniel again. “Before you go, you will help me get Nathaniel onto Treble’s back. After that, you can go.”
Evander does a double-take, meeting my commanding eyes.
I’m no longer asking. I’m telling.
A smile grows on his face. “Welcome back, sister. I was worried the Fell had already broken you.”
I snap back at him. “Don’t insult me, Evander.”
His smile grows broader.
He reaches out and wraps his arms around me. His hug is warm, but his voice is tense. “I’m afraid for you, Aura.”
I squeeze my eyes closed against his chest. Our relationship has changed since we were children growing up in the Grove. Life has become complicated with rules, hierarchies, and power plays. The bond of brother and sister has been challenged, now more than ever.
“You’ve always been a good brother to me, Evander,” I say, pulling back. “I don’t know if I ever told you that, but I mean it.”
He drops a kiss to my forehead. “I’m glad you came into my life, Aura.”
Stern again, he clears his throat and steps back from me.
A gust of wind rushes through the open window as he calls the air around us, gathering it beneath Nathaniel’s unconscious body. I sense the force build inside the room, swooshing around my legs and chest as Nathaniel rises into the air, the air becoming a visible white stream circling his body.
Striding to the window, I whistle for Treble, who flies as close as possible to the tower. Evander twists his hands, directing the flow of air to turn Nathaniel’s body and take him out across open air.
I ignore the prickle of fear at the back of my mind as Nathaniel floats beyond the windowsill with nothing below him but the surface of the Spinning Lake far beneath. I would like to think that his would-be killer lies dead on the lake’s surface, but she wouldn’t have jumped from the window if she didn’t have a plan of safe descent.
As soon as Nathaniel’s body is clear of the window, I jump onto the windowsill, gather my legs under me, and leap out into the air. Treble tips to the side and catches me on his back.
We rise up level with Nathaniel’s floating body and I take hold of his feet, drawing him toward me while Evander eases him across. The safest place for him is in front of me, so I wrap my arms firmly around his waist before leveraging his torso back to lean against me.
As soon as Evander releases him from the air tunnel, Nathaniel’s full weight falls against me, pushing me backward, but I remain steady. If I let him go, he’ll fall to his death.
As Treble rises into the air, Evander leaps from the window onto Cadence’s back. He gives me a quick wave before he speeds away.
I’m on my own.
“Treble,” I call across the wind. “Take me west to the Grove.”
Back to the home I left behind.
Chapter 15
The dark forest spreads for a hundred miles beneath us, covering the western peaks of the mountains and far beyond, all the way out to the ocean. The palace is a distant blob behind us, the landscape beneath us passing from city to villages, and then trees. A controlled wilderness.
The silver lining of the boundaries that the Queen has placed between herself and me is that it leaves me freer than I’ve been for years to do what I want. Nobody will notice that I’m gone in the time it should take me to heal Nathaniel and get back to the palace.
My destination is the heart of the forest at the top of the mountain, the place we call the Grove. This is where trees are grown and felled, where the Queen’s furniture is crafted, and the lumber cut for new homes. It isn’t as high as the peaks in the north of Bright where the dragons and thunderbirds live, so it isn’t quite as cold. Even so, I shiver as we soar higher, approaching the humble cabin that rests in a clearing ahead. It’s not the only one of its kind—other cabins dot the mountain at intervals—but it was built on one of the highest spots.
It’s ironic in some ways that I grew up with a view of the sparkling city, living at the same height as the Queen in her palace.
We land in the clearing outside the cabin. The building is dark, and there are no lamps lit along the porch.
All healers are Dawn fae, part of the Eventide class l
ike me, but Crispin always kept odd hours—awake half the day and half the night. His healing powers are as strong as any woman’s. Like Evander, that means he’s treated very differently by other fae.
The ground is covered in leaves and dusted with snow. Settling down onto it, Treble lowers his wing and angles it toward the ground, but I already know I’m going to struggle to pull Nathaniel from his back. Nathaniel’s so heavy and I’m afraid of hurting his injured shoulder. I can’t anchor my arms beneath his shoulders, but dragging him by the waist will be much harder. I’m not about to go to the trouble of pulling him to the ground if nobody’s home.
“Crispin?” I call into the darkness, gripping Nathaniel while I remain on Treble’s back. “Crispin?”
My voice falls into silence. The breeze whispers around me and the trees creak and groan.
I swallow my pride and try again. “Dad?”
Nothing.
Oh, and just wonderful, my arms are finally going numb from holding on to Nathaniel for so long.
I drop my head to his shoulder, trying to decide if we should take to the air again. Crispin could be anywhere in these woods. I’m not giving up, but I might have to search for him.
I’m surprised when Nathaniel stirs, trying to turn his head to see me. “Aura?”
“It’s okay. I’m getting help.” Trying to.
I sense the frown in his voice. “Where are we—”
Oomph.
I scream as a hard object hits me from behind, smashing me off Treble’s back.
My arms fly wide but not fast enough. I yank Nathaniel with me and we both crash across the clearing, landing hard. I bounce multiple times, kicking up snow as Nathaniel rolls away from me. I land closer to the tree line while he stops farther inside the clearing.
This time, the ground thuds as a large creature pounds toward me. I sense the air shift above me. Twisting onto my back, I look up just in time to see a living tree branch crash down toward me.
Holy stars.
An entire tree is attacking me; uprooted, its roots dragging across the ground. Granted, it’s a small one, but its branches are as thick as Nathaniel’s thighs.