Page 111 of A Shard of Ice

“Hours in front of a mirror; that’s not healthy, Snow. None of this is.” I point at my brother’s coffin. At his preserved corpse.

“It isn’t just any mirror. It allows me to see my whole realm. To see everything and everyone.” Her eyes shine. She looks like someone who has had too much mead. Someone who is power-hungry and addicted. Like she can’t wait for her next fix.

“Your mirror lies to you, Snow. I wish you would see that.” I look at Kyrie. “Come, love. We are leaving.”

“No, you’re not. You’re staying right here at my side. Youwill bemy husband.”

“No. It’s never going to happen, and you can’t force me,” I tell her.

“It’s all because of her, isn’t it? You don’t love me because she exists, is that it? She’s stolen your love from me.” Her anger is suddenly directed back at Kyrie.

“No, that simply isn’t true. It has nothing to do with Kyrie. I never loved you in that way.”

“If she wasn’t here, you’d love me back,” she snarls, her hands glowing all over again. My skin prickles like a thousand needles slamming into me and all at once.

“Even if Kyrie were no more, I’d still hate you. If you harmed her, I’d hate you even more. I’d hate you with the fierceness of a thousand suns.”

It isn’t helping. Her attention is still on Kyrie. All of her ire is directed there.

No!

I do the only thing I can think of. I draw from my well, which is full to the brim with swirling magic. Then I shoot a bolt at Snow that would be enough to kill most fae. Snow is knocked back a few feet, but she looks fine otherwise. Her eyes go wide in shock.

Then she snarls in rage. “You should not have done that!” she shouts. Her voice has changed. It’s strange. She brings her hands up, her fingers like talons. She’s going to blast me.

Kyrie runs, jumping in front of me. I scream as she takes the bolt meant for me.

“No!” I watch in horror as her body jerks when a stream of power snakes into Kyrie. It doesn’t stop. Like an endless lightning bolt, it keeps rushing into her. Her eyes are wide, and her body is frozen…like she can’t move even a muscle.

Kyrie starts convulsing.

Snow is screaming, too, like she is in agony, which doesn’t make sense.

I push Kyrie, expecting the bolt of magic to pass through her into me, too. I don’t care. I need to save her, although I fear it might be too late for her…for both of us.

Nothing happens to me. When Kyrie falls to the floor, the lightning breaks.

Snow falls, too, landing with a hard thud. She looks dazed.

“No! No!” she mutters. “Stolen from me. Stolen!” She sounds deranged. “Why? No! It can’t be.”

I ignore her mutters and drop down before Kyrie. I shake her, but she doesn’t respond. Her chest rises and falls. I put my fingers on her wrist and feel the fluttering of her pulse. It’s weak, but there.

Alive.

She’s alive.

I can scarcely believe it.

Snow is still on the floor. She’s still mumbling something incoherent; her voice is soft. I’m not sure what to make of it. Perhaps my bolt affected her more than I thought.

I don’t have time to think about it. I pick Kyrie up and run for the secret door. Snow isn’t paying us any attention. She seems lost. Rocking her body to a rhythm none of us can hear.

I close the door behind me and run down the stairs and through the wall until I get to the room with the doors. I grab the lantern and go down the tunnel that would take me back to the cave, but instead of going straight, I take one of the side pathways that will take us through the Absidium Mountains.

Snow’s senses will return soon enough, and when they do, she will call for her guards. When that happens, every part of the Ice Court and the surroundings will be crawling with fae. They’ll be looking for us, and if I attempt to make the trip through the gorge, they will end up catching us.

This way is fraught with a different kind of danger, but it is our only option. I look down at Kyrie. Her skin is pale, her breathing shallow. I’m not sure how it is that she is still alive.

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