Page 30 of Royal Ransom

I nodded. “Let me deal with the abominable nuisance.”

I wasn’t sure what language he used, but I was absolutely certain that he was cursing sulfurously under his breath at me when he retreated back the way I’d come, leaving me alone in the wide, empty hall with the predator.

“Fine,” he called back. “Put it down, won’t you? I can trap thelittle lord in this room for a time. That thing, not so much.”

I’d give sasquatches this much. They took a licking and kept on ticking. The creature staggered upright, and the harsh lights from behind us illuminated it for the first time since we’d arrived. It was around eight or nine feet tall and resembled a polar bear walking upright. At least, until you got to the face. The fur receded just enough to give you the general primate shape I was so used to seeing when Roy transformed.

I’d never asked, but I had to assume that yeti were a different branch of Roy’s family tree. This man wasn’t quite as broad as Roy, but he was definitely as muscular. The hair was thicker in beast form, which made it hard to judge where its vitals were hiding. Peachy.

“How do you suggest I do that?” I shouted back.

No answer, except the rumbling snarl of the yeti as it prowled closer, going onto all fours like a silverback. It shuffled forward, teeth bared. It didn’t even seem to mind the gore pulsing steadily from its side. There wasn’t enough reason in its eyes to care. It would keep coming for me until one of us was dead on the ground.

“Super helpful, Basil,” I muttered under my breath.

I rubbed my arms as cold prickled across my skin. It wasn’t exactly painful, but I could feel the glacial swell of power as it passed through my fingertips and issued into the air around us. I slammed that power into the ground, reaching for the cold and the damp I knew waited below. This was a castle made of stone. No matter how well maintained, there’d be leaks. Standing water. Enough to expand and crack a stone wide open.

The first stone popped out from the rest, cracking in two. It wasn’t the last. Before long, it was like watching gravel popcorn, pieces of stone flying in every direction. I managed to flatten myself against the stone, avoiding the worst of the winter hailstorm. The sasquatch wasn’t so lucky. I didn’t look at theresult too intently, but I had the impression of salsa. Red, with too many unidentifiable chunks. I couldn’t let myself examine what I’d done too closely, or I was going to throw up. And that wouldn’t save Maverick.

I waited for a minute longer than I had to, just to be sure Big, Ugly, and Stinky wasn’t getting back up to come at our backs. But the only movement out in the hall was the pieces of rock settling on top of the ruin of the corridor.

By the time I returned, Basil had a mesh of autumn leaves over Mav’s wound. His skin was the color of skim milk, which was an improvement over the chalky white he’d been a few minutes ago.

“I can’t do more for him here,” Basil said. He looked tired but shouldered Mav’s weight when I gestured for him to take a free arm. “We have to get out of here. If we’re lucky, there will be supplies we can use on the other side.”

“And if we’re unlucky?” I asked.

He didn’t answer, which was answer enough. If we didn’t get Maverick help soon enough, he was going to die.

Not fucking happening.

We’d been through too much to end things here. Mav wasn’t going to die at the hands of some pompous winter Sidhe. If any winter faerie got to axe him, it was me. It was one of the perks of being his wife. I had dibs.

“Fine,” I said with a sigh. “Lead on, Basil, and be quick about it.”

Chapter Nineteen

Taliyah

I followed Basil and when we stepped through the door, we fell a short distance, landing in a dimly lit room.

A light not too far off hit Mav’s unconscious face at a soft angle. He lay flat on his back on the floor. I scrambled over to him on my hands and knees before gently tapping both sides of his face. He’d already been hurt and now this. Had I just killed him by dragging him away from the castle? Should I have called for Astrid instead? Risked a jaunt through more publicly accessible parts of Winter to get him back to the Hollow?

“Mav?” I asked, shaking him slightly. I couldn’t raise my voice above a whisper. God, what had I done? This had been a bad idea. It was really starting to sink in now.

I could lose him.

Maverick sputtered something unintelligible before rolling over. I shook him harder. “Mav, wake up!”

“Wuh? Hm?” He opened one eye and let his mouth fall open. If I weren’t still riding the adrenaline from the chase with the yeti, I might’ve laughed at the ridiculous spectacle he was making of himself.

“I’m up, I’m up,” he said, blinking himself awake. He tried to sit up, but his face blanched white with pain, and he sank back to the ground.

I guided his head into my lap, which earned me a ghostly smile. He didn’t seem to have the energy for anything more strenuous. “Where are we?”

“In Winter, that’s all I know. You’d have to ask Basil for more specifics. I’m as new to this place as you are.”

Basil appeared at my elbow as if I’d summoned him. He paled, which was impressive given his glamour. He looked every inch the Winter Sidhe—white and frosty like a vanilla cone fromStomper’s Creamery.

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