Page 51 of The Midnight Blizzard

“Thank you for saving me,” I told Jack, interlacing our fingers.

He grinned at me, then grazed his lips on my knuckles. “Let’s go tell my parents we’re safe.”

Chapter 18

When we got back inside the castle, a flurry of commotion met us. Physicians and nurses hurried back and forth, shouting instructions to each other as they dashed around, scurrying like mice before a cat.

Jack caught one of the doctors by the arm. “What’s going on?”

“Two of the women never took off the ice slippers from last night. One of them has dreadful frostbite, and we will need to amputate parts of her feet immediately.”

Vallia and Vanessa! I had never had much sympathy for my stepsisters, but now I ran after the doctors as they tore up to the guest rooms with their satchels full of medical supplies.

As we drew nearer to their room, a woman’s hysterical cries nearly paralyzed me with fright. Doctors and nurses, looking panicked and frantic, shoved their way through the doors to tend to my stepsister.

It wasn’t a pretty sight. Both Vallia and Vanessa hadfinally removed the ice slippers, but while Vallia’s feet looked normal, Vanessa’s feet were discolored and swollen, and some parts had even turned an ugly black color. My hands flew up to cover my mouth, aghast. Though my stepsisters were panicked about the appearance of Vanessa’s feet, it didn’t sound as though she was in any physical pain. Had the nerves died so much that they were unaware of the pain?

“What’s wrong with my feet?” Vanessa cried. “Why did they go all black? I can’t feel anything!”

“How did you keep the slippers on that long?” Jack asked, looking even more horrified than my stepsister did as he stared at her feet. “They were supposed to be too cold to wear.”

“I didn’t feel anything unusual,” Vallia sobbed, tears pouring down her face. The physicians examined her feet and found nothing unusual. “But look what they did to my sister!”

“He’s to blame!” Vanessa shrieked, pointing dramatically at Jack.

“Yes! It’s all the mage’s fault!” Valencia glowered. “How could you do this to my daughter?”

Jack backed away from their accusatory fingers, even paler than usual. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” he said, staring horrified at the doctors as they pulled out scalpels.

One of the nurses pointed at Vanessa’s left foot. “These three toes need to go, and the heel of the other foot.”

Jack’s pale complexion drained of all color. “I…I don’t understand why the magic malfunctioned.”

“Come on,” I told him, steering him toward the door. “You don’t need to see this.”

“I don’t understand,” he kept repeating, over and over. “She shouldn’t have been able to bear the pain unless the ice turned warm for her like it did for you.” Then a look of sheer terror crossed his face. “Take your shoes off.”

Obediently, I sat and stripped off the ice slippers. Jack knelt and lifted my feet, inspecting them from every angle, but they appeared and felt fine. He ran his hand through his hair as he slumped down against the wall and stared at the slippers. “I don’t understand. How could this have happened? You and Vallia were fine. Why wasn’t Vanessa?”

“It isn’t your fault,” I said automatically.

“Then whose could it be? I was the one who enchanted the slippers. It worked for everyone else. Why not her? I’ve ruined her life. What if she never walks again?”

“I don’t know.” I certainly didn’t like Vanessa, but that didn’t mean I wanted her to have her toes and heel amputated. “You wouldn’t do anything that would harm someone; I know it.”

“But I did.”

“Jack!” Both of us turned to see the king hurrying down the hall toward us, the queen trotting along beside him. “We heard what happened.” He looked at the door in concern, where my stepsister’s hysterical shrieks were still reverberating off the walls.

“And we’re glad you’re safe, Noelle,” Queen Isolde added. “You gave us such a fright last night.” She spoke to me even as she, too, looked anxiously at the door to my stepfamily’s chambers.

“It looks bad,” Jack said miserably.

“Let’s go see,” the king said, resolutely squaring his shoulders and adjusting his crown. He reached down to pull Jack up to stand, who in turn did the same for me.

I held Jack’s hand for support as we all filed back intothe room, where the doctors were busily cutting away the blackened toes on one foot and the heel on the other. My stepmother sat in the corner, shielding her face from her daughters. Even though I despised the woman, my heart gave a small pang. I’d had to look away, too. I’d never done well with blood, and I couldn’t imagine having to watch such an operation be performed on one’s own child.

Leaving Jack with his parents, I approached my stepmother. “I’m sorry,” I told her quietly. She glanced up at me, then hurriedly looked away. Queen Isolde had noticed our brief exchange. She came forward, eyebrows furrowed as she looked closely at Valencia, who was staring at the floor as if determined to count the number of stones.

---