Page 90 of The Prince and the Ice King

For monsters made of men;

Darkness falls—and out—they come

To make you one of them.”

Josie laughed as she ended on a warning trill, Barclay’s singing cutting off abruptly to laugh with her.

Most of the songs that spoke of horrors in neighboring kingdoms had been passed to Jack’s people from Emerald, like dark tales of the Ice Kingdom, of the Mystic Valley, or of unknown countries and people beyond.

But songs of the Shadow Lands had been known here even before the two hundred years of the curse. No one ever ventured beyond the wood down the hill from Jack’s castle. TheDarkKingdom was always only whispered about.

“Do you think it’s true?” Reardon asked, not laughing with the others but looking suddenly sick and setting down his wine. “They never attack. Never threaten. Trade comes through sometimes, in carriages pulled by black horses with no driver. Emerald’s people fear its magic, yet just like the offerings made here, the trade is taken, and we send our own supplies back.

“What if their kingdoesmake monsters of anyone who reaches him?”

“You believe in ghost stories?” Josie laughed again, setting her lute beside her.

“Forgive me, but I am talking to a woman made of gold during the day,” Reardon said, and Barclay fought a snicker behind his hand.

“Fair enough,” Josie admitted.

“But like you said,” Barclay spoke up, “they’ve never posed themselves as a threat. Perhaps it’s all stories, like what Emerald thinks of this kingdom.”

“But those stories are true!” Reardon exclaimed. “They’re just nicer here than we thought.”

Josie bowed in thanks for the appeasement.

“I only worry because… that’s where I sent the real offering for this year. General Lombard and the soldiers had fallen asleep. I’d stolen an extra key from Lombard’s quarters before leaving the city. They coverthe cage once it’s out of view of Emerald so the offering can’t appeal to their pity during the journey. It was easy to let the sacrifice out and take his place without anyone noticing.

“If I’d only known what I was going to find here, I would have simply joined him instead of sending him into the dark.”

Jack could never regret his decision to trust Reardon. The young prince was a good ruler already, worrying over a past he couldn’t change and a single subject he could do nothing to protect.

“Youdidn’tknow,” Josie reminded him. “It only does you credit that you blame yourself anyway.”

Reardon smiled, however somberly, and then reclaimed his drink after a moment of silence. “Barclay and I used to help put together the alchemy packages for trade with the Shadow Lands. Remember? Master Wells would sneak experiments in there just to see if there’d be any response. It’s a wonder he was never given up for sacrifice. It still angers me that he turned you in. I refused to see him or stop by the shop after that.”

Barclay mirrored Reardon’s somberness, but without the bitter edge. “He was scared. Everyone’s always scared back home. My family too.”

“You forgive him? You forgivethem?”

Josie returned her chair to the table to be nearer to Barclay and hooked her hands around his arm.

“I can’t hate any of them,” Barclay said. “If somehow our positions had been reversed, my friend, I don’t know if I would have had the courage to do what you did—standing up to your father, seeing me to the gates, showing up here to rescue me.”

“You would have,” Reardon dismissed, as if all he had done wasn’t a monumental collection of feats.

“Maybe, but I don’t know how to use those fancy new swords of yours,” Barclay said with a warm chuckle. “I’m just a scientist.”

“Just. I doubt anyone here who uses your potions or is blessed by your visions would say you’re just anything.”

“Even so, I forgive Master Wells and my family. I forgive your father and General Lombard too. That doesn’t mean I ever want to see any of them again.” Barclay chuckled like before, turning to look fondly on Josie. “This is my home now.”

She kissed him, a tender press since there was company so near, and Reardon looked on with a reverent longing that Jack had seen many times before, even when Reardon’s eyes were covered by a cloth.

“When the curse is lifted,” Reardon said, “your city will grow, and it will become home to many more again, blossoming into the kingdom it was always meant to be.”

“And where will the EmeraldKingfit into that,” Josie volleyed, “so many leagues from here?”

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