Page 92 of Fates Fulfilled
The queen smiled. “Holding our son for you, dear husband.” She waved her hand, and a light sparked from the alchemist beside her before she and the alchemists disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
The queen’s retinue was gone, except for the dozen or so djune who’d been tethered to her, and no longer were.
The djune tore across the empty space toward Lex and Garrin, wide paws and claws cutting through the powder.
Garrin sent a burst of power at the animals, and an upwelling of snow and mist formed a menacing wall. His magic was so tangible to Lex now—whether because of their bond or otherwise—it had become more familiar than all the others.
The djune sniffed the air and scampered back.
They must have decided Garrin wasn’t worth the risk, because they turned and disappeared down a ridge and into the snowscape.
Though she could easily see Garrin’s magic, Lex hadn’t seen the alchemists’ magic that allowed them to disappear—because they’d moved themselves and the queen without innate ability. And that made Lex nervous.
If alchemists didn’t use Fae magic, she couldn’t see what they were doing. And if Dark Fae had alchemists to move them from one place to another, what else could they do?
The king and queen seemed capable of getting around Dark Kingdom well enough, but if there was one thing Lex had learned, it was that you could not travel the Land of Ice on limited magical ability. The alchemists might be capable of getting the queen here and there, but they couldn’t cross the Land of Ice, or the queen would have done it by now. Wouldn’t she?
The king’s gaze flickered to the snow-covered mounds where the buried alchemists were making their way out. “I see you’ve been busy, son.”
Garrin stepped back, inching Lex along with him. “I don’t want to fight you.”
“Don’t you?” the king asked. “Why else do you run from me? Cowardly, that.” He leveled a look at Camille, who was no longer holding up Amund. “You’ve returned. How predictable.”
“I returned for my son,” she replied.
The king ignored Camille and stared at Garrin. “Let’s make this easy, shall we? You and the girl come with me, and I’ll allow this woman to live.”
Garrin stepped toward his father and away from Lex.
Lex glanced between king and prince. “What are you doing?” she whispered.
Garrin’s shoulders stiffened, and he slowly turned toward her, his eyes cold. Cold in a way she’d never seen before. “There’s no place for you here.”
“Now, now,” the king said. “I need her. Don’t run her off just yet.”
“Leave!” Garrin shouted, and he looked over Lex’s shoulder at Camille.
Before she knew what was happening, Lex was grabbed from behind and shoved into space.Again.
“Nooo!” But it was too late. Lex spun through light, caught off guard. Only this magic she’d come to understand. She pushed out her own, and the pressure changed.
Lex landed, along with Camille, on a different mountain—and nearly rolled over the edge.
The beautiful woman who was Garrin’s true mother climbed to her feet. “Are you all right?”
Lex crawled off the edge and dusted snow from her clothes. “We can’t leave Garrin. His father will kill him.”
Camille closed her eyes as though pained. “I promised Garrin in the cavern that I would take you away should the king find us. If this is the only thing I can give him, I will do it. We must leave and return you to the Earth realm.”
Wind whipped Lex’s hair, cutting through her heavy coat and chilling her to her bones. The one thing she’d wanted when Garrin first found her was to return to her dorm and her old life. Now, she couldn’t even picture that life, let alone the person she used to be. “I won’t leave without him.”
Lex walked in the direction they’d just come from, then stopped. She was headed the wrong way; the magic was behind her. But when she turned in that direction, none of the mountaintops looked familiar.
She growled in frustration. “Take me back.”
“I cannot.”
Lex closed her eyes briefly and took a steadying breath. “If Garrin is truly your son, how can you abandon him?”
