Page 147 of Frozen Hearts and Death Magic

The king turned and glared at the girl, then smiled. “It’s a good place for a private conversation. We don’t want to be overheard.” He glanced at Naia and gave her a friendly wink.

“We could go upstairs instead. It’s nicer,” the girl said, then quickly pinched Naia’s arm.

That was definitely a warning. But if Naia ran, she wouldn’t learn anything. And yet, if she stayed, perhaps they’d want to make her a prisoner. They could even try to kill her. But why? Even the king would certainly want to hear what she had to say. And yet, the girl had warned her.

The first thing Naia did was open her handcuffs, even if she kept her arms in the same position. Could she fight these guards? The ones inside and outside and then get back to the forest surrounding the house? Her chances were slim. She’d need to talk her way out of it.

Naia stopped. “Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere where we can talk.” The king still sounded friendly. “Isn’t that what you want?”

“Yes.” Naia smiled. Fae could trick with words, but they were also bound to honor them, so she had to try to use that to her advantage. “And I want to leave after we talk. Unharmed.”

There was a slight pause before the king smiled. “That’s a normal wish.”

That pause… And he didn’t say anything with his words. Still, she tried not to look nervous. “It is. So just to be safe, can you promise not to harm me, and to let me go when I wish?”

The king shook his head. “I won’t harm you.” He’d need to honor that. He then added, “You seem scared. Is there a reason for that?”

“Well, the war against my kind is fresh in your memory. But I wish you no harm. If anything, I’d love to help you.”

“We’d love that very much.”

Everything sounded fine, but they were going down, to a place that was a prison. That couldn’t be good.

“Great.” Naia’s smile had to be forced. “But I’d love to talk upstairs. Outside.”

She could feel the bronze swords at the guards and king’s hips, the faint traces of iron in the earth surrounding them, but she wasn’t sure if she should try to run or not.

The king’s lips formed a line. “You surely understand—”

In a split second, Naia made her decision, and pulled all the swords and used them to push the guards standing behind them to the edges of the tunnel, then ran between them.

“Catch her,” the king ordered. “Alive.”

Naia had never run as fast before. She considered trying to collapse part of the tunnel, but she wasn’t sure how much she’d be able to work on the earth, as she had never tried it, and she didn’t want to waste time. In retrospect, she should have caught those swords, but it didn’t matter, there would be plenty of metal ahead of her, and then there was also her fire.

When she came up to the hall where she had first talked to the king, she ripped part of the bronze door and pushed it back in the tunnel, so as to make a barrier. There were some ten guards surrounding her, armed with bows and arrows. Wood bows and arrows. That was bad. But they weren’t shooting yet.

She focused on her fire and managed to make a circle around her. “I could scorch you all to death right now. But I don’t want to harm any of you. So let me go.”

The king came out the door and waved his hand. “Do as she says.”

There had to be a trick in his words, unless the king was in fact friendly and she was over-reacting. Still, she didn’t want to take chances and ran out the hall—only to find herself surrounded by some twenty more archers.

Right. The king had ordered only the guards inside to let her go. Tricky fae. Naia pushed a wall of fire around her that made the archers step back, and then she took the opportunity to run while pulling as many swords as she could, keeping them floating behind her while she ran. It was impressive how desperation improved one’s magic.

When three fae appeared ahead of her, she pushed them to the ground using the back of some of her swords. She didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep fighting like that, and how far she’d go. The thicket was so far.

Then she felt something on her back, not deep like an arrow, just a prickle. She reached to it, felt a dart, and pulled it out, even if she knew it would make it bleed more. She feared that it had some kind of poison. Naia felt so angry. Why were they doing this to her?

After making another wall of fire around her, she yelled “Stop! I just wanted to help. I’m not your enemy. I’m River’s friend.”

Her vision was getting dark and her body felt heavy, so heavy. Tiredness overcame her and she fell. Then there was nothing.

* * *

Fel had just sleep-choked Leah,hoping he’d done it right, hoping it would only knock her unconscious and not hurt her. But she would have died if he hadn’t done that. He caught her as she collapsed in his arms, just asleep, but still alive.

Those things she’d called, as far as he knew, they were demons. They had been efficient in defeating the corpses—by eating them. And yet, he knew that they’d turn against him and his men soon. Fire. Magic fire was the only thing that could possibly defeat them. If there was a time for Fel to use it, it had to be now. Still, he felt no fire inside him. He wondered if it had to be called with hands, like his sister did, in which case he was doomed.

Fel closed his eyes, holding Leah. Desperation could cause a surge in magic, so this had to be it. If not for him, at least for her. He had to find his fire.

Then his own voice came to him. “Let go. Let go of who you think you are. Let go.”

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