Page 121 of Frozen Hearts and Death Magic

24

Escape

Fel hadn’t moved away from his father’s office, but it had been two hours now. Two long hours. Something wrong had happened. But what? Could it be that he’d run into trouble while taking Leah to the dreadful iron kingdom? No. That was nonsense. Leah was probably happy there, holding hands with her dear husband. The words sounded wrong. Fel still felt pain in his chest whenever he thought about Leah. It was probably his broken heart. That had to be it.

His father had said he was going to Frostlake. Frostlake and Ironhold were allies, especially now that they were united by marriage. But Leah had been worried about her parents. He kept thinking, trying to understand, and came to no conclusion. There was something wrong happening. The question was what.

With his father gone, the decisions were up to him. He could wait. And yet, he felt that even the air was different. He stepped outside and looked at the sky from the balcony. It was as if the wind itself was bringing a warning of danger. Unless he was imagining it. But he knew Ironhold would attack. Perhaps they still thought he was dead, but they would attack. In fact, that had been likely the reason they’d wanted to kill him.

Fel took a deep breath. Perhaps it would be brash, hasty. Still, he’d rather be criticized for being too cautious than for getting caught unaware.

He walked to the courtyard and rang the bell twice. Umbraar was going on alert. From here, he would send riders to the biggest villages, telling the commoners to hide. There were shelters underground and by the mountains. Enough for seven to ten days, in case an enemy came in. He felt it in his skin, he felt it his breath, he felt it in his bones. Ironhold was coming.

* * *

Exhaustion had takenhold of Leah. The problem was that as she almost drifted into sleep, her mind kept repeating the image of Cassius in her bedroom, then his life fading away.

Her father had told her that killing was one of the worst things anyone could do; as it wasn’t our right to decide who stayed and who moved on from this life. But then, perhaps what Cassius had been about to do had been worse? So much disgust, so much horror. And Venard, where had he been? Perhaps hiding somewhere. Then she remembered the guards she’d killed. Innocent guards, just obeying orders. And yet it had felt so good to kill them, so good to feel the power of taking away a life. Herfather wouldn’t be proud of her now. What was happening with her magic?

Then Leah was walking in a foggy forest, a horrible feeling of being watched nagging on her. It all felt strange and wrong. She tried to hold her hands together, and instead, they crossed. This was a dream, not whatever had happened that made her do something horrible and shameful with Isofel.

“Leah!”

Kasim’s voice. She ran in that direction, and saw him and her father, but they were semi-transparent, as if fading away.

Her father’s eyes were sad as he looked at her. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I never should have let you go to Ironhold.”

“You couldn’t have known.” She had been angry before, but now she didn’t want him to feel guilty for her. “How are you?”

It was Kasim who answered. “We are fine. But Frostlake isn’t. Don’t go there now. Wait. Wait until you can save its people. You will always be its true queen.”

“What’s happening?”

“Don’t go to Frostlake,” her father said, but his voice was fading away. “Save yourself if you want to save the kingdom.”

Then he and Kasim disappeared.

“Dad? Kasim?” She didn’t want them to go. There was so much she had to say, so much she wanted to ask. But then, there was so little she could control in a dream.

Frostlake in danger? As she had feared. She thought about her maid Siana, about the people in the kitchen, the guards, about everyone in the city and felt a horrible tightness in her chest. She remembered those training grounds she’d seen, with the ironbringers. What was Ironhold doing to her kingdom?

She felt a bitter taste in her mouth, then breathed some kind of dust.

Leah opened her eyes and realized she was no longer on the sofa, but on the floor, lying on hard wood. At least it wasn’t cold granite or marble. But it was… She looked around. It couldn’t be. The double bed was the same, but white sheets covered the furniture. It had been her room, her room as a single girl, the room that was no longer hers, but was now a memory.

She was going to try to check if it was a dream, but didn’t even bother. It was real. And it was all quiet, so perhaps nothing had happened. She got up, eager to find her mother, her father, to tell them to prepare, to tell them everything. Everything. Except that shameful part with Fel.

As she moved to the door, she heard steps and a stranger’s voice.

“Find all the servants. Each and every one of them. We need to know what happened. We need to find out who betrayed Frostlake to the Fae.”

So something had happened. Her stomach lurched, together with the hope she’d had. Fae? Could the fae have been involved in this? Well, she had seen a fae—but he’d saved her. And then, there had been the attack during the gathering. Maybe. But it would be a strange coincidence. Why right now? She still didn’t recognize the voice, and she knew most of the main guards. But he’d said, “who betrayed Frostlake”, not “who betrayed us.” It could be someone from Ironhold.

“Find anyone who’s hiding,” the voice said, now even closer.

Then she heard a key in her lock. Someone was coming. But was it an ally or an enemy?

* * *

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