Page 112 of A Court of Fire and Frost

“Get up, Sprigg. You look like a damned weasel,” he growls at me through gritted teeth, and I scramble to my feet. He doesn’t wait for me to follow. “I can’t hold these assholes forever, Move!” He barks before turning and fleeing.

He doesn’t realize I grab Elva, as he’s already halfway to the gate. I doubt he could move us all with such a heavy strain on his magic.

I slide my hands under her armpits and start pulling. I don’t want to move the knife in her chest and cause her to bleed out faster. The adrenaline coursing through my veins has given me strength I didn’t even know I possessed. She slides across the snow and ice easily.

I am running backward, looking like a rutting idiot. Without thinking, I compulsively yank our connection to ensure she doesn’t die.

My whole body feels as though it’s covered in ice. A stretching and rippling sensation tears through my body when we reach the threshold. A portal has been set here, transporting us somewhere else.

I am paralyzed with fear. We materialize about one inch off the ground and land with an uncomfortable thud.

Akron curses vehemently. “I knew I never should’ve given you her name,” he says. “Why. In. The. Nine. Circles. Of. Hell. Is. She. Here?” The anger in his voice is tangible. When I look up at him, I almost shit myself. He has grown taller, and his hands shifted into claws like some creature from a nightmare with glowing purple eyes.

I swallow hard. “She’s not actually dead.”

“Explain,now.”

“We are married. I kept her alive.”

He doesn’t respond.

I keep rambling. “She could be very useful in negotiations, which is why you saved me—”

“She would’ve been very usefuldead. Don’t you see, you clueless idiot?I needed her dead.Things are about to change in these lands, and we need the Winter Fae royalty wiped out.” He trails around us like a beast stalking its prey.

My eyes widen, but I don’t speak.

“My employer needs her dead so he can take control of this court,” he whispers.

A lightbulb springs to life in my mind. That’s why he’s been trading in Black Opals. Everything falls into place. The new trading routes, his references to connections in the North over and over… my stomach drops when I think about extravagant art that had been gifted to him from the North.

“Yes, I can see you working it out in your tiny, stupid brain. Well done, Sprigg. Too bad you both will die now.” He lifts his hand, a glowing purple ball in it, and launches it toward me.

I duck out of the way, panicked. He is already charging another. I need to keep him away from Elva.

Elva’s heart can’t start beating faster. If it does, she will bleed out.

I duck behind a tree just as the Warlock incinerates half of it. He should be able to freeze me, but the drain on his magic must be enormous. He didn’t plan on me bringing Elva.

As if to show my thoughts, he launches another ball of magic. This one is considerably smaller. He fumbles with the watch on his wrist. My magic is tingling in my veins. I shift ever so slightly, and then I am a bird.

He laughs. “Ah yes, your measly shifter magic. Good job keeping that from me for so long.” Another ball of magic whizzes past me and singes my wing. It hurts. I dive towards him, talons out.

I connect with his face and gouge mercilessly at his eyeballs. My claws connect with both eyes, but not enough to take them out completely. His hand strikes me so quickly that I am sent hurtling toward the snow. A bone crunches, and I scream as I return to my Fae form.

Blood streams down his face as he screams in agony. I take my chance.

“I’ll kill you both!” He stumbles toward Elva.

“That’s my wife, you sick bastard,” I shout. Mustering every drop of magic inside me, I blast a stream of white-hot fire toward him. The magic does its job until nothing is left of him but ashes.

I let out a long breath.

And then, I scream and scramble over to Elva, my broken rib barking in shooting pain. She is still there, but now I cannot heal her. He was supposed to help with this.

She will die.

The depth of my grief is too deep to comprehend. In another burst of fiery anger, I am on my feet. I reach for his ashes and kick them ferociously. I tug at my hair, screaming again.

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