Fire burned for the first time behind Camille’s blue eyes. “I have never abandoned my child. He was stolen from me.”
Lex wrapped her arms around her chest and rubbed them. “Neither the king nor the queen can be trusted. They’re traitors to their own people.”
“That is precisely why I cannot do as you say. I won’t do the very thing his father has done his entire life and betray him. We will not go back,” Camille said, but Lex sensed doubt in her voice.
Lex looked in the direction of where they’d left Garrin and drew on her power. Her arms lightened and a familiar tingling coursed through her. She focused her energy on the magic Camille used to get them here, studying it—the shape, the weight, the force behind it—and created a portal.
That sputtered and dissipated into thin air.
Lex screamed in frustration.
Camille walked over, looking astonished. “Child, you are getting better. With your magic, we will surely survive the Land of Ice even without provisions. I promise, I will return for my son once you are safe.”
Ignoring Camille’s words, Lex tried to create a portal again, and the same thing happened. She was no longer cold, but warm from the exertion of molding her magic into Camille’s. “It won’t work.”
“You will practice along the way,” Camille said, and placed a gentle hand on Lex’s shoulder. “With both of us portaling, we will arrive in New Kingdom and then the Earth realm in no time.”
Camille wasn’t listening. Lex looked her in the eye. “I will not go to New Kingdom or Old Kingdom or the Earth realm. I will return for Garrin or go nowhere at all.”
Garrin’s true mother went silent for a moment and looked off. “We are only two against many. If you should die, my son…”
She was right. Garrin would not be happy to see Lex. He’d told her to leave. He even spoke harshly, when he never had before. But he couldn’t have been serious. He’d wanted to protect her from the king, that was all. “We can do this, Camille. The others are not powerless. We’ll find Garrin, and then we’ll find our allies.”
Camille let out a shaky breath. “If I agree to this, it is only because I want what is best for my son. But if there is a moment when your life is in imminent risk, I will take you away and not return.”
It was enough. Lex nodded in agreement.
She didn’t know how much longer Garrin had. They couldn’t wait.
As Camille’s portal began to form and shimmer, Lex studied the power, truly absorbing it this time. And when they entered, Lex added her own strength to it.
One second they were on one mountain, and the next second they were on another, as though blinking in and out.
Camille stared in surprise as they stood on the mountain where they’d left Garrin and Amund. “I’ve never experienced a portal like that.”
Lex looked around, her hands shaking with adrenaline. “They’re not here.” Garrin and the king were no longer on the mountain where the queen had intercepted Amund’s portal. “Where did they go?”
Camille closed her eyes, and Lex sensed her drawing on her powers again. She observed this too, different, though similar.
Camille pointed across mountaintops. “Over there. They’ve returned to the grave caves.”
35
Lex and Camille didn’t head straight to the grave caves. They stopped at an overlook just beyond. And Lex couldn’t believe what she saw.
Garrin stood with his back to her, facing his father. But that wasn’t what had her growing cold. It was the frozen monoliths of her friends lined up next to the king: Jas, Elena, Derek, Em, and every single one of the others. And not only Lex’s friends; the Dark Queen was frozen beside her husband as well, her alchemists now standing among the king’s army.
Camille sucked in a breath. “This won’t work. We must leave.”
Lex swallowed, unable to look away. “Why would the king do this?”
“Power, fear… Who is to say? He will commit terrible acts for what he desires.”
The king had raped Camille. She knew better than anyone the lengths he was willing to go in order to gain what he wanted.
Lex should leave. It was over. Everyone she’d counted on to help her get Garrin out was frozen in ice, including her mother. But her feet wouldn’t move, and her chest was tight with adrenaline.
She couldn’t stop staring at Garrin’s back as he faced off with his father. He was alone. “There has to be another way.”
