“The word Kai is trying to spell is the gift that I will grant him, though he did not ask for it.”
“That’s all?” I cannot believe I fell for yet another one of her tricks.
“Good luck, Gwen.
I’m forced to swallow my ire and watch her drift off to gods-know-where she spends her time, and make my way back to the game room. “Any progress?”
He thoughtfully slides a shard into place. For once, it fits perfectly. A tingle of excitement races up my neck.
“What letter is this?”
“Could be an E. Possibly an I or a T.” He crosses one arm over his abdomen and props his chin on his fist. “Could be anything, honestly.”
“Even fae script?” I ask hopefully. That seems like the kind of dirty trick the Queen would pull.
“Their writing is all loops and squiggles.” He traces a scrolling shape in the air with one finger. I grab his wrist and examine the nail beds.
“Kai. You’re turning blue again.”
Now that I’m close enough to hear it, his teeth are chattering, too. Fear grips me hard. We’re not even close to solving this puzzle, and he’s halfway frozen.
“Put this on.” I take off Christabel’s cloak and wrap it around his shoulders. Cold air bites through layers of wool and sinks its teeth into my skin. “Where can I find more firewood?”
“The kitchens.”
I run the whole way. Piling as many logs as I can carry in my arms, hurry back to the game room with the flint and steel in my pocket.
But by the time I arrive, the wood has turned to icicles. I dump them uselessly beside the fireplace. Damned magic.
In my absence, Kai’s lips have turned a deep shade of violet. Frost clings to his ears. Without The Snow Queen’s protection, he’s freezing.
Fear stabs through me.
“Let’s make a list,” I say with all the calmness I can muster. “I’ll write down every word that might solve her riddle, and you try making letters with each of the shards, okay?”
I don’t dare glance at the hourglass. I loathe that thing. I hate the way it follows me and the low buzz of the snow bees’ judgment. Faint scratching sounds reach my ears as Kai moves the pieces around.
I take a charred stick from the tinder box and scribble as many words on a scrap of paper as I can before the tip wears off. I light the twig on fire with the flint, and curl my hands around the heat before blowing it out again.
Power.
He never wanted to become king. Without the Queen’s intervention, he would have remained a prince for the rest of his days. I show the scrap to Kai.
He shakes his head and keeps working, pushing pieces together and pulling them apart with a groan of frustration.
I scan the looping scrolls on the mirror over the mantelpiece, where her famed mirror once hung until the trolls stole it.
“Infinity.” I point to the decorative dragon heads eating their own tails. “Those loops form an ouroboros. Do you remember the picture of her mirror from your books when we were children?”
“B-barely.”
Even with the cloak, he’s too cold to argue with me. The chill is getting to me, too. My fingers have gone numb and my feet are painfully frost burned inside my boots.
Suddenly, the letterIsnaps into place.
We loom over the table in awe. “That worked! We’re on the right path. Keep going, Kai, we can do this.”
I’m determined to win against that cheating queen.