“Desire to compliment you burns inside me. After seeing you dance with that youngling last night, I worry about our future.” He winked.
His jest pulled a laugh from me. Vale had allowed a bashful teenage faerie to dance with me as long as only our hands touched. The entire time, the gangly lad’s face was so red, but he smiled broadly, telling me that though he was embarrassed, it was a night he wouldn’t forget.
“He’s a bit young for me, but he danced well enough.”
“It’s too bleeding cold for all this flirting.” Caelo rode by me, though there was a twinkle in his blue eyes. He enjoyed seeing Vale happy.
From the depths of their cloaks, they pulled glass faelights about half the size of my fist. Gifts from the dwarves, the tools were wrapped in metal to protect the illuminated portion.
Upon lighting them, my mate and the knight allowed the lights to float at their shoulders as the pair drew their weapons. A second later, Vale, then Caelo, had disappeared into the tunnel.
My breath tightened in my chest as the fae lights got smaller and smaller. The light disappeared and still I heard no sounds of fighting emanating from the tunnel. After two minutes of waiting, one fae light approached again, and Vale emerged from the tunnel.
“Nothing. Caelo is waiting on the other side. Come along, ladies.”
I urged my horse forward after Anna’s and shuddered when the rock covered us. Even with the faelight, the tunnel was dark. Colder, too, than the outside somehow.
“How long is it?” I jumped when my voice echoed through the stone.
“Longer than I thought,” Vale replied. “We rode through quickly after we realized that if someone was hiding in here, they’d have to move, or we’d run into them. It’s narrow.”
“Can we just get on with it?” Anna said before I asked another question. “I’m sweating.”
Right. She had a fear of enclosed spaces.
“Go faster, Vale,” I said, for my friend’s benefit.
“Follow close. And watch your head just up here. There’s an overhang.” He picked up his pace.
When he reached the rock protruding from the ceiling, Vale had to hunch over not to hit his head. Anna, being the shortest among us, dipped her chin. My turn came, and I ducked, raising a hand to touch the stone for guidance.
A jolt of frigid cold, an icy zing, seemed to stop my heart and the hum of my magic. I yelped and pulled my hand back, and the sensation disappeared.
“What happened?” Vale asked as Anna simultaneously whisper-shrieked. “Neve! Are you well?!”
“Fine,” I said hurriedly. “I’m fine.” I didn’t want to scare Anna any more. So we continued on and when we exited the tunnel to find Caelo waiting in the sunlight, a wider road stretching before us, I sighed.
Vale’s eyebrows pulled together as he caught my gaze. “What was that?”
“I touched the rock, and it was so cold. It was like it froze everything inside of me. Even my power. That didn’t happen to you?”
“I didn’t touch it.” Vale’s eyes narrowed before he added, “but I have a suspicion I know what caused that.”
My spine straightened, and I shifted in my saddle. Stars, my rear would be sore tomorrow. “What?”
“Many dark creatures live in the mountain ranges. Most stay away from towns and villages, but they lurk in the wilds, like here. You might have sensed the magic of a banshee’s song, or maybe an ice spider is to blame.”
My stomach twisted. I did not wish to meet either. “What do the banshees do? Besides sing of death?”
“In Winter’s Realm, I think it’s different in the Autumn Court, where they originate, some banshees can freeze their prey. Their songs can also lodge into natural materials. You said it froze you?”
“Yes, sort of. Magically, it did. Physically, I could move.”
Caelo nodded. “Likely ice spiders in the area, then. The web was probably connected to the other side of the rock you touched, and you felt it freeze, or stall, your magic.”
Prince Rhistel wore ice spider silk gloves. Was that how his powers always felt?
Bleeding skies, it was almost enough to make me pity the foul arse.
