“That merely indicates his stupidity,” spat Mother Winter.
“Stupidity,” Mab mused. “Courage. The only difference is the outcome.”
“Pah,” the crone said. She lifted a weathered, age-spotted hand and drew her hood back up over her face. “He comes of a line of thieves.”
“But daring ones,” Mab mused. “Effective ones.”
“Okay,” I said, “we’re at a point where either one of you needs to talk more about what’s coming or both of you need to shut up.”
A startled silence fell over both Queens of Winter.
Then Mother Winter hobbled closer. It was a painful-looking movement, as though her back, leg, and hip all put her in agony to walk. She let out a low, growling sound and loomed over me.
“Tell me, young bantam,” she said, and her rough voice was very soft, very smooth, something that could haunt a man for a lifetime. “Have you begun to dream the dreams yet?”
“What dr—” I began.
And quicker than thought, she reached out with her open palm and struck my forehead.
It wasn’t the force of the blow that knocked me flat. It was a vast, echoing explosion that happened nowhere except between my ears.Imagine both ears popping, along with your jaw, along with the dizzying sensation you get when you suddenlystopspinning around, all happening at once. Now multiply it by several million. I couldn’t tell which way was down, even though I could feel the cold, cracked crystal floor of the chamber beneath me.
“Mother!”Mab said sharply, though her voice sounded distant and frail. “Howdareyou!”
“The loom does not stop weaving because a single thread feels strain,” hissed the crone. Her voice came from somewhere overhead, clear and strong. “The arrow of time flies swift. The hour draws near. Subtlety is a luxury that can no longer be afforded. The ancient ways and ancient drives and ancient pains draw nearer by the hour. And this young thing must be readied for them—or broken, and another weapon chosen.”
The gleaming eyes in the recesses of her hood swerved to Thomas and then Lara. “These younger days,” she said with contempt. “Our options grow more fragile, more dependent, more helpless with every passing cycle.”
Mab’s voice turned colder. “Long have you been absent from the mortal world,” she snarled. “Long has it been left to my keeping, my wit, my will. This ismyseat of power. This ismyresponsibility. It isnotyours and well you know it. Any further interference will result in challenge, crone.”
There was a second long silence. And then Mother Winter let out a low, long cackle. “And you,” she said. “For all your cleverness, for all your stratagems, for all your webs and plans—do you really think you can challengeme?”
Mab lifted her chin.
And then she squared off on Mother Winter.
“Arise, my Knight,”called the Queen of Air and Darkness.“Arise! ARISE!”She said it in a voice that blew away my disorientation like a dunk in cold water. Ice filled my chest and my guts and my head like the deepest heart of winter, bringing with it the memories of screams of war, of the howls of wolves, of shrieks of pain and bloodlust and battle madness, as if every single fight I’d been through, every victory I’d won,every ounce of struggle and pain and triumph I’d ever felt, had been focused into a single, blindingly intense emotion.
And I came to my feet, teeth clenched, muttering a word that sent my staff hurtling into my hand, ready to throw down with Mother Winter herself.
“Alfred,” I growled. “Prepare a cell for our guest.”
Demonreach’s eyes flared. Again, the ground shook. Chips of fractured crystal fell from the opening in the ceiling.
Mother Winter went completely still.
Lara glanced aside at me, her eyes wide. She glanced down at the fallen Thomas and then back, letting me know her plan: She would get him clear before she came in herself.
I nodded my chin almost imperceptibly.
“Consider where you are,” Mab said coldly. “Consider what you face.”
The crone’s voice came out in a bare whisper. “You would really dare this? Now?”
Mab lifted her chin as the air grew colder and a crown of ice formed upon her head, snow falling from it about her hair and her green gown. “I will do and dare whatever I must to protect this world. From whatever threatens it. Includingyou.”
And I stepped up next to Mab. I felt like hell. But I felt even more like kicking someone’s ass, and I honestly didn’t much care whose it was.
“I’m with you,” I said to Mab.
