But the girl in the ice… if that’s not Neve, who was never frozen physically at all, just trapped in her sleep, I don’t know who it could be. No one else of great importance is missing in the Frostlands, as far as I know, unless it’s someone the Mad Queen brought with her.
But how, and why? None of it makes sense.
“Can you help me?” Anastasia repeats, her hands clasped in front of her once more. “I don’t want to see the Queen of Hearts again. She’s scary.”
That we can agree on, but there’s one more thing I need to know from Anastasia. Something I personally want to see too. “Do you know where you died in the palace, little one? I can find your body and ensure you are buried properly. If your mom has a grave, I can lay you to rest beside her.”
She gives me a sad look, dropping her arms. “It’s going to be where Momma’s is, left behind in the mountains.”
Left behind?“You were in the mountains? Just this morning?”
I didn’t see the Snow Queen leave all night, and Neve was too worked up to even try to sleep so she spoke with the Dowager Queen late in the evening. If Ronnie didn’t leave overnight, it happened this morning, or sometime before.
Anastasia hisses, grabbing for my hand. It’s strange when a spirit tries to touch you. She’s able toalmostput pressure on my palm, but it’s barely recognizable. That doesn’t deter her as she tries to cling to me anyway. “Lady Nyra took me away. When my body was empty, she looked right at me! She looked right at me and said a new attendant would take my place.”
Creepy. I’m not surprised Nyra, a spirit, can see another soul, but her words left a lasting impression. “What did you do for the royal family?”
“I bring the queens their meals,” she says, and there’s a note of pride in her voice. “I got to have a nicer dress and bring them food any time of day. Sometimes I get to eat with them, too. Queen Neve is nice.”
Yes, Neve is a lot nicer than her mother. I seriously doubt Ronnie invited a servant girl to eat with her. “I hate to ask, Anastasia, but do you know why they took your body?”
She nods quickly. “Queen Snedronningen’s attendants need a form to take.”
Dread washes over me when she points, and I peer down from the ledge as the massive ship floats closer to the docks. They are nearly at port, and Ronnie is walking quickly toward the approaching vessel. The two figures following her stiff figure must be Kael and Nyra. The others are too far off to distinguish.
“Lady Nyra said someone would take my place. Someone bound to the ice.”
Shit. That’s got to be an Icebound. But I’ve never known them to congregate among the living.For the first time, keeping the Icebound from the other Reapers feels like a mistake. Itwas never their problem to bear in the southern kingdoms and forests, but now, it could pose a very real threat.
As I stare down at the people below, I notice someone short, standing apart from the few guardsmen who accompanied Ronnie out here. I can’t see the person’s face, but I’m confident it’s a child.
Probably whoever is pretending to be Anastasia.
“Do you think I’ll see my momma?” she asks, and I turn my attention back to her. She’s focusing on the tear behind me, the next life where the spirits are meant to step into, so they can pass on from this world. The fear from before isn’t as strong, and there’s mild curiosity in its place. “Wherever that goes?”
“You’ll see her again,” I say, but to be honest, I don’t know what happens beyond the veil. Both times I’ve died, I end up among the living again. “But it’s not somewhere I can go with you. From here, you walk the path on your own.”
Anastasia continues staring at me. I can’t imagine what she’s trying to figure out. “Are you alone then? I’ve never seen someone like you.”
I assume she means the shadows, and I offer her a little smile. The old stories that existed about me a century ago are gone, buried behind the rumors and gossip surrounding Neve’s disappearance. “I have a few friends who are like me. We keep each other company.”
Satisfied, she grins. “Good. It’s not a happy thing to be lonely.”
My cold heart twists at that, and when she holds out her hand to me, I accept it. We cross the short distance again, and she smiles up at me when we reach the rip once more.
“Go on,” I tell her, nodding to the space. “I know it looks scary, but you’ll find yourself someplace better. This place won’t matter anymore.”
Anastasia hesitates, her eyes finding mine. “I hope I get to remember you, Ban. You’re nice.”
She steps through the tear bravely before I can respond, and many moments pass until I close the space. If Anastasia wasn’t killed this morning, her soul hanging around the palace, we might not have had such an involved conversation. I would have collected her ghost when I was making my rounds, passing her soul along through the void without talking to her for so long. I would have no idea, like with most spirits, what her story was.
Yet she was drawn to me, her soul following the call of death. After closing the tear again with a drag of my staff, I turn back to continue watching the scene unfold.
The ship is docked now, but that’s not what draws my focus. Of all the people waiting down there, one is turned, looking up at the cliffs where I’m standing.
Kael.
I don’t know whether he sensed me or spotted me, but I haven’t been hiding in the shadows. Anastasia would have found me whether I was hidden or not. And even if the living cannot see the tear I create to siphon spirits on, an Icebound could.
