“How did she wake from the frozen sleep to begin with?” Lancelot hisses, swiping a finger along his lip. “It had to be with the original spinning needle, right?”
“Hush,” Davina hisses, looking around wildly. For a moment, her gaze settles on us, and I believe she knows we’re here. Then her gaze slides on, and I no longer know what to make of it. “It probably had to do with Ban.”
“Ban,” Lancelot repeats. “He’s the Reaper with the ice magic?”
“So good of you to keep up,” Davina drawls.
“He shares the same magic they did. That won’t be an issue?”
“Those…Reapers,”Davina spits, her lip curling over the word, “are hard to kill. Now that we have the north and the souls, we never need to come back here.”
“And that’s enough?” Lancelot asks skeptically. “You’re going to have enough heartless magic this way?”
Davina pauses, clenching her hands. A scarlet ball appears there, different from her other magic that curls in thin wisps when she uses it, and I try to sit up to study it more. Unfortunately, the pain in my back spikes, and I’m nearly lying down at this point. “Not until we have them all.”
“This would be so much easier had Dima not floundered in Swan Lake.” Lancelot sighs, gesturing to the boat. “A path through Swan Lake would be easier than sailing through these treacherous waters with Meria throwing a fit.”
“Swan Lake means Icicle Pass, and until the Icebound are banished, they will make passage impossible for us.”
The two step toward the ship, walking across the thick board that stretches from the dock to the deck.
How is this supposed to help me?
“I don’t understand,” I growl at Hans, who’s still staring at the two. There’s a longing in his eyes that I can’t quite place. “Idon’t know those names or what this means. Ban mentioned the Icebound, but I only know a few things about them. I can’t see them–”
“You can,” Hans interrupts, turning to face me. The scenery around us fades, and with it, my belief that this is real. The darkness crowds in until I see nothing but the shadows. “They are the dead you see when you step into the shadows with Ban.”
“B-but I couldn’t see them before–”
“Because you denied your power before,” he says simply, tilting his head. “You were taught to be a queen for the people. For the citizens of this land. You neglected the other part of the Frostlands, the pieces of you that make you a blood ruler of the north.”
I slap my hands against the ground, and there’s no sound. There’s nothing here but the inky blackness again. “You’re not explaining!”
He stands, and this time, he doesn’t help me up. “Your parents raised you to be the ruler for the people. Your mother’s curse took her attention from all else. And in the end, it stole your father’s life, too. He was gone before he could show you what it means to be a Glacia.” That sadness is back in his face, like mentioning my father somehow hurts him. “Where once there was a passage to the next life, the gates now stand forever closed. Because we stopped caring about the souls who carry us into the beyond. Now, that duty rests on four souls I damned once upon a time.”
Four souls?The pain in my back keeps me still, and frustrated tears bloom in my eyes. “I didn’t have any lessons about the Icebound! My father never mentioned any of that to me!”
“Because you ran out of time,” he says, keeping his gaze on me as he steps away. He closes his eyes, and the sadnessacross his face morphs to something worse. His brows scrunch, and he doesn’t look down at me again. “When you wake, remember the gift. It is to ensure someone in your family tree weathers this storm and can stop Davina’s plans. Foiling one part will be the beginning of stopping this altogether.”
Pushing up, I mean to go after him. Or throw ice at him if my magic will respond. But nothing happens when I try, and the pain in my back is bad enough that I can’t make myself chase him. The Sandman keeps stepping away until he fades into the blackness, leaving me alone.
As the darkness settles in, I feel something tugging at my mind, begging me to follow. The emptiness remains, but I can feel myself slipping, like the shadows are devouring me whole, and as I sink into the dark, there’s a light ahead.
“Forgive me, Neve.”
It’s a voice that echoes around me, not just in my head. The question burns in my mind as my eyes slowly open. “Ban?”
Chapter 23 Ban
Dragging my fingertip along Neve’s knuckles, I silently beg her to wake up. She's lying on her stomach, the back of the dress gone since her fight with her mother. Over the bare skin, we've placed makeshift bandages that came mostly from Odette’s bag, the network of crossing white gauze not seeming nearly enough for such an injury.
I’m vividly aware of the feel of her spine, the sharp cut of bone compared to the stickiness of blood, and the heavy scent of death in the air. Now that we’ve at least had the chance to bandage the wounds, she’s marginally better. Unfortunately, Odette doesn’t have any more gauze.
Beneath the bandages, my ice pulses against her skin. At first, when Odette came up with the idea, I thought I would have to hold my hand against Neve’s back for the rest of time to keep her bones in place.
"She's ice, like you, Ban. Her magic is as much a part of her as it is you. Maybe you can reset the bones and she'll heal."
So far, it appears to be working. I managed to use my ice to freeze her spine into place with Zarev and the spirit’s assistance. We hurried here to hide from the abrasive weather and give Neve’s body somewhere to rest, but Zarev could hardly aid me throughout the process. His shadows did nothing to help except let us shadow hop here, and I was worried the entire time that Neve wouldn’t survive the trip. Between moving a dying queen and dragging Odette along, we were both wiped out thefirst night here. This cave is decent-sized, set against the base of the mountains, but it will only protect us for so long. Once we were settled, the Icebound spirit disappeared.
