“Neve?”
Blinking, I force myself up. Hands at my back make me gasp, shudder, and I lock onto the voice. “Ban?”
Turning my head, I spot his familiar eyes. Relief, like I’ve never seen before, reflects in his gaze. It’s so different from how he looked when he first woke me in the cabin.
And behind him, almost out of focus…
I struggle to turn, Ban jumping into action as I move. “F-father?”
In the snow, almost too pale to see, I can see my father. Perhaps it is a trick of the fire, or an illusion from my dreary mind, but I can swear he is there. Scrambling against the cold floor, I force myself to sit up.
And scream, slamming my face into the stone again.
“You’re hurt,” Ban explains, and the phantom pains from my dreamscape feel very much like a reality. Can I call it a dreamscape when it was so different from the place I stayed while Mother kept me beneath her spell?
Because you ran out of time.That’s what the Sandman said, and my gaze whips around to stare at the spot where I saw Father again.
Like an illusion, he’s gone.
Ignoring what Ban told me, I try to sit up again. It hurts, agony radiating throughout my body, and despite the fire, there’s almost… a chill along my spine. Like when I could sense Ban behind me in the shadows but not see him. Despite the throbbing, that cold ache is almost familiar.
“Try not to move,” someone says, and my hands slam into the floor. Ban hisses as I turn, twisting to see who’s speaking.
Two figures stand on the opposite side of Ban: a woman who looks in danger of freezing to death, and a man with dark hair and orange eyes. They make a strange pair.
While pressing my head to the stone, I try to catch my breath. The agony is overwhelming, yet I can almostfeelwhere the injury radiates from. It’s definitely my spine, the cold along with the pain undeniably Ban’s magic. I just don’t understand what his magic is doing to my body.
“My mother did this,” I hiss, and silence greets me in return. “Didn’t she?”
The man I don’t know responds, his voice a little more gravelly than Ban’s, “Yes.”
“I need to get up,” I gasp, pushing on the ground again. It’s goddamned painful, but not totally unbearable, even when I feel Ban’s touch, gentle against my spine. I know it’s him because the icy chill at the top nearly pulses with his proximity. How strange.
“You need to rest,” he argues, refusing to remove his hand. I glance at the duo across from us, and it’s obvious that neither is interested in helping me. The woman is still shivering,and when she tilts her head I’m startled to realize she has two different colored eyes.
“Who are they?”
“Uh, Zarev and Odette. They’re… friends.”
“I told you he likes me,” she whispers beneath her breath, glancing at Zarev.
After a brief nod, I focus on the mouth of the cave behind Ban, struggling to roll onto my side. Ban’s still barely touching me, like he’s worried about something. “Why are we in a cave?”
“There are troops in the kingdom,” Ban explains carefully after a moment of silence, and my eyes narrow. “From Wonderland. They wear red and black uniforms. Zarev went back and checked after we escaped. It isn’t safe to return.”
I blink hard, staring at him. My eyes dart between Ban and the mouth of the cave, wondering if I could try to dodge past him.
“Troops… Where are ours?”
His eyes flicker with pain. “Frozen. The only living people we have seen in the Frostlands since abandoning the capital city are those who live on the outskirts. And the populations in those little villages are meager at best.”
No, that can’t be right? “H-how long was I out?”
I feel the beginning of a headache trying to form. Much like the pain in my back, I don’t have time for this. Not if there’s supposedly an invading army or troops who don’t belong, or…
A sob crawls up my throat, echoing unbidden in the little cave. Pressing a hand to my mouth, I try to silence the cry, wrapping my other arm uncomfortably across my middle. There’s a chill over my spine as another breeze blows through the space, and slowly I realize that my back feels bare. Not quite naked, but the material of my dress seems to be missing.
“Neve–”
