Months or years or even centuries.His voice was fierce.Still wouldn't be enough time with you.
A massive vine reared up in front of Lore like a serpent, wider than a man’s chest, its pointed tip glittering with what might be sap or poison. Lore slammed his boot into the ground, and a geyser of molten stone rose beneath the vine’s base. The vine thrashed, trying to escape.
Two more vines flanked us. Farris launched himself atthe base of the left vine, his weight insignificant but his timing perfect. The one he attacked shattered, and the distraction gave me the opening I needed. I jumped, landing crouched and slicing the one on the right in a quick motion. Farris raced over and attacked the severed ends, biting them to smaller pieces that withered and melted into the ground.
Lore sent a wall of fire at the serpent vine, and it hit hard, encasing the vegetation and compressing it. When the flaming mass fell to the ground, nothing remained but a large puddle of water that quickly froze into the smooth path we'd been walking on before.
Breathing hard, I peered around, finding no more vines left to battle. I dropped my arms and let my lightning fade, though I kept one of my blades ready just in case.
Silence descended around us.
Lore's magic settled, and he let the wind catch his remaining flames and sweep them away. Only a few shadows lingered. I scowled in their direction, and they shuddered before drifting away, leaving ghostly trails in the ice that soon smoothed back into a regular path.
A thin line of blood trickled from a cut at Lore's temple, already freezing and crusting like red frost. I gently blotted at it with the sleeve of my cloak until he tugged my hand away, kissing the palm. A flick of his finger, and the cut sealed over, smoothing back to regular skin.
He held my face, turning it this way and that before healing the stinging cut. Leaning close, he kissed the area.
I will destroy anything that touches you, mate. Know that.
Even the cold?My breath misted between us.
Especially the cold.He kissed my forehead.Nothing gets to mark you but me.
Farris padded over to stand beside us, his tail wagging. Heshook, sending a spray of melted water in every direction, then snorted and sat with a huff.
A flick of Lore’s hand and Farris wore a new, dry sweater.
“Are you hurt anywhere else, Wildfire?” Lore asked.
“No.”
“Good. Then she can live for now.”
“Would you really go kill Irridain’s queen?”
His lips curled into a slick smile.
When he held out his arm, I took it, curling my fingers into his forearm, gazing up at him with all the love I felt inside.
“Even covered in frost and battle-worn,” I said, “you're the most beautiful thing in this garden.”
“That's because I'm looking at you, love.”
With Farris padding beside us, we continued deeper into the frozen maze.
Chapter 35
Lore
“Frostwilla only blooms when the sun cuts clean through the ice petals,” I said as we carefully walked down another winding path. “Too early, and it turns to frost. Too late, and it bites.”
“Bites?” Her fingers tightened on my arm.
“It traps you. I don't know how. I only know a bit from my reading in the library a long time ago.”
We rounded an edge of the crystal hedge and stopped.
Bodies lay strewn on the path. Across the hedges. A few laid face down in the raised flowerbeds.
