No, but I’d rather die than watch him make a mistake and turn to ice in front of me.
The beam of sun drifted closer to the stalk. It was going to hit exactly right and within a few breaths.
“Warm me up when I'm holding the blossom,” I said, stepping closer.
He didn’t argue, just caught my hand and pressed his lips to my knuckles.Be precise.Don’t pluck it until the light cuts through. Do NOT endanger yourself.
As if I had a choice? Stride into the fire, I told myself. Embrace the flames. All of that sounded good in theory. The application of it was the true trick.
I nodded once and stepped onto the narrow edge of stone that bordered the raised bed. Frost crusted the surface, slick as glass, and my boots lost purchase for a heartbeat before catching again, nearly sending me tumbling into the plant.
Sunlight crept up the stalk, and the frostwilla responded like a living thing. Its crystalline petals shimmered, the core pulsing with silvery light as it slowly recoiled from the approaching warmth.
I held still, my breathing shallow. The wind picked up, sighing through the icy vegetation, making leaves clink together.
Now,Lore said.
I moved, wrapping my fingers around the stalk exactly as the light struck the bloom dead-on. The ice coating the petals lit up from within, a miniature sunburst caught in a glass prism. The frostwilla stopped moving.
The stem trembled. A warning. Cold blasted up my arm, like I’d dunked it into a half-frozen river. I clenched my jaw, holding tight. The petals quivered, and a sound like cracking porcelain echoed in the still air.
Sunlight shot straight through the bloom, piercing the icy layers until they shimmered like blue flame.
I twisted.
The blossom came free with a cleansnap.
It felt…too easy. But it wouldn’t have been if Lore hadn’t walked me through the procedure.
I stumbled off the raised bed, cradling the blossom in both hands. My fingers burned with cold. Lore caught me before I could fall, his hands already flooding heat into my skin.
“You did it.” His voice held pure awe and something deeper. “My brilliant, fearless wife. I've never been more proud.”
I blinked at the flower, its petals still glowing with captured light, delicate and perfect in my hands.
I sagged against his chest. It's beautiful,” I breathed, then looked up at him. “Almost as beautiful as the way you're looking at me right now.”
His gaze locked on mine and he held out his hand. “Ready to leave this wretched place?”
“Yesterday.”
He flitted us to our suite.
The warmth of our rooms felt like a different world after the frozen garden. For a moment, I let myself believe we might actually escape this place alive. But beneath my relief, unease lingered. Something about how easily we'd succeeded nagged at me.
“There you are.” Moira rose from her chair in the sitting area, setting aside her book and rushing over to us, looking us over.
Her mother joined us. “We were worried but—” She spied the blossom in my hand and gave a little shriek. “You did it. You did it. We must pack your things. We’ll depart as soon as you have the second token, I assume?”
“Yes. Have you discovered anything else?” I’d welcome any clue into what was going on with Laphira.
Moira shifted closer, lowering her voice. “They’re moving up the princess’s wedding to four days from now.”
“Why so soon?”
“I don’t know.”
We need to get her out of here,I told Lore, and he nodded.
