“The fuck?” Erik snarls.
I struggle to comprehend what I’m seeing.
A dark-haired woman is encased in the ropey trunk, her black hair twined between the strands of the woody threads. Her legs are nearly completely concealed by the tree’s trunk while parts of her torso are visible, along with her pale face.
Her eyes are closed, but I recognize her. I was only five when I last saw Milena Ironmeld, but I have no doubt.
“It’s her,” I whisper. “It’s Milena.”
My focus falls to her torso, where her arms are folded across her chest in the shape of an X.
Oh… fuck…
Her right hand is missing.
Her power has been cut from her body.
I struggle to voice what I’m seeing. “If she doesn’t have her power, what did I sense? And what the hell happened to her?”
“Asha,” Erik growls, his focus flying to our surroundings. “Something is very wrong here.”
I couldn’t agree more. But the way Milena’s head is tilted to the side and the blue tinge in her lips, the way the tree sap oozes down her hair…
A certainty fills me and it’s as strong as the conviction I felt when I made the choice to save Erik’s life. “I can’t leave her here.”
I grit my teeth against the sheer contradiction between my need to help her and my vow to end her. A sharp and unavoidable conflict, and yet here it is.
“I’ll deal with her when she’s free.”
Before I can take a step closer, Erik’s hand wraps around my arm.
“Asha, no!” The sudden, deep growl in his voice, the stern command, snaps my focus to him.
His chest is rising and falling rapidly, and in his eyes, all I see is fear.
“I won’t lose you here,” he snarls. “Not in the snow. Not now. Not ever.”
My lips part, a quick breath. I remember how still he became when he’d first stepped onto the snowy undergrowth at the edge of the trees. And then I remember back at the castle when he was dying and the way he gripped my hand and spoke of snow.
Now, he looks ready to scoop me up and carry me out of here if he has to.
“Okay,” I whisper, wrapping my hand around his. “Let’s go. We can come back?—”
As I step toward him, I’m suddenly aware of movement to my left from within the snow drifts.
No, not fromwithinthem. An entire snow drift bursts upward, revealing an enormous body covered in pure, white fur, camouflaged against the icy backdrop.
I catch a flash of black claws and register a bear-like body with six powerful legs before a creature of nightmares knocks me down.
Chapter33
Ihit the ground, sending snow flying up around me, the bear’s teeth descending to my neck, but my instincts have kicked in and my left hand is outstretched.
I make contact with the creature’s chest in the heartbeats it takes for its jaws to descend and its claws to close around my shoulders, hips, and thighs.
Within my mind, I’m screaming.Stone!
My power’s response is instant. Dark energy strikes through my body and into my palm, shooting into the bear’s chest.
