Slowly, I rise from the table. I approach my rucksack and kneel to retrieve the knives. When I rise to my feet, Helena is beside me. She accepts the weapon I pass her. I grip the cold base of my own knife, acutely aware of how strange it feels in my hand. I have never wielded a knife or a weapon of any kind before.
“I wish the curtains were closed,” I whisper. “I also wish there was a backdoor we could sneak out of.”
Helena approaches one of the windows and briefly peeks out at the dark forest. The sun has finally disappeared over the distant mountain. I suppose at this very moment, Gideon and the other Winter fae soldiers are killing those responsible for the attack on the Frostfall faefolk. They are miles away, so far that I can’t summon him with my thoughts.
A scream pierces the night, followed by a pained groan. My stomach plunges to the floor and my hand trembles so hard that I almost drop the knife.
As quietly as possible, Helena helps me push the table and stools against the front door. It seems silly to block the door with furniture when the entire cabin is surrounded by Gideon’s powerful wards, but we do it anyway. It doesn’t make me feel better though, and my pulse thunders in my ears as I wait… for something to happen.
A thought strikes me. The soldiers from Hollins. Maybe some of them escaped the town and came this way. But how could they take out not just one fae soldier, but fifty of them?
My unease spreads, and I feel positively sick.
Gideon, I attempt to send down the bond.Gideon, we need help.
But I don’t sense his thoughts. I’m aware of his beating heart, for now that we are mated, it’s a part of me. He’s out there somewhere, alive. But unfortunately, he’s still too far away to hear my pleas for help.
The front porch creaks, and Helena and I exchange a worried look.
Horror washes through me when the door handle not only moves, but it glows blue. I know for a fact that Gideon erected the ward around the perimeter of the cabin. I saw the raised line of frost, barely visible as it spread across the snow, but I stood inside the cabin and watched as he created the protective barrier. The point being, no one should be able to walk right up to the door.
Helena grasps my arm and pulls me to the back of the cabin. She makes a desperate waving motion, trying to usher me under the bed.
But before I can decide if I truly want to hide there, a blast shakes the entire cabin. Glass shatters, the wooden beams splinter, and everything goes flying.
I go flying too.
When I land, all the air is knocked from my lungs, and my head strikes the floor so hard that my vision blurs. Nausea creeps up my throat. I blink fast and try to focus on my surroundings, but everything is blurry.
“Helena,” I say, though I’m not sure I really say her name aloud.
Please let her be okay. Oh, gods, please.
As my vision continues to blur, I gasp for breath. I turn on my side and keep trying to find my friend, but everything is dark blue and fuzzy. A frigid wind sweeps down and snow peltsmy face. Is the cabin missing a wall? Or is the snow coming in through the blasted-out windows?
Confusion dulls my senses, and when I try to speak again, my words are slurred and garbled. I feel on the verge of throwing up or passing out.
Then a large figure appears above me.
A dark-haired highborn fae male with massive, black wings.
My vision is still so blurry that I can’t quite discern his facial features, but it looks like my mate. I think…
“Gideon,” I whisper, trying to reach for the man.
But horror quickly surges through me. If the male standing above me were my mate, wouldn’t I sense his thoughts and emotions? Wouldn’t I feel the bond? And wouldn’t he be kneeling at my side to help me?
Instead, the fae male looms over me.
Somehow, despite the blast and the cold wind sweeping down from the sky, the fire in the hearth is still burning, and orange light keeps flickering over the blurry form that looks so much like my mate.
At last, my vision starts to clear, and my nausea begins to subside.
When the highborn fae male’s face finally becomes clear to me, I gasp and stare up at him as my confusion spreads.
It’s not Gideon, yet the male looks so much like him. They have the same nose, the same high cheekbones, and the same square jaw. The same dark, curving horns too, and the exact same dark shade of hair.
Oh, dear gods.
