“I need access to some of the dead lands to start testing my theory. If I can find a spell that will work, and there’s one I’m already thinking of from the text books, then I need to test it out on a small portion before I set to work trying to touch the whole island.”
“It’s too dangerous to set out for the dead lands now,” Silas said. “In this blizzard? Not to mention, the curse is active and spreading, which means if you’re close to the border, you could be touched by the curse.”
“I know the risks, but this is the only way,” I said. “The spell I found is an enchantment for water. I always thought it was interesting, but I had no idea how to use it. I think I can tweak it to be effective for snow, too. And if I can heal the island, maybe it will eliminate the curse, and I’ll be able to set new wards. All these pieces are connected, I just know it.”
Before Silas could reply, I tucked the book containing the water-based enchantment under my cloak and moved toward the door.
“We need to go now, before the spirits can leave the dead lands too,” I said. “Otherwise, it’ll only get harder. There’s no way things will get easier by waiting. This is our only option.”
Silas nodded, unhappy but resigned to the path I’d declared necessary. I could feel the tug in him, the desire to take charge, to command. If he wasn’t so committed to me on so many levels, I knew he’d have wanted to be on the front lines with Ranger X, not babysitting a new queen as she tested out finicky potions.
But Silas was the sort of man to put aside his wants and needs to support mine. Warmth and gratitude rushed through me asI looked at him. Finally, I allowed myself to feel the surge of joy crushing through me at having been returned for a second chance with my mate.
I threw my arms around Silas and kissed him, tears streaming down my face. I hadn’t had the time to bask in our reunion; we’d barely had time alone, and the time we had been alone had been spent scouring the textbooks for spells to fix this island.
While it wasn’t the celebratory reunion I would’ve wished for, it was deep and tender and real. And wasn’t that what mattered at the end of the day?
Silas looked surprised at my display of affection, but it didn’t take him more than a beat to wrap his arms in return around me. He squeezed, and I knew he felt it too. The reunion we’d pushed to the side in order to tackle the more pressing problems of the impending attack.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered in Silas’s ear. “I never meant to hurt you by going into the underworld. I knew it would, but I also…I didn’t make the decision to go lightly.”
“I know,” he said. “I understand that. I love you.”
“I’m sorry that my duties as Fae Queen conflicted with our relationship.”
“They didn’t conflict. I just wish you’d told me of your plans so I could’ve helped.”
“I wish I’d been able to,” I said. “But you wouldn’t have let me go. We both know that, Silas. It was either tell you or enter the underworld. In no universe was there another option.”
“Maybe you’re right.” His hand stroked my hair listlessly, and he pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Maybe you’re right.”
I thought of Silas and Liza and Lily and Millie, and the rest of the islanders—so many people who had come into my life in such a real, tender, deep way. After a lifetime of relationships built on fragile, surface-level priorities, it still felt new to meto experience the depth of emotions that came along with real friendship. Real love.
But as much as it had hurt me and those around me to go to the underworld, at the time, it had felt like the right choice. Now, I wasn’t so sure of anything, except that maybe choices weren’t right or wrong at all, but just that—the best decisions we could make with the information we had. One choice, then another, trying to make it through life as a decent person.
“Let’s go.” Silas tucked me under his arm and led me out onto the castle’s second-floor balcony. “Ranger Z will be in touch with HQ to let everyone know our plans. She’ll accompany us to the dead lands. She’s stocked with supplies.”
The way Silas leaned on the wordsuppliestold me he meant armed. Normally, Silas was the sort who of person who preferred to move alone, without backup if at all possible. The fact that he wasn’t arguing about looping the Rangers in on our plan told me as much as I needed to know. We needed all the help we could get.
When we stepped onto the balcony, I froze. Not because of the wind’s bite, although the temperatures had dropped significantly. But because there was a brand-new, soul-sucking chill in the air.
On instinct, I glanced down at the spirits. They were barely visible through the snowstorm, but as I squinted, I noticed something new. A haze was currently descending over them like a cloud of fog.
One by one, it touched the spirits. And as it touched them, they began to glow. A subtle glow, pale and dim through the haze. The spirits, a smoky, translucent shade, started to fade into something resembling flesh.
Their eyes shifted from ghostly hollows to shiny beacons, orbs that should have been windows to a soul, but even from a distance, I could tell they wereoff.Without souls, their eyes werewindows that led nowhere. It was eerie. Their gazes were hard and emotionless. Mirrors waiting to reflect fear if I got close enough.
The mist encompassed the spirits slowly, and I felt the moment the first rider and his horse became solid. A rush of fear and terror came, then dismay; we were too late. I understood then what Silas had meant when he’d discussed flesh-weaving, and the way his eyes had gone dark. This evil spell didn’t grant life. It simply made a vessel for these hollow spirits to inhabit. A dangerous vessel that could now walk on our lands.
These creatures came into existence with glowing red eyes. The horses snapped and drooled, pawed at the air as they eagerly anticipated their transformation to finish. Evil had reached our doorstep.
Ranger Z was already on her Comm, speaking with the teams. A slew of Rangers dressed in all-black flooded the castle. Potions and weapons were at the ready as they prepared for battle.
“We need to stay and fight,” I said. “Do you have any of Lily’s potions? Anything for me?”
As I spoke, I realized I was empty-handed. The realization left me feeling foolish. Everyone around me was armed to the teeth, and I didn’t even have the vial Lily had given me before I went to the underworld.
“We must go on.” Ranger Z reached out and rested a hand on my wrist. “I’ve talked with Ranger X. I told him the plan. He thinks it’s more important that you be free to do—” She shook her head. “We should give you as much time as we can to focus on your task with the wards.”
