When her eyes popped back open, there was almost a feverish look to them. Like she was drunk or high on poppies. And I was shocked to see that she looked five or ten years younger.
I wanted this blood-licking freak to do her thing and leave. She had officially given me the creeps.
“Let’s get on with it,” Stryker barked, and I knew he wasn’t any happier about Zane having just given her his blood than I was.
Rowena pulled a small box from her cloak and opened it carefully. I couldn’t see the contents from where I was standing, but I saw the long, sharp needle she pulled out.
“What are you doing now?” Stryker asked, his tone accusing.
“This is the one little drop for the spell we spoke about,my lord,” she said, annoyed.
“I’m not letting you take even a single drop of my wife’s blood,” Zander said, his hand covering Dawn’s belly.
Rowena shrugged. “Fine. Then I can’t project her consciousness. This isn’t a price I require for payment. This is the price the spell requires. Whoever doesn’t want to pay it can’t participate.”
Dawn laid a hand on Zander’s shoulder. “I have to do this. Isolde needs to see me and Aribella.”
His nostrils flared and he flicked his gaze to the witch. “If you put our blood in your mouth, I’ll puncture you with a hundred shards of glass and then have my wife light your body on fire.” He held out his hand and a black pointed shard of glass formed in the center of his palm.
Rowena nodded. “The blood goes on the cloth, my lord.” She held up a square piece of red linen and gave him her most innocent look.
“It’s just a drop, my love,” Dawn said, placing a hand on the side of Zander’s face. “I’ll be fine.”
Pressing his lips together in a hard line, Zander nodded once, but the look he shot Rowena was cold enough to send a chill through the air.
Seemingly unfazed, Rowena positioned us all in a circle around her. One by one she went to each of us and pricked our finger with a needle, pulling out a fresh one for each of us and tossing the dirty ones back in her box. When a bead of blood formed she blotted it with the square of red cloth.
Once we’d all shed our drops, she walked to the center of our circle and Zander snatched the box that held the needles she’d used to poke us with. “I’ll be keeping this thank you very much,” he told her. “And when the spell is over I’ll be taking that cloth too.”
Rowena growled at that but then rolled her eyes. Whatever trick she’d been planning to pull with our blood afterward, Zander wasn’t having it and I was grateful he was looking out for us.
“Who knows this Isolde person best?” Rowena asked.
Dawn raised her hand and Rowena held out her palm. “Take my hand and hold her in your mind, it will guide me.”
Dawn exchanged an intense look with Zander but took the witch’s hand.
Rowena held the red cloth in her other hand and then started to chant under her breath. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was only a few moments before the cloth caught fire and started to burn, though the flames were green.
Stryker grabbed my hand and squeezed, but when I looked over at him,his intense gaze was fixed on Rowena and a phantom wind that started to whip her hair and cloak around her.
Her chanting sped up and now she was practically screaming the unfamiliar words. My heart started to flutter in my chest and I gripped Stryker’s hand tighter, looking for an anchor to help me calm down. I didn’t know what would happen if I fainted in the middle of this spell.
All of a sudden Rowena stopped chanting. Her hair and cloak settled back around her and the fire extinguished, but I gasped when I looked at her face. Her eyes had gone completely black. The creepiest part was the small smile on her face right before she threw her arms out, unleashing her magic on all of us.
Her magic slammed into me and it felt like someone was sucking the soul from my body. I fought against it but it was too powerful and with a final gasp I was separated from myself and tossed into a different realm.
I just hoped Isolde would listen, because the future of both of our kingdoms now rested squarely on her shoulders. The Winter princess’s mind was not known for being easily swayed.
Epilogue
Isolde
Idrummed my long, black-painted fingernails on the windowsill, looking out at the clumps of snow as they fell from the sky. What a wild past several weeks it had been. My body was covered in fading bruises and defined muscles from the constant training Queen Liliana and her staff of tutors had been giving me. I had heard rumors that Dawn had failed her task and never returned, news that had gutted me. Dawn and I had been very close, making sure to connect every year at our famous winter festival that drew revelers from all four courts. And I’d gone to see her during the summer at the honey bee fair.
I peered wistfully at the dried flower crown of daises I’d bought just last year with Dawn while visiting the Summer Court. I’d wanted to believe the rumors were untrue until Queen Liliana and the Summer Court refugees flooded across our borders and then asked me to take over where Dawn had failed. She put no stock in sweet Aribella and knew that this task would end with me.
I gripped the hilt of the blue kyanite dagger my mother had given to me when I was twelve.Winter princesses never expected to be called as champions: we were third in line to travel to Ethereum, but my mother was a prudent woman who left nothing to chance. Myself and my six younger sisters all started training when we reached womanhood. I was ready for this, maybe not quite to Queen Liliana’s reckoning, but I wasn’t going to hesitate to do my duty for my people. I would make sure that curse never touched our land.
