“Are we almost there?” she asked, thinking of her beloveds across the intersect. But Lucas drew around her, an impossibly wide smile lingering on his closed mouth. He was a measure taller than she, and Kaley was forced to lift her head to meet his gaze.

“I have no apprentice, darling, which means I’m free to take on a charge. And you now need a guardian, so since I’ll certainly be your first choice, I’d like to state my conditions.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Kaley said. “I choose Zane.”

Lucas laughed. “No, you don’t. You choose me. So, back to my conditions—”

“You wouldn’t be able to keep up with me, Lucas Leutenski,” she said. “No offense.”

Lucas blinked as she settled her gaze back on the whitish landscape. He moved in to cut off her line of sight, capturing her in his shadow. “You don’t know me well enough to realize that putting that little bit of challenge in your voice only makes me want to do it more,” he tilted his head, topaz eyes swimming, “darling.”

Kaley bit her lips so she would not crack a smile, but when Lucas glanced past her into the haze of flakes, he stilled. The Patrolman grabbed the staff from his back as a curly-haired figure emerged from the whisking snow.

Eliot Gray wore a silvery coat no longer; a long jacket hugged his body now, a shade of black that looked dangerously close to raven feathers.

“How far is it to the White Kingdom?” Kaley whispered as Eliot approached them with a chipped Patrol staff in his hand.

“Too far to outrun him,” Lucas replied as blades of ice emerged from his weapon.

Eliot stopped at the foot of the hill and raised a hand. “I came to help,” he said to Lucas. “And to apologize. I have information on Nightflesh, and Asteroth, and what they’re planning. I can’t go back to them now that I’ve left, they’ll turn me to snow. Please, Leutenski, I know the rest of the Patrol have been captured and you and Cohen are all that’s left. Let me help you.”

“How did you find us?” Lucas eyed the once-Patrolman, and his presumptuous jacket.

“I followed your footprints. I got to the factory shortly after you left.”

“And Cohen didn’t run you through?”

“Cohen wasn’t there.” But Eliot’s gaze flickered to Kaley. He had an unusual look. “What…happened, exactly?”

“Is your chest feeling a little cold these days, Gray?” Lucas taunted, and Kaley zipped her coat up over the orb.

But Eliot sighed. “Leutenski, I know where this path will lead in a day’s time. Please, let me come. Elowin is the only one who can help me now.”