“Tomorrow, then?” Chris said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

“Outside the south gate.”

I frowned, realizing they’d come up with some sort of plan and annoyed that I hadn’t been involved.

“Remember what I said about a disguise. In the daylight, no one will believe you’re human.” Chris jerked his chin at Sabine. “I’ll walk you home.”

“What plan is this?” I asked once my friends were out of earshot. “I didn’t realize we had one.”

“We need to find Anushka,” Tristan replied, his voice low. “I can see the effects of the promise you made to my father written all over you. I can feel them. When was the last time you ate? Slept? And that was when you had an avenue to find her – an avenue that is now lost to us. We must use another tactic, or we’ll both be dead within the week.”

His words spoke of concern, but that wasn’t what I felt. Tristan was frustrated and angry, and all I heard in his words were blame. My temper snapped. “What exactly would you have had me do? Turn my back and walk away while he had you beaten? Stand silently while he dragged out every individual in Trollus whom I cared about and tortured them? Killed them? I’m well aware that he manipulated me, but what I don’t understand is how you think I could possibly have made another choice.”

“Cécile…”

“Don’t!” I held up a hand to silence him. “You’ll barely even look at me, and do you think I don’t know why?” Once I started speaking, the words refused to stop. I needed everything out in the open so that it would be over and done, and no more words would hang unspoken. “Do you have any idea what it felt like knowing that in choosing to help you that I had disappointed you? That everything I’ve done and all the sacrifices I’ve made have been the exact opposite of what you wanted me to do?”

I squeezed my eyes shut, furious that they seemed intent on undermining my anger with tears. “I feel more allied with your cursed father than you, and just the thought of it makes me sick.”

Forcing my eyes open, I searched his face for some sign of what he was thinking. Something that might dull the anger and frustration mirroring my own. But there was nothing. He said nothing.

The snowflakes landing on my face felt blissfully cold against my overheated skin, and I tilted my chin up so that more would land, the little droplets of water running down my face serving as a disguise against any tears that might sneak out. I knew what I needed to tell him, but I was afraid what having it out in the open would mean for us. “A curse is an act of will cemented by power, and tonight I learned it can be broken by an act of will fueled by power. Only Anushka added in another element, one uniquely important to your kind.”