My throat burned with the hurt of betrayal as I watched my best friend fasten heavy chains to Tristan’s wrists and ankles, and then toss the key at my mother. It was only when she slumped to her knees next to his feet and pressed a hand to her shoulder that I saw the dark stain on her dress, and my hurt turned instantly to anger.

I needed to get inside that room.

I pressed a hand carefully against the glass, but it was latched from the inside. I could break it, but there was no chance they wouldn’t hear it. A glance over my shoulder revealed the moon shining full and bright. I was running out of time.

Then a flicker of motion caught my eye. Peering back in the window revealed the tiniest glimmer floating just inside the glass. It was my light!

Although to call it such was almost a lie, because it had faded almost into nothingness since my flight from Trollus. But it was now my only chance.

Ignoring the violent shivers threatening my grip on the ledge, I focused on the tiny bit of magic, Tristan’s words drifting through my mind: My magic is what I will it to be. It does what I will it to do… I’d coaxed it into brightening and dimming before, but never before had I tried to change the purpose Tristan had given it. I envisioned it as a force, like a finger hooking onto the latch and flicking it back. Beyond, I could not help but see Sabine slump against the carpets and feel the flash of panic from Tristan as he stood chained and powerless to help her.

With what seemed like reluctance, the magic drifted toward the metal latch, and my teeth chattered together as I willed it into action. I’d lost feeling in my toes, and my fingers were following suit. If this didn’t work, I wasn’t sure I’d even be able to make it back to the other window.

Click. The magic winked out, and I knew it was gone forever. But it had done enough.

Pressing my reddened fingertips against the glass, I began to push it in, but then stopped. The wind was howling around the castle, and it was sure to blast into the room. My eyes burned with the pain of the cold, and then the air went still as if the world itself was holding its breath. A prickle of apprehension ran down my spine, but I ignored it and opened the window, sliding in as swiftly and silently as a ghost before carefully shutting it behind me.

“What is it you trolls say?” My mother’s voice was mocking. “ ‘All humans are liars’? You had to know there’s no way I’d let the girl live. She knows too much, and I’ve not endured all these long years through lack of caution.”

“As though you don’t know a hundred ways to wipe the knowledge from her mind,” Tristan snarled. “You did this to provoke me and hurt Cécile, not out of necessity.”