“Can you tell where he is?”

“Just beyond Trollus.” His fingers dug into the stone, little bits of it crumbling to fall into the darkness below.

“The Hollow?” I was shaking, my teeth clattering together even as my skin burned hot. “My family? Chris?”

“I can’t tell for certain.” He shifted, snow crunching beneath his weight. “I think he’s keeping to the Ocean Road, but he isn’t the only troll out there.”

Tears dribbled down my cheeks, the names of all the small villages and hamlets along the road rising up in my mind. All those people dead or enslaved. And if he was going that direction, Courville would be next. Turning my head, I looked out over the ocean to see if I could glimpse the glow of the city on the far side of the bay, but the mist hanging over the water blocked it from sight. Other than Trianon and Trollus, Courville was the only other city on the Isle. Thousands of people lived there. Thousands of soon to be victims.

“And why is it,” I asked, scrubbing the tears from my face, “that you haven’t gone to stop him?”

Tristan was silent for so long that I wondered if he’d answer me at all. Then he said, “I made a bargain with Winter to save my life. That’s how I survived the sluag sting. Its venom is a sort of magic. She controls them, and therefore she controls their magic and its effects. I owe her a life-debt. There is almost nothing she cannot ask of me.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I told Victoria, and she will explain the circumstances to your brother. They’ll come up with a reasonable excuse for why I’m hiding behind the walls while my brother destroys every town and village he comes across.”

I said nothing while I mastered my temper, then, “It’s been months since you were stung, and you never once mentioned this little detail.”

“Actually, I did,” he said, and my mind prickled with a half-recalled memory. The scent of frost. I focused hard, and the forgotten conversation slowly moved to the forefront of my thoughts. Someone with a great deal of power did me a favor. I owe her a very great debt.

“She made me forget,” I said. “How is that possible?”

“More of a strong suggestion that our conversation wasn’t worth remembering,” he said. “She couldn’t take something without giving up something in return.”

“Why didn’t you remind me?”

Tristan sighed. “I gave her my word not to speak of the conversation that happened between the two of us, and… And as long as the curse was in place, I didn’t have to worry about the debt.”

And he’d believed he never would, as I’d yet to convince him that the trolls deserved to be freed.

“Do you know what she wants?” I asked. Could he tell me if he did?

He shook his head. “No, but it will be something I don’t want to give. She wouldn’t waste the debt on anything I’d sacrifice freely.”