“What?” I whispered.

He pointed down through the glassy surface, and seconds later, something moved.

I could not say what the creature was – only that it was a great leviathan. Its serpentine form moved lazily beneath the ice, opalescent scales gleaming as though it were lit from within. The guard hadn’t noticed it yet, and she moved with a measured stride across the lake, her eyes roving for someone that hid above, not something that hunted beneath.

“Don’t move,” Martin whispered. “Maybe it won’t notice us.”

“We can’t stay here forever.” Already, my lack of motion was allowing the cold to take over, but I dared not ask Martin to use magic to warm me lest it draw the attention of either the troll or what I strongly suspected was a Winter creature.

A voice echoed through the cavern, a song both lovely and eerily familiar. A song being sung with my voice.

My skin prickled with tension, and I realized then that it wasn’t just my own. My spell had worn off Tristan at the worst possible moment. I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. This was no coincidence. Somehow, she knew my spell was wearing off, and she intended to use me to draw him out.

The guard froze, head cocking as she listened. “Princess?” she called, recognizing my voice. The creature sang again, and it passed beneath us as it circled, close enough to see the feathered tendrils floating behind its neck, the crimson eye that peered at us, but did nothing. It called out, and then the troll saw it.

Her oath filled the cavern, then she was sprinting back toward the tunnel, so fast as to be almost a blur. “Go,” I hissed at Martin and we scrambled into a run toward the end of the lake, running blind in the darkness.

But not fast enough.

A streak of white light shot beneath us then exploded out of the ice, my song drifting from its lips as it reared up high, blocking our path. Water sloshed over the ice, cracks streaking across the surface as though drawn with an enormous white pen. Then with a thunderous crash, the lake surface shattered into pieces.

I shrieked, the ground moving and shifting beneath us, the frozen slabs rising and falling on waves of the fey creature’s making. I slid into Martin and we both dropped to our knees to keep from sliding off into the water. The leviathan leaned forward, its great head descending on us, maw open wide.

Then it jerked sideways, song turning into a shriek. I found myself sliding the other way, the momentum of Martin’s blow shooting us in the opposite direction. I scrabbled at the surface, but I could find no purchase.

Something silver whistled over my head, and the creature screamed in pain, diving back beneath the surface, a sword embedded in its flesh.

The slab tilted, then righted itself with a jerk as the guard landed on the far side, another blade in her hand.