Crouched next to Sabine, I watched as the creature who was as old as time came to the realization she’d been tricked. No emotion came with the understanding, but I suspected she’d shake the spell quickly, and that her wrath would be formidable.

Boots pounded up behind us as Marc raced onto the scene. “Are you all right?” he asked, helping Sabine to her feet, while I watched Winter circle the property, testing out her new set of powers, which, as I’d suspected, were as bound as she was by the iron circle.

Cécile.

I opened my palm to reveal the remaining black orb. It shifted and swirled, repulsive, yet incredibly alluring at the same time. It was easier not to feel.

But when had I ever chosen the easier path?

Dropping the seed on the ground, I crushed it with the heel of my boot. “Hold the city,” I said. “Give me a few hours head start, then you know what to do.”

“What if she won’t deal?” Marc asked, his arm steadying Sabine. She’d taken a huge risk stepping outside the castle walls and tempting Winter’s wrath, but it had paid off.

I cast a backward glance at Winter – who was watching us with a gaze so alien and strange, it almost made me feel human – and wondered how long it would take her to figure out just how trapped she was. “I don’t think you need to worry about that,” I said, then I started toward Trollus.

Chapter 33

Cécile

Water closed over my head and, when I kicked upwards, my hands hit a glassy sheet. I needed air. Needed to breath, but I couldn’t find a way up. The satchel strapped to my back was weighing me down, but it had Anushka’s grimoire, the perfume bottles full of blood.

They won’t do you any good if you’re dead.

Slipping off the strap, I kicked hard, desperation giving me strength. Then magic wrapped around my waist, jerking me up into the air. “I’ve got you,” Martin said, then there was rock beneath my bottom as he pulled me through the illusion and into the tunnel.

“Wait,” I choked. “The guard.”

We leaned back through the opening, but there was only blackness and silence. Martin sent a wisp of light over the surface of the lake and it reflected off the glossy surface. The water was frozen solid, all trace of both guard and leviathan gone.

Winter had accomplished what she intended.

At the far end, lights from the other guards bobbed into view, drawn by the noise.

“We need to go,” Martin said, and he dragged me through the narrow passage in the rocks, and out into the open. We were on the rock fall, but beneath the wooden bridge that ran over top. Despite the cover the planks provided, Martin had one arm pressed against his eyes, the other raised as though he could ward off the midday sun.

“I’m going to freeze to death if you don’t do something,” I stuttered out through my clattering teeth, unable to move from where I lay. Everything was numb, the act of breathing all I could manage.