In what felt like mere seconds, she caught sight of him dipping between trees. A flash of dark green in a world growing whiter by the heartbeat. Then she was to him. He’d reached a thicket of holly, its berries red as the Cartorran sigil.

“You cannot defeat me.” Henrick had to shout over the storm, but no fatigue strained his voice. No rapid breaths shook his chest.

“Funny.” Safi marched up to him, snow cutting into her cheeks. “I was going to say the same to you.” She ducked as soon as she was near, as soon as the inevitable swing arced in.

Her hands swooped to the snow, her fingers closed around a branch. Sturdy silver fir. Perfect for warding off nightmares. Then she rolled sideways. Her muscles thrummed with energy, her vision sharpened, and her mind was alight. Though she didn’t understand why, the gray misery of the Loom felt almost negated. Almost erased.

Initiate, complete.

Safi swung at Henrick’s knee, but he dodged. His sword hissed down. Steel scraped her shoulder, hot and sudden, yet nothing compared to the pain of the Loom. And nothing compared to the shared agony of a thousand Hell-Bards.

Plus, she was ready for it. As his sword hissed near, Safi looped her branch over his wrist. Exactly as Caden had done to her. She yanked down.

Henrick dropped the sword.

She kicked him in the belly. Once. He flopped backward. Twice, he hit the holly. A third time, and he doubled over. His crown sprang off and landed on the blustering snow.

Safi aimed her branch at his head. Angry red lines circled the skin there, but to her surprise, when she found his brown eyes, there was no fury. Nor cruelty nor pain. There was only resignation.

“Be quick about it.” He didn’t yell over the winds, but Safi was near enough to hear.

She punted his sword out of reach and glared down. “Why me, Henrick? Why did you marry me?”

Again, his face tightened at his name, but for once he didn’t dodge her question. He didn’t look away. “For the same reason I nudged your uncle into the Hell-Bards.” His eyes shuttered. “For the same reason Eron worked in secret for all those years to depose me. The Well, Safiya. It has always been about the Well.”

“The Well?” It was easily the last answer she’d expected. In fact, it was a reply that had never occurred to her. She inched the branch nearer. “Explain.”

“Did you never wonder why your family’s lands were near the Earth Well?” His eyes opened. Though his crown had fallen, the weight of it had not. “It is your bloodline, Safiya. Your family was chosen, and mine…” A tired laugh. A single shrug. “We were not. But my ancestor took your family’s throne a thousand years ago, and ever since I have learned of it, I have tried to restore it.”