Warrior Witch (The Malediction Trilogy #3)(11)

“Of course not.” Her tongue ran over her lips. “But why make the trek back through the cold when you can ask him from here? It is within your power.”

She meant that I should use his name. It was a simple enough thing to do, and although I knew he wouldn’t appreciate me using it, he might deem it worth it in the end.

“Cécile.” Sabine’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Sing that song again.”

“Why?” I asked at the same time the Queen said, “You are not part of this negotiation, girl.”

It was the first time she’d so much as acknowledged Sabine’s presence, and that, more than the dismissiveness of her tone, made me wary.

“Please.”

As strange as the request was, she wouldn’t ask without reason. So I drew in a deep breath and… nothing came out. I couldn’t remember the words. I couldn’t remember ever even knowing them. It was as though the song had been… taken from me. Stripped from my thoughts. And if she could take a song, how hard would it be to take something like a name.

Silently thanking Sabine, I turned back to the Queen. “He made me promise never to use it,” I lied. “He may well agree to a meeting, but I’ll have to ask him in person.”

The Queen went very still. Could she tell I was lying? “We’ll go straight away,” I said, bobbing a quick curtsey and then inching toward the door after Sabine. “It was a pleasure meeting you, and you really were most helpful.” I was babbling. “He’ll be wondering where I am. We really should get back.”

“I think not,” the Queen said, and wind whipped through the room, little bits of ice flying through the air and biting at my skin. Walls of packed snow formed, blocking our exit. The lupine creatures watching from her winter palace crept closer to the tear, snarls filling the air.

“Call him here,” she ordered, the mist forming her ebony hair rising and falling on the blizzard of her own making.

If she wanted Tristan here so badly, it could only be to our detriment. “No.”

The pupils of her eyes elongated like a cat’s, then snapped back into a round, human shape. And before I could think to move, her misty outline solidified and she snatched hold of my arm. Cold unlike anything I’d felt before burned through my skin, my muscle, and into my bone. I screamed, the sound like a rabbit caught in a trap.

Then my ears rang with a loud report, and it was the Queen screaming. She let go of my arm and I scrambled back, my eyes going to Sabine, who had a firm grip on Anushka’s still smoking pistol. The ice coating everything in the room exploded, and the ground shook as the icy palace collapsed around us. The world shuddered. Everywhere I looked I saw layers of the same. A dozen sofas. A hundred Sabines. I lost my balance and fell, my empty stomach heaving.

The fairy hissed at us once, then staggered through the opening between worlds, the tear gone as quickly as it had appeared.

We were outside in the snow, not a hundred yards from the bridge over the river to the castle, which was obscured by the raging blizzard. I pulled up my sleeve to see what sort of injury she’d dealt me, but my skin was unmarked, only a memory of pain remaining. The fairy had caught us in an illusion or a dream, but not for a second did I doubt what had happened. Or the danger to Tristan if he stepped outside those walls. And he was coming this way.

Closing my eyes, I focused. Tristanthysium, do not leave the castle walls until we have the chance to talk. His outrage was immediate and fierce, but it was worth it to keep him safe.

“How did you know to do that?” I asked, letting Sabine help me to my feet.

“Tristan told Chris and me all sorts of things about them,” she replied. “That they could be harmed by iron or steel, but only if they were corpor… solid.” She made a face. “And that if we stood inside a steel circle or kept the metal against our skin, that we’d be able to see through their glamour, because their magic couldn’t affect us. When she started getting angry, I took hold of my gun, and the illusion fell away, and I saw you standing in the snow talking not to a woman, but a monster.”

Sabine scrubbed a hand across her eyes as though to wipe away the memory, and I could understand why. If those glimpses I’d had of fangs and claws were real, I could only imagine what she’d looked like in her entirety.

As if on cue, a chilling howl filled the air. Then another. And another. Those lupine creatures that had flanked her throne, with fangs as long as my hand. I’d only seen the pair of them, but judging from the howls, there were more. We needed to get behind the castle walls.

I met Sabine’s terrified gaze. “Run.”





Chapter Eight





Cécile





Before we could take a step, three pony-sized wolves stepped out of the blizzard, blocking our path. Their white fur was misty and insubstantial, but their snarls were real enough.

“Back, back,” I hissed, dragging Sabine with me until we were up against an ironwork fence, her hands fumbling with the gun as she reloaded. Leveling the weapon, she fired at one of the creatures, but it passed through with no effect.

“What do we do?” she hissed.

I clenched my teeth, wishing I had an answer. The Queen knew Tristan and I were bonded and what that meant. If she’d wanted to kill him, I wouldn’t still be standing. She wanted to lure him out, which meant her monsters wouldn’t kill me. But there was nothing to stop them from slaughtering Sabine.