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The blood in my veins – cold as my power, though weaker than it once had been – filled my body and bones.

I hadn’t recognised Finstock from the air. I’d last seen it from the back of an iron cage, Duncan leading his Hunters before keeping us locked behind the fortress of grey stone. It belonged to Aldrick’s followers – until the Cedarfall army cleared them out.

“I thought it’d been emptied,” I said. “Cassial’s update on progress with the Hunters confirmed as much.”

That update cameweeksback. Then why had there been a convoy of carriages leaving in the dead of night?

“It wassupposedto be vacant.” Erix looked beyond the clearing of forest he’d landed amongst, toward the moving line of flame and cart. “But it would seem someone else has found use for the fort in the meantime.”

Throughout the day we’d seen fey and humans travelling toward the boundary of Wychwood in preparation for the wedding. It wasn’t an uncommon sight, but clearly this was different.

“Stay here,” Erix said, the slight points of his nails burying into the tree’s bark. “I will come back to you shortly.”

“No,” I said, reaching for his hand before he could pull away. “That isn’t happening. We go forward together, or not at all.”

Erix turned to me, silver eyes drinking me in from head to boot. “If those people are… If the Hunters are regrouping…” Erix inhaled deeply, pausing to control himself. “I can’t risk you being seen by them.”

“The Hunters would be foolish to regroup when the Nephilim and the fey are searching for them,” I added for him. “Do you really think they’d be stupid enough to reclaim Finstock since it was taken from them?”

“I do,” Erix replied, chilling me to the core.

“Then I’m coming with you. Have you forgotten that you are also fey, Erix? You are as much under threat as I am. Plus, I have this.” Ice crackled around my fingers. The sensation was stunted, odd. But the magic was there – weaker than before, but still useable.

Erix’s eyes widened, his mouth parting in clear surprise. “It brings me comfort to know that you haven’t lost all your power.”

It was a well-kept secret, but then again, I hadn’t really had the chance to show Erix what I was capable of. “When the key was destroyed, it took a lot of it. But the magic I had in my veins before I accepted the Icethorn key is still here. Not as powerful, no grand feats to display, but it is enough.”

Erix relaxed as if he understood that I was not the powerless little bird he thought I was. “Good, we may need it.”

“Hopefully not.”

I expected Erix to refuse me again, but instead, he reached for a blade at his waist and handed it to me. This wasn’t the first time he’d handed me a dagger, although the last one had been lost months ago. “Magic or not, I would feel better knowing you have steel with you too. I’m sure it’s nothing, but we can’t leave without checking.”

I gritted my teeth, almost excited about the chance of facing Hunters again. “For their sake, let’s hope that your suspicions are wrong.”

The muscles in Erix’s jaw feathered. He looked skyward, noticing the sudden gathering of clouds. When he glanced back to me, it was with a look of pride in his eyes.

I shrugged as I continued to release my power into the sky, bringing winter out of Icethorn and into Durmain. “A little cover will help us get into Finstock unnoticed. I think I can manage that…”

“You truly are brilliant, Robin.”

“Back to first names, are we?” I asked, wishing I didn’t but being unable to stop the words from leaving my lips. Lips that Erix hadn’t stopped studying.

“My apologies,” Erix bowed. “Little bird, you are a marvel. Better?”

It was.

I bit down on my lips at his praise. There were so many memories in Finstock. It was where Duncan and I had properly connected. It was where Erix had hunted me down, following Doran Oakstorm’s commands. In the little time since, so much had changed.Toomuch.

I stepped into Erix, who wrapped his arms around me from behind this time. He didn’t tie the harness back, knowing our flight was only going to be short. Facing outwards so that I had a view of Finstock, instead of burying my face in his chest like before. My stomach flipped as he got us back into the sky. With one hand on the dagger he’d gifted me, the other swirling the gathering clouds like dough in a bowl, we flew into the heart of the fortress, landing on the upper wall.

What we discovered upon arrival was Finstock was, in fact, empty. At least of humans. Although my mind pieced together something we’d seen earlier, and it seemed that the line of wagons we’d noticed had left Finstock. Fresh track marks outside the gate suggested as much.

“They’ve all gone,” I said, looking into the empty courtyard. I searched for signs that they had been Hunters. “The timing is almost too perfect.”

“Hmm,” Erix grumbled, gesturing us to walk further into the heart of the fort. “Only one way to confirm that theory.”

There were no banners with the outline of a hand painted upon material, or old iron cages left behind. In fact, there was nothing incriminating about Finstock, besides the memories that haunted the dark stone walls. Only the old hints of a battle – charred stone, broken windows and a scarred smudge of black against the ground where the Cedarfall army had burned the bodies of the dead.