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Chapter Twenty-One

VARICK

I wasn’t sure where I was going after I left my chamber. I walked quickly, Laurent’s words pounding through my head. Anger was too mild a descriptor for the emotion that twisted my guts. It wound around my intestines and squeezed until my breath caught and my eyes watered.

He didn’t believe me. He never had. He’d met my father numerous times, had seen…everything. And he dismissed the Thicket like everyone else in Ter Isir.

He dismissed me. Not my elven blood. He was king, and he was privy to secrets the lowpeople and even the nobles weren’t aware of. But the forest was just a curiosity to him—something that had existed for so long people stopped caring how it came to be.

I understood the desire to accept. Life was busy and complicated enough without worrying children’s bedtime stories might be rooted in truth.

And Laurent had his own fears to contend with. He was losing the Deepnight. If it slipped away, Nor Doru would fall.

A whole year. He’d known about the Deepnight for an entire year. He’d talked to me every day without mentioning it. Kissed my lips and shared a table with me. Slept by my side.

He’d had multiple opportunities to confide in me. Instead, he’d offered up a half-truth, and that was just as bad as total deception. Worse even, because it was so fucking calculated. He’d known he couldn’t hide everything from me, so he’d given me just enough information to keep me placated while he courted his princess.

“You’re not indifferent to her.”

He was right, and it was another knot in the rope slowly tightening around my neck. I wasn’t indifferent to Given. It would have been a lot easier if I was. Because the attraction was treacherous. Its roots ran deep, and they were as dark as the Thicket Laurent liked to ignore.

Energy brushed my skin, stopping me cold. I’d walked to Given’s chamber without realizing it, and now magic spilled from it in a thick wave.

Too much magic. It seethed around me, sliding against my skin like it was tasting me and taking my measure. The air was thick with power. It knocked me back a step. I grunted as my shoulder blade hit the wall.

Not good.

I entered without knocking and almost landed on my ass. Power surged, buffeting me back and making my boots skid on the flagstones. The energy was so thick it was almost visible, undulating ribbons that lashed the air. The balcony doors were flung open, and Given was just visible through the haze. She faced the city, her hands clenched around the railing. Snow flew around her. Ice coated her hair and stood in drifts piled against the hem of her gown. Her body shook, but not from the cold. The tremor was unnatural and violent. The ends of her hair danced against her back.

With a growl, I lunged forward. But even with all my strength—all my years of drills and training—it was like swimming upstream in the middle of a gale. Magic hissed and shoved me back.

“Fuck you,” I muttered. I wasn’t here to play. Metaphysical battles were like any other. You could take down just about any opponent if you simply refused to stop swinging. As Laurent was so fond of saying, I was stubborn to a fault. I gritted my teeth and kept pushing—and then kept pushing and pushing until I reached Given’s side. I gripped the railing to keep from being beaten back by the magic. It crackled around her, strongest here because it came from her.

She stared unseeing at the lights of Lar Katerin. Tears were frozen on her face, and fresh ones flowed down the tracks. Her eyelashes were dusted with snow. The front of her gown was soaked. She was like a cold, beautiful statue.

“Given,” I said. I didn’t dare touch her. If I broke the link, she could die. I followed her gaze to the wall of the city…and beyond. “Where the fuck are you?” I breathed. She shouldn’t have been able to go this far. Not this time.

Assuming this was the first time.

I couldn’t call her back with my voice—at least not the one I used in this world. Gripping the railing, I spoke directly into her head. “Given! Listen to me. You have to return.”

Nothing. She gazed, unblinking, at the darkness past the wall. Her chest rose and fell, but just barely. The manic trembling continued. Her hands on the railing were blue, her knuckles an angry red.

“Princess Given, I command you to return! If you linger too long you’ll die.”

I held my breath. The wind screamed around me, pelting my skin with frozen needles.

Her lips twitched. She sucked in a breath.

Triumph surged in my veins. “Yes! Come to me. Follow my voice.”

Around me, the magic receded, a hesitant wave pulling back from a turbulent shore.

“Come on, Given. Follow me. Come to me and take my hand.” Throwing caution to the wind, I covered her icy knuckles with my palm. Her fingers curled around mine. I stared at our joined hands, my heart pumping wildly. “Almost there. I’ve got you.”

She turned her head, and I swore I heard ice crack. Wide, blue eyes rimmed with icy tears stared into mine. “Varick?” she croaked.

The magic vanished, its sudden absence so jarring, I fought back a gasp.