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“Fuck,” Adrian said under his breath, and when I looked at him, his jaw was clenched.

“Go,” I said. “We will be fine.”

“You cannot go alone,” he said fiercely, frustrated.

“I’ll go with the queen,” said Sorin quickly, and I wondered if he volunteered to avoid the horror Efram had left in his wake. “I’ll keep her safe. I’ll keep all of them safe.”

Adrian was quiet for a beat, and then a chorus of screams sounded in the night. My blood ran cold.

“Go!” I commanded him.

Adrian reached for me and kissed me hard before he and Daroc mounted their horses and raced from the courtyard with Killian in the lead.

Silence followed their departure. The screams that had chilled me to the bone had ceased, and now the only sound was the howling wind. I watched until the darkness swallowed them and then turned and mounted Reverie.

“Come, let’s go,” I said, my words short.

I was afraid to think too long on what Adrian, Killian, and Daroc were about to face. If I did, I wouldn’t want to go to the lake. This was something that would haunt them forever, and I hoped it meant that Solaris would hang.

“Violeta, ride with me,” I instructed.

Sorin and Ana mounted his horse, Meri, and we left the Red Palace, heading east, following a snow-covered trail that glistened beneath the moonlight. Sorin was in the lead, and though I had taken this path with Adrian only two days ago, it looked and felt so different in the night. Perhaps it was because of the cold, though. Violeta’s death grip around my waist did not help.

“Have you ever ridden a horse before?” I asked, hoping she might lessen her grip around me. It was the only thing I could focus on.

“No,” she said, her teeth chattering.

There came a point when we descended into a forested valley which blocked the biting wind, and for the first time since we began this journey, I felt like I didn’t have to brace myself against the cold, and relaxed, my fingers aching as I uncurled them from around Reverie’s reins. I wished Violeta had felt the same, but she maintained her grip on me until we stopped within view of Galat Lake.

It was not a large body of water, which made it ideal for our purposes, and while trees surrounded us, none covered the lake, and I could see the moon reflected in its surface.

“I used to love this place,” said Sorin.

“Used to?”

“We would swim here. Daroc, Adrian, our friends,” he said with a note of longing in his voice. “That was a long time ago.”

I tried to imagine that world for a moment, but there was no reason because it no longer existed.

“Violeta, you can dismount,” I said, needing her to slide off the horse so I could too. With some effort, she managed to get her feet on the ground and I followed.

Then we approached the lake, staring into the still water. Behind us, light flared, and I turned, finding that Sorin had lit a torch he had managed to stick into the ground.

“To keep warm,” he said when he saw us looking. “I’ll be in the trees, watching…not watching you all…standing guard, I mean.”

I tried not to smile. “It’s okay, Sorin. We know you like men.”

He scrubbed the back of his neck and then shifted, flying into the dark.

Ana, Violeta, and I each took a side and began removing our clothes. Behind me, Sorin’s torch still blazed, but I could feel none of the warmth as I slipped out of my cloak. The cold was brutal, and as I exposed each part of myself to the night, I felt even more dread at the coming ritual.

Once we were naked, we entered the water, stepping on sharp stones and slipping on slimy sand until we were waist-deep. I looked across to Ana, who did not seem to mind the cold. Her arms were at her sides, and her hair fell over her shoulders, covering her breasts. Violeta stood hunched, arms crossed over her chest.

“Ready?” Ana asked.

I was not sure but I nodded.

She closed her eyes and I followed, letting my arms rest on the water, palms facing up. I took a deep breath and allowed every part of my body to relax as I exhaled. I felt heavy and grounded and focused on nothing beyond me and the water touching my skin. I was surprised by how easy it had been to come to a place of peace within me so quickly, given how agonized I had felt up until this point, but that peace was quickly shattered by a familiar, vicious growl.