Page 60

Chapter 60

Thevin

Baron Karus was easy to spot. I counted at least a dozen Runners with her, dressed all in black and failing to blend in with the white landscape that should have been Blight covering the land. The rest of the party, around a dozen more, I could not identify except for the glowing hands of the King .

He trudged through the four feet of snow behind her and together they left a wake for the others to follow.

“ We have to get down there,” Sae said with chattering teeth.

I truly did not want to.

I had spent the last hour in a panic—no magic, no blankets, no way to tell if Sae would wake, no way to heal her wound that had spilled her blood all over this cursed snow.

If I’d been given the power of Felgren , we’d be gone by now, for I would have waved my arms every which way in an attempt to create a portal to lead us back home.

If I’d been given the chance to change our future with magic, I’d have wrapped her in a spell of warmth instead of holding her as close to my own body as I could, begging whatever forces would listen to keep her warm enough and keep her alive in this desolate, broken wasteland.

Whatever or whomever it was who watched over us, my pleading through frozen tears had been answered. Boros had found his way to us and through his mass and heavy fur, he’d been able to keep the blue from her lips better than I could.

I took Sae’s hand at the top of the hill and helped her onto his back, jumping on behind her. I wrapped an arm around her stomach and bent us forward to shelter her from the bitter chill of this damned winter landscape. The Runners spotted us of course, silently signaling down the line at the black spot moving down the hill.

The Baron did not use her power to melt our way, and I suspected it was for the same reason I had advised Sae not to use hers. Baron Karus hesitated for only a moment as she pushed through the snow with her hands tucked under her arms. Her white hair had clumped into frozen crystals. She didn’t call out. She didn’t wave or gesture at seeing her daughter ride a lumen down the hill. Instead , she held Sae’s gaze, her typically black eyes turning a piercing green. Her teeth chattered, but she continued on toward the swirling blue that rose a few feet from the layers of snow.

We caught up to the back line of Runners and Wieldwryns .

“ What happened?” I asked Aeytah , noticing the long scratches down her ripped medicus skirts.

“ They were o-on us so fast,” she said through her teeth. “ Before we realized…half the f-forces fell into the Blightress’s black portal behind us. We didn’t find them.”

I hopped down from Boros and gestured to her torn skirts. “ May I ?”

She nodded, her entire body shaking. I ripped the top layer of her skirts, splattered in flecks of blood, and wrapped the fabric around her tightly as a makeshift cloak.

She stuttered her thanks and I continued my questioning. “ How did you end up here?”

“ The Baron called us to her portals. Sh - She could only make so many. She said if Saelyn was lost to the Blightress , our only hope would b-be to get to Baron Revich for help.” She pulled her improvised cloak tighter. “ Her portals landed us half a mile back.”

“ What happened to the Runners and Wieldwryns who didn’t make it into one of her portals?” Sae asked.

Aeytah shook her head solemnly.

“ Boros ,” Sae called, “get to my mother. Hurry .”

She tightened her legs on his back, and I reached out a hand to stop him. “ I’m coming, too.”

Sae called to her mother as we neared the front of the line.

She didn’t turn. She didn’t even look back, but King Philius did.

His eyes were a golden blaze of light—fury and desperation across his features. “ There’s no reasoning with her!” he called. “ She’s doing this with or without our help.”

Baron Karus reached the edge of the swirling blue dome, digging around her legs to see the ground. Sae urged Boros further before jumping off his back, forcing her way through the long line of people, frozen and huddled as closely together as they could manage for warmth. I followed, holding onto her belt as she made her way to her mother.

My future was in front of me, and I wasn’t letting go.