All this time, I was taught that the city and castle itself were swallowed up by the magical void, but as I stare at the decrepit form still standing, I realize that wasn’t true. Seventh Kingdom was broken and destroyed, yet it’s still here. Like a skeleton partially preserved.
Pruinn pulls us onward, toward the monolithic bones of what once was a pristine palace. When we’re so close I can actually see the scrape of stonework, raw and chipping on the sides of its remains, I also see what lies beyond.
My eyes were playing tricks on me before, because it isn’t just more flat, frozen ground stretching far beyond it.
I thought I saw giant fissures as we traveled here, but all of those combined are nothing compared to this. This isn’t just a cracked crevice left mangled in the earth. No, the land just beyond where the castle sits is gone.
As if a huge chunk of the flattened earth has simply been torn like a piece of paper and tossed away. Roiling clouds of colorless mist drag against the craggy lip of the land, and beyond, there’s nothing. Below, there’s nothing.
The hair on the back of my neck lifts, and I have the sudden and intense feeling I’m being watched. I glance all around us, but I don’t see a single speck stretched along the white snow. Perhaps it’s the magic that’s stalking me, like it knows life has dared to breach the void.
With that eerie sensation I can’t quite shrug off, Pruinn brings us right up to the very front of the ruins. The structure has been fossilized in the freeze, preserving the abraded stone. I can’t make out where any windows or balconies may have once existed, but the general shape of a hacked off rooftop and reaching walls still remain.
Pruinn jumps off the driver’s bench of the cart and comes around, holding a hand up to help me get out. “This is where your map ends, Your Majesty,” he tells me, just as a grin widens over his face. “So let’s go find your heart’s desire.”
Somehow, Pruinn managed to find an opening so we could actually go inside the remains of the castle. It’s now nothing more than a shadowed cavern, collapsed in some places, the rubble frozen stiff.
It’s awful—like walking inside the chest of some giant beast long-since perished. Mist swirls around in here too, so the only real difference from outside to inside is the way our steps echo ominously. As I walk around, that tingling sensation happens again—the one that feels as if I’m being observed. As if the castle itself is watching me, finding me lacking.
Well, I find it lacking too.
“I hate to disappoint you, Sir Pruinn, but this is definitely not my heart’s desire.”
We stop just inside the middle of what I’m guessing used to be a grand entry hall, the ceiling at least thirty feet up, now covered in ash-colored frost.
Turning around to look at him, I clasp my hands in front of me. I’m travel weary, filthier than I’ve ever been in my life, and now all I have to look forward to is...the journey back.
“I don’t know what I was thinking, letting you bring me here,” I say, my tone gone as brittle as the ice chips beneath my feet. “I hope you’re happy. You’ve just proved how much of a fraud you truly are, and now we’re at the end of the world for no reason.”
My anger runs frigid and cold.
“This isn’t my heart’s desire,” I say again, spinning around to gesture to the ruins. “Why did you bring me here? This is a shattered and severed land that has no hope of ever becoming what it once was.”
Just as I have no hope of ever becoming what I once was.
A throat clears behind me, making me go rigid. “Actually, Your Majesty, that’s where you’re wrong.”
I whirl around at the new voice, eyes flaring wide at the two men standing before me.
The first thing that stands out to me is how thoroughly ill-fitting they are in this forsaken detritus, because both of them are impeccably dressed. As if they aren’t in the middle of ruins but ready to step into some sort of royal celebration.
The second thing I notice is the men are nearly identical. A thick curtain of hair down to their shoulders, the same height, even the same stance. The only difference I can pick out between them is they each have moles dead center in the middle of their cheeks, yet on opposite sides of their faces.
“Who are you?” I ask, taking a startled step back. That sensation of being watched comes back full force, making the mist in the air seem denser as it curls near my side.
“I am Friano, and this is my twin brother, Fassa,” the man on the left says, the corresponding mole on his left cheek. “We are pleased to make your acquaintance, Queen Malina Colier.”
I glance warily at Pruinn, but he’s simply watching me with an encouraging look I wish I could slap right off his face.
“How do you know who I am, and what are you doing here?”
Friano grins, showing a row of perfectly even teeth. “You are the queen of Sixth Kingdom. Of course we know who you are. Tales of the beauty of the Cold Queen have stretched even here.”
My brows lift in surprise. “Are you saying that you live here?”
They both nod in unison, and this time, Fassa answers. “We do, Your Majesty.”
“How is that possible? No one can live here. This place is utterly desolate.”
“Ah, yes,” Fassa replies brightly. “Brother, if you could...?”
“Of course.” With a nod, Friano lifts a finger in the air and spins it around, and like a wave rippling through our surroundings, the castle transforms.
Within moments, gone are the ruins, and in its place is Seventh Kingdom’s castle restored. Slick gray walls, dazzling blue windows, and black marble that’s whole and polished beneath our feet. What was the stripped off bones of a cavern is now a revived and elegant entry hall.
It’s like a timepiece turned backwards, reversing all the damage that had been done and returning this place to its rightful glory.
All I can do is gape as I try to take it all in, my mind not quite believing my eyes. “How...?”
“We have been waiting for you, Your Majesty.”
I rear back, looking between the two of them before my gaze hooks into Pruinn. “Did you know they were here? That this would happen?”
“I knew that we would find something,” he says before tapping on the pocket of his coat where I can see a hint of the rolled-up map. “I always trust my magic.”
Bewildered, I look back at the twins. My hands automatically run down my wrinkled, stained dress. They’re standing here looking fresh, while I’m begrimed and sloppy, my normally perfect hair a tangled twist at the back of my head. “Why were you waiting for me?”
They share a look, matching grins gathering on their faces. “Because we have prayed to the gods for a rightful heir of Orea to help us restore Seventh Kingdom to glory, and they brought us you.”
My mind snags on his words, a jolt of hope burgeoning from my weary limbs. “What are you talking about?”
Fassa comes forward and gently takes hold of my palm, like a noble would just before kissing it for good graces. He doesn’t raise my hand to his mouth though, and instead holds it, his own hands feeling far too warm.
Or perhaps I’m far too cold.
“You are the answer to our prayers, Your Majesty. You are the queen this land needs. You coming here proves it.”
“Proves what?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asks, his dark eyes sparkling with hope. “You’re going to be the queen who saves Seventh Kingdom.”
CHAPTER 32
AUREN
“It looks very good, my lady.”
Hojat gives me a cursory tap on my shoulder, letting me know I can sit up, since he already buttoned up the borrowed shirt along my spine.
“How much longer do you think I need to have the salves put on me?” I ask as I sit up, feeling only slight discomfort pull at my back.
“Not much longer, I think. You are healing quite fast.”
“On the outside, maybe,” I mutter. “Thank you, Hojat.”