She frowned, tapping one long finger nail against her chin. “That was far too easy. I take back what I said. You’re actually quite pathetic. This is going to be over in a second.”
I didn’t struggle, sure in my ability to break her magic. But I wouldn’t until she moved closer, because no doubt she thought she had won and was going to come over and gloat before she killed me. The ice had reached my pelvis now and was still rising. And sure enough, she was striding toward me. I continued feigning defeat, letting her come closer and closer.
When she was inches from me, she peered down. “Your lineage failed you, child. You’re nothing but a—”
Blocking out her hatred, I reached for the energy that made me unique in this world. Fae and shifter. Dark and light. I let it surge from me in a strong, uninterrupted stream. Dark purple sparkles filled the air and the ice spell around me dissolved in an instant. I lunged forward, my wolf howling in my chest before my voice lifted and I added my own howls to the wolf’s.
I wrapped my hands around her throat, the magic pouring from me so strong that it pushed us forward. The winter queen’s head cracked hard against a nearby dried-out tree stump. She let out a low groan, but I didn’t remove my hands from her throat. Instead I squeezed harder.
Her face was turning a shade of purple; she struggled and clawed at me. But I had shifter and fae strength. I would not be defeated again.
I felt the weakness sliding through my center, my body starting to run out of reserves of energy. Adrenalin had hidden most of my pain and injuries, the strength of my power helping me focus, but suddenly the dull ache in my leg from the ercho gash was no longer just a mild throb. The pain began stabbing at me, and my arms trembled.
Something snapped in my leg and I keeled over, losing my grip on the queen. White hot agony ripped through my leg, and I realized my shin bone had just broken … on its own. I let out a blood-curdling scream as more pain took me over. Was this the ercho venom?
Was it actually eating my bones?
“Die!” The winter queen interrupted my anguish by unleashing a flurry of wind magic that picked me up like a tornado and whipped me into the air.
I couldn’t think straight, I couldn’t fight back.
I’d felt a lot of pain in my life as an heir, and then a queen, but nothing compared to having my bones splinter and shatter inside of me. As the wind swirled me higher into the air, I reached down and ran a hand along my shin, assessing the damage. Bile rose in my throat at the pain as I could feel at least two inches missing from my tibia bone, and that gap appeared to be growing. Just as I feared, the venom was eating my skeleton.
Finn… I couldn’t think properly with the pain and nausea from being inside of a spinning, frozen tornado.
Ari!
Dark Injury. Ercho. Eating my bones. Need … Violet. I was losing my grip on reality, seconds from unconsciousness.
The tornado stopped then, and I was falling. I used the last of my consciousness and energy to cushion my fall, landing in a thick bed of snow in a remote part of the woods. From this vantage point, flat on my back, snow and cold seeping into my clothes and body, I couldn’t see Isalinda anymore.
I must have blacked out for a few seconds, only coming to when Finn’s voice blasted in my head. Ari! Violet says the mecca powder can do almost anything.
I didn’t waste energy on a reply. Gathering together every ounce of discipline and strength, I forced my hand to move, forced it to retrieve the vial. I popped the cap off just as I caught sight of the winter queen stalking towards me, ready to finish me off.
What had Rowan said? The mecca powder needed only direction and it could do anything?
Heal me, please, I begged of the small powerful glass of purple dust as my magic wrapped around the vial. I tipped my head back, taking a mouthful of the powder onto my tongue.
I had no idea if I should have made a paste of it and put it right on the wound, but from my current position I really couldn’t do much except swallow it.
A low chuckle caught my attention, cold and hard, and filled with a malicious kind of enjoyment. The winter queen was looking down on me, her delight clear in her turned-up lips and shiny eyes. I chucked the empty vial to the side, hoping the stuff worked quickly. Otherwise, I could see my death on Isalinda’s face, and I wasn’t ready to go out yet. I still had too much to do.
A warm tingle spread out through my tongue. I let the powder sit there for a few moments, not swallowing or spitting it out for fear of something going wrong. A little energy filtered into my veins, just enough so that I could roll over to get away from the queen.
Another few moments and the sharp stabbing pains decreased enough that I could struggle to stand, using my one good leg and a shriveled tree for balance. Isalinda watched me, not attacking, enjoying my pain.
Finally she had to brag: “You really thought you could waltz in here and defeat me, Arianna?” Her voice was low, laced with all the fury one would expect of a winter storm. I could see small flurries stirring up behind her.
I searched deep for something to defend myself with, but I was still half dead, spent of energy, and fighting the ercho venom. The purple mecca was working slowly, no doubt struggling against the poison.
Arianna, friend of trees…
If I hadn’t been so out of it, I would have jumped as the tree spoke in my head.
Exhaustion made it easy for me to control my reaction, keeping my eyes half lidded and calm. The powder had completely dissolved on my tongue now, and a cool tingle was working its way into my leg.
“Kill or be killed. You left me no choice,” I told her, trying to keep her talking.
Can you help me? I asked the poor skeleton of a tree. I hadn’t thought to use the trees here, assuming they were tainted by the darkness of this land. They all looked dead. Almost like that inverted tree on the cover of the dark book with its sliver of stone. Maybe that’s what it had represented. Death. To everything living.
I was distracted by the winter queen’s broad grin. It was a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, her face awash in shadows.
“Oh, Arianna, can I just say that you took longer than we thought to come to us. I figured once we sent those stupid wolves to you with fae blades, you’d assume we were planning on assassinating you, and then you’d storm right over here to stop us. You were slow. I should have anticipated that, but eventually you did as we wanted. You played right into our hands.”
I stared up at her in disbelief. She had been waiting for us to come across?
She kept smirking at me, and I was starting to feel like an idiot, then she tilted her head in a certain way and her familiar profile reminded me of something. The tilt of her chin. Almond shape of her eyes. They were like mine. And Luc…
“Where’s your son?” The words croaked out of me as fear locked me in its grip.