Chapter Twenty-Three

 

 

 

 

Nothing could prepare Shade for the magnitude of things to be done in the court. Not only did Nyol keep her busy with agendas that needed to be approved or altered, she struggled to obtain any kind of downtime by herself to relax and hang out with her family or Dylan. It was exhausting but necessary, especially with the threat of Aveta’s vast army near the borders of the Southern Realm.

She’d changed the scorching weather to more temperate summer heat, which suited her fine. She’d never been a fan of winter, which she found funny now that the weather would always be warm. But just outside the gates of the castle, the weather would not change at her command. The flurries fell increasingly around the perimeter of the gates, and Shade watched them from the balcony of her suite. All of Faerie was becoming colder. Temperatures had dropped all across the land, and winter seemed to be expanding its reach. She’d demanded to know from Corb if he had done this. He’d gritted his teeth at her demands, but continued to deny it.

“It’s Aveta, you know that as well as I. As she continues to break the wards on the boundaries of Faerie, the weather will turn colder until there is nothing but the season of death in all the land.”

“You can stop it, though. Isn’t it your season?” Shade paced in front of the Winter Ancient, frustrated by the lack of straight answers.

“Yes and no.”

“So why can’t you control its spread?”

He narrowed his eyes, smirking at her agitation. “I’m bound to you. My control over the winter is severed right now. The longer I’m bound to you, the more the Unseelie can use it against the other Fey, especially if the wards are breaking; there will be no boundaries between realms. It’s no longer in my power to send it back to the Northern Realm.” He turned away and crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall of his chamber. He was confined to this section of the palace, unable to explore it at his will. She didn’t trust him at all, even though he appeared to be stripped of his powers by the binding metal bracelet on his wrist. His flesh never healed around it, leaving it to remain an unsavory, angry red with puckering and swelling underneath it.

“Does it hurt much?” Shade asked. She knew it did, she just had to hear it from his lips for some reason.

He held out his wrist, turning it side to side as he studied the metal. “Indeed it does, Your Highness. Indeed it does.”

“Why doesn’t it heal?”

He walked toward her, grasping her arm and pressing it against the shiny metal. It didn’t hurt, but she could feel his pain through the connection of their skin.

“It is laced with iron. I’m not immune to its debilitating powers. You’re lucky your human taint allows you peace from its toxicity. Otherwise you’d be in unbearable pain right now, enough to drive you mad.” With that he abruptly let her go, wandering over to the large opened glass doors that opened onto a veranda. He leaned his head back against the stone siding, letting the setting sun reflect in his icy blue eyes.

Shade hadn’t gotten used to his more human appearance yet. How was it affecting him? Did he feel more human or just powerless? Either way, there was no way he could roam free now. He was just too dangerous to allow such freedoms, especially with Aveta’s army closing in.

Shade joined him on the veranda, taking in the beauty of the sunset as it soaked the world in colors of gold and tangerine. “Aveta’s coming. The Summer Court has prepared legions for her attack. Do you think she can beat us? Do you think she’ll try to free you?”

“Evil is subjective. All I can tell you is that she’s not alone, and you’ll need the help of another Ancient to win. Otherwise, you will fail.” He turned toward her, taking in her face as he waited. “And she probably won’t try to save me. I’m useless to her now.” His light blue eyes drilled themselves into her, making her shift uncomfortably.

“Another Ancient? You mean Kilara.”

He nodded. His eagerness to broach the subject of the sleeping Summer Queen was obvious, especially with the way he seemed to perk up at the mention of her.

“You’d want me to wake her, even if it wasn’t for help with this. You’d do anything to have me wake her, so you can have her back.” Shade threw her own challenging stare back at him. She wasn’t so naïve anymore, she knew just what it was he wanted from all this. If he thought he could make her out as a fool, he was sorely mistaken. “I won’t do what you ask. I never will.”

Hatred burned in his eyes, and she could tell he wanted to reach out and strangle her. Stepping away just enough so he would know that she was aware of his feelings, he wrangled them in just as fast. Turning his searing glare toward the sun, his jaw tightened as he remained silent. Shade could feel his anger burn away, and an unnerving calm overtook the air around them.

Finally, he turned back, his face blank of all emotion as he spoke. “You will find one day that you will have to wake her, no matter how well you have things thought out. You will need her at your side, with or without me.” He pressed his lips tightly together and spun to leave her alone on the veranda. He was done speaking for now, and she knew his desires better than anyone else. After leaving his chambers and not giving him another glance, she sighed with relief. He was increasingly shutting down and speaking to her less and less, but there was not much she could do about it. Not until Kilara awakened.

A knot of dread sat in her stomach as she pondered his words. He was right about needing to awaken Kilara, she knew it down to her marrow. Lana’s voice in her head assured her that the time would come when the Summer Ancient shall be awoken, but not yet. She would know when, and when that time came, all hell will have broken loose and there would be no other choice.

Shade hoped it wouldn’t be too soon. She needed a moment to breathe. Even if it’s just for a short while. Her soul needed to heal from everything which had happened in such a short amount of time. Scars needed to mend, and the love she felt for Dylan waited for a time when it could flourish. Couldn’t it be now? Couldn’t the war wait just for a while longer?

As she joined her family for dinner, she realized that there was nothing as precious and fragile as time. She was going to cherish each moment, for the future looked bleak, and the winter continued to consume the land. She’d find a way to stop it. She had to.