Crown of Ice (29 page)

“Back where it belongs.” I lean into Kai and give him a knowing smile.

“Ah …” Kai’s eyes follow the progress of the mirror as the birds lift it from the table and swiftly maneuver it toward the double doors. “To the cave where Voss discovered it.”

“Yes, where it will rest, safe from anyone who wants to wield its wild magic.”

I watch the flock of birds and the swaddled mirror disappear into the hall.

“Protected by Holger, of course.” Kai strokes my shoulder gently. “I’m glad he lived.”

“So am I,” I reply fervently. Kai raises his eyebrows, but I shake my head. “Someday I’ll tell you why. But not today.”

“You’ve given it all up.” Gerda steps away from Kai to face me. “Every bit of magic. I didn’t expect that, Thyra.”

“Nor did I expect you to save me, Gerda.” I extend my hand. “Thank you, by the way. I don’t think I thanked you properly last night.”

Gerda takes my hand and gives it a firm shake before releasing it. “I did it for Kai as much as for you. But …” Her eyes shrewdly assess me. “You’re not so bad, all in all. Kai could do worse.”

“Now, wait a minute.” Kai steps between us. “What exactly are you two plotting?”

“Your life, of course.” Gerda flashes him a cheeky grin. “But before we can settle all that we must leave this dreadful place. Thyra, you said we could travel to the village today?”

“Yes, of course. Go and pack your things and dress for the weather. Bundle up—I can’t protect you from the cold anymore.” I motion for both Gerda and Kai to leave the room.

Gerda bobs me a swift curtsey. “Yes, your grace.” Her tone is merry enough to lighten her mockery. She leaves the room with one backward glance at Kai.

“You’re coming with us?” Kai takes hold of my shoulders and turns me about.

“Of course. There’s nothing for me here. This place…” I wave my hand. “Will fall in upon itself over time. Soon no one will find anything here but empty caverns and great piles of ice.”

“Good.” Kai pulls me close and kisses me.

This time it’s me that pulls away. “Go and get ready to travel,” I say, infusing my words with a trace of my old haughtiness. “Meet me in the stables in half an hour.”

Kai executes a sketchy bow. “Always at your command.” His grin belies his words.

“I only wish that were true. Go now.” I push him out the doors and into the hall. Standing in the dark corridor we share one glance before we both take off, racing each other to our respective rooms.

***

Luki returns from his run just as I finish harnessing Bae to Voss’s sleigh. The wolf gazes expectantly at me. “Jump on in,” I tell him as I walk around to the reindeer’s head. “You’re coming too.” He leaps into the back of the sleigh, tail swishing.

“And you,” I say to Bae. “What do you desire, my friend? I know you mean to carry us to the village, but after that, what’s your wish?”

Bae’s glossy eyes regard me with great solemnity. “I’d like to stay with the little miss, if I may.” He bobs his head and I turn to see Gerda and Kai approaching.

“You don’t want your freedom? Because I believe I can still grant you that.” I stare into those wise eyes, trying to read his true feelings.

“No. Others can lead the reindeer of these lands.” Bae lifts his head and stares toward the mountains.

I follow his gaze. A large reindeer stands upon a ridge not far from the paddock, its ghostly silhouette melting into the snowy landscape. Voss’s white stag.

“Bae, you’ll stay with me?” Gerda rushes forward to stroke the reindeer’s grizzled muzzle.

“Yes, little miss. I assume a mill owner could always use another reindeer. I am old,” Bae says, gently blowing his warm breath into Gerda’s cupped hands, “but there is strength in me yet.”

Gerda leans forward to kiss Bae on the nose before she hurries around the sleigh and climbs in the back, beside Luki.

“No, no.” I walk into the stables, where Freya waits, already saddled and bridled. The few items I own are bundled in my saddlebags. The bags only bulge where I packed the illuminated manuscript I stole from Voss’s rooms. I know I do not require the book, but such beauty should not be left to rot. “Sit up front, Gerda. And Kai, you must drive. I’m going to ride Freya—I think she retains enough magic to fly beside you, at least until we cross out of this kingdom.” I pat the mare’s sleek neck. “I can’t just leave her here.”

“No, of course not.” Kai gives me a sharp look as he climbs into the sleigh. “So we should land outside the village?”

“Yes, and dispose of Voss’s sleigh. I don’t want anyone to use it after today.” I mount quickly and direct Freya to move alongside the sleigh. “We’ll have to walk the last little way.”

“Or run,” says Gerda, as she settles beside Kai. “I may want to run all the way home.”

“So may I.” Kai glances at me. “We can have a race.”

I turn my gaze away. “We’ll talk again when we reach the village.” Digging my heels into Freya’s flanks, I send her on one final flight.

***

We land behind the mill, and after unhitching Bae, Gerda and Kai help me destroy Voss’s sleigh. We dig in our heels and push it toward the water. The force of our combined shove glides the sleigh to the center of the lake. It sits there for only a moment before the thin ice cracks and plunges the dark form into deep water. Kai tosses the harness so that it skids and drops into the black hole just as the sleigh disappears from sight.

“Now we walk,” says Kai, wiping his hands on his breeches.

“You do.” I dismount but stay close to Freya, gripping her bridle.

Kai turns to me, his dark eyes clouding over. “What do you mean?”

Before I can reply Gerda steps forward and gives me a quick hug. “I hope we can be friends, but you must allow me some time. I’ve loved Kai for so long it will take a while to change my way of thinking.”

I clasp her hands. “I’ve no doubt there’ll be many young men vying for your love now that you aren’t spoken for.”

“Indeed,” says Kai with a grin. “They’ve been circling about for a while. She just never paid any attention.”

“And you can still love Kai, if only as a sister.” I touch Gerda on the arm, willing her to look into my eyes. “He’ll need a good friend.”

Gerda glances from my face to Freya and the saddlebags. Her blue eyes widen with comprehension. “I’ll walk on ahead,” she says as she turns away. “Come, Bae. Our home awaits.”

Kai watches Gerda and the reindeer disappear beyond a bend in the path before he takes me in his arms.

I attempt to wriggle free from his embrace. “Follow them, Kai. Freya and Luki and I must take another path.”

“Whatever are you talking about, Thyra? You’re fully human now. You can come back to the village with me …”

“And do what?” I regard his anxious face calmly. “Sit in a little cottage while you trot off to the university? Take up some trade or perhaps help Gerda at the mill? No, I don’t think so.”

“But we would be together.” Kai presses his forehead against mine. “I love you, Thyra.”

“And I love you.” I tilt my head back. “But you have much to learn, and so do I. You need to go to the university by yourself, not with some wife or sweetheart dragging at your coattails. And I must find my own education.” I yank off one glove and stroke the side of his face with my bare fingers. “Kai, you know they won’t allow me to attend classes with you or receive any training at your university.”

“I could teach you.” Kai grabs my hand and presses it to his chest. “Every night. I could teach you what I’ve learned that day.”

“No.” I curl my fingers tightly about his hand. “I won’t be your pupil, Kai. I must be able to meet you, mind to mind as well as heart to heart.” I release my grip and step back. “So I’ve decided to travel, to use the world as my university. Don’t you see? I want to go to those far-off lands I’ve only heard about, to learn new languages and customs, to perhaps find a place where someone will agree to teach me. A university that allows women a chance to learn as much as men. I don’t know if that exists, but if it does, I must search until I find it.”

Kai stands in silence, examining me with his brilliant, beautiful eyes. I can see the genius that lies behind them, the fine mind working, puzzling out this problem, arriving at a solution.

“Very well.” He sighs deeply. “But you must write. You must write me, Thyra, from every place you travel.”

“I will.” I move toward him, walking into his open arms.

“You’ll know where to send the letters. I’ll be in the village until the fall …”

“And then at the university. Yes, I know.” I kiss his lips before I speak again. “And you must write back to the addresses I send you.”

“Only if you promise you won’t move from each place until you receive at least one letter from me.” Kai takes hold of my hands and steps back, looking me over as if to memorize every inch of my face and form. “I intend to include some very difficult equations with my letters,” he says with a smile. “We’ll see if you can solve them.”

“Hah, let’s see if you can conquer the challenges I send to you.” I bow my head for a moment. “I should go now, Kai. The longer we linger, the harder it becomes.”

“A valid conclusion, as always.” Kai clutches me to his chest and buries his face in my hair. “Don’t forget me.”

“It’s not logical that I would,” I reply before he leans in for one last kiss.

This kiss almost shatters my resolve. When we break apart I turn on my heel and stride to Freya, swinging myself up into the saddle before I can speak, or think, again.

“I won’t say farewell, Kai.” I tap my heels against the mare’s flanks. “It’s not as final as all that.”

“You bet it’s not,” Kai calls after me. “I’ll be seeing you again, Thyra Winther, if I have to track you to the ends of the earth.”

I don’t turn around. There’s no sense in that. I ride on, dashing away tears with one hand. Luki trots before me, glancing back every now and again to make certain I’m following his lead.

The village lies far behind me by the time I slow Freya to a walk. I rub my bleary eyes and see that we have traveled to a place where a thaw has already touched the land. The trees lining the dirt road are covered in swollen buds, ready to burst into green. As I look around a flash of color catches my eye.

Dismounting, I cross to the bright splash of purple that lies nestled amid the melting snow. I bend down and touch one finger to the velvety petals. A single crocus blooms, heralding spring.

Luki barks, making me lift my head. When I follow his gaze I spy a tall, slender figure standing by a nearby oak tree. Wrapped in a spring-green cloak, her auburn hair loose, Sephia smiles as I approach her.

“Thyra Winther,” she says. “I thought I might meet you on the road.”

I rise to my feet and order Luki to sit by Freya. “You helped me more than I knew, didn’t you?” I stride closer to the enchantress.

“I did. For my sake as well as yours. I knew you’d choose the right path in the end.” Sephia’s emerald eyes survey me with interest. “So you tossed aside the mantle of the Snow Queen. Did power not entice you?”

I rub my hands together. Now that I can feel the cold, really feel it, I long for warmer skies. “I want to travel, to learn. I couldn’t do that and remain Queen.”

“A wise choice.”

I look her over, noting the embroidery that decorates her cloak—tendrils of vines and brilliant flowers. “Why did you help me, truly? I never gave you reason.”

Sephia’s smile blooms like a rose. “I sensed the seed within you, buried beneath the snow. I knew someday, given the right conditions, it would grow and flower.”

I duck my head, ashamed of my memories. I never saw her clearly in the past. “The mirror’s safe, at least for now. Holger guards it.”

“Ah, Holger.” A wistful expression flits over Sephia’s face. “Yes, he will guard it well.”

She stares over my shoulder, down the road that I’ve already traveled. “But you left him? Your friend, I mean. I did not think you would abandon Kai Thorsen so readily.”

I lift my head and meet her steady gaze. “I haven’t abandoned him. We’ve promised to stay in touch, to write often.”

“And you plan to return?” Sephia reaches out and lays her soft hand on my arm.

As I’ve traveled farther from Kai, my thoughts have chased themselves in circles over this topic, always settling in the same place. “When I can teach Kai as much as he can teach me. When we can work together again, as equals. I must seek out my own education if I hope to achieve that.”

Sephia tightens her fingers on my arm. “Ah, I understand. You wait for a sign.”

“Yes. One day, when he writes to tell me that he’s done with his studies and is teaching students of his own—be they children or university scholars—I will return. I’ll enter his classroom and ask him one question. His answer will determine my future from that point forward.”

Sephia’s grip loosens as her gentle smile envelopes me. “He will answer the same then as he would today. You have much to learn, Thyra.”

I straighten and lift my chin. “I know.”

“I trust you will. Perhaps more than I can imagine. So you travel far?”

“As far as Freya can take me,” I reply, gesturing toward the mare.

Sephia’s green eyes grow clouded. “It may be dangerous, traveling alone.”

“I’m not alone.” I whistle and Luki bounds toward us. “Few people will tangle with a girl protected by a wolf.”

“You have a point,” says Sephia, giving Luki an approving glance. “Now I have something for you, Thyra Winther. My final gift.” She whips off her cloak and holds it out to me.

“What is this?”

“Give me your furs. They will not serve you well in warmer climes. Trade them for my cloak.” Sephia strokes the soft wool with one graceful hand. “It will keep you warm, despite its lightness. Or cool, if that is your desire. And it can keep you dry when storms assail you.”

I shrug my heavy cloak from my shoulders and pass it to Sephia, taking her woolen garment in return. She’s right—it’s light as milkweed floss. As I pull the cloak about me I feel warmed as if by a summer sun.

Sephia surveys me with a smile. “Green suits you.” She tosses my furs over one arm. “I may need this. I would like to visit an old friend.”