Spring Frost (13 page)

          “What’s going on?” Before I could slay Rose, Kian, Shasta and Rodney rushed in.

          “What are you doing?” Kian looked shocked.

          I rushed at Rose with my sword. No sooner had the metal collided with her frame than she seemed to erupt in flames – blue and orange – and vanish entirely.

          “Have you gone mad?” Immediately, Shasta and Rodney tackled me, pushing me against the wall and pinning me down.

          “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Rodney looked furious. “That was my sister!” He raised his sword and pointed at me. “She’s infected, too! Just like Alistair!”

          “Put that sword down,” cried Kian, “It’s the poison in Breena that’s done this – we need to cure her, not attack her.”

          “It’s not true!” I cried. “Listen, you have to believe me…that’s not Rose!”

          “It’s true!” Logan ran through the doorway. “It’s a phantom, an illusion…”

          “Do you all have such little faith?” I turned to my friends. “I took some of the potion – my mind is sound. But Rose, on the other hand…It looks like Clariss’ plan is only just beginning.”

Chapter 14

         
T
he others stared at me in confusion. Rodney’s eyes were wide with shock and anger: he was staring at me with an unblinking stare. Kian and Shasta too looked overwhelmed. “What just happened?” Shasta looked at me. “Did you just kill Rose?”

          “My friends,” I turned to them, my voice trembling. “As much as we thought that Alistair was simply under Clariss’ diabolical influence – I’m afraid to say that we were wrong.  He really was able to cure himself using that potion – and what he saw was real. Or at least, sort of real: it wasn’t Rose kissing Logan at all but a phantom. That girl you just saw was a Shadow sent by the Dark Sorceress to spy on you.”

          “I remember those shadows,” Logan said darkly. “When we were in that tavern…Rose and Alistair were there too…they’re powerful. They can take on whatever form your mind fears – or wants – the most.”

          “She used that trick on us once before,” I said. “Now she’s trying to fool us again.”

          Kian looked at me, his blue eyes blazing. “I’m so sorry, my darling,” he said. “I was harsh with you just now – I thought you’d gone mad…I didn’t trust you…” He walked over, placing his hand lightly on my shoulder. I tried not to wince with the pain of the chill.

          “But you thought…”

          Kian sighed. “Thought what?”

          “For a moment you started to think that I was just like Alistair – that the Dark Sorceress had been able to take over my mind, too.”

          Kian looked ashamed. “I don’t know what to think,” he said. “Alistair’s acting like his old self again: that much is true. Everything seems remarkably precise, just as he suggested that it would be. He’s building up a potion now that may be able to slow the progression of the Freeze both in you and in himself. And then you wouldn’t need to rely on Logan for warmth.” His voice grew slightly cold. “I still wasn’t convinced that Alistair was sane – but he seems to be getting better. Whatever that potion is, it’s working on him.”

          “Well, not totally,” Shasta chimed in with a small voice. “He’s still suffering from the other thing. Love.”

          “You know that there’s no potion for that, Shasta,” Kian sighed. “Alistair isn’t used to it – you and I and Rodney, all Fey who have fallen in love have suffered as a result of that temporary madness at one time or another. I only hope that Rose returns his affections so that perhaps his anger and jealousy can subside.”

          Logan nodded, an inscrutable expression upon his face.

          Rodney stepped forward, turning to me. “We have the knights watching Alistair just in case he’s still under the influence of the Dark Sorceress,” he said, “but now I think we should tell the guards to stand down. As you have said, Breena, Alistair was able to see that Rose wasn’t Rose…even when I couldn’t see it.” He stopped suddenly, catching his voice in his throat. “But if Rose isn’t Rose,” he said, his voice beginning to tremble, “then where is she?”

          “She’s alive!” I said quickly, and Rodney seemed to relax a little bit. “I mean, I think she is. The Shadow says that the Dark Sorceress has her where she wants her to be – whatever that means. It’s not great news, but it means she’s not dead. Whatever power Rose has – I’m guessing Clariss wants to harness it.”

          “The Dark Sorceress?” Rodney frowned. “That’s not good. That’s not good at all…”

          “What Rose did for me…in the woods…” Logan spoke up suddenly, looking a little bit embarrassed. After all, who could forget Rose’s lips against his, the beautiful white light that surrounded them both? “That was some pretty powerful magic right there. Magic that I thought only the Enchantress could perform. Reviving the dead. If Rose has the powers of the Enchantress, maybe the Sorceress has kidnapped her to harness it?”

          “I’ll call the knights,” said Kian brusquely. “We’ll send out a search party – search every corner of the kingdom until she’s found.”

          “Wait!” I turned to Kian. “I’m not sure if we’ll have any luck at all that way. Physically, I mean. Ever since she arrived, Clariss has been using magic to harm us, to hurt us, to play with our minds. What makes you think she hasn’t enchanted parts of Feyland itself to confuse us? We can’t just go charging in there without knowing what her plan is? We’ll just waste time – I’m sure of it!”

          “I think I know where Rose is!” The sound of a man’s voice made us all turn around. Alistair was standing before us, his sandy blonde hair falling loosely over his brow, his bright eyes smiling with a clarity that I had not seen in days. My suspicions had been confirmed: Alistair was cured.

          “How did you get past the knights?” Rodney looked a bit concerned. “I mean – I’m sorry about, you know, having them stand guard over you and everything, but…they were really there for your own good? In case you hurt someone else – or yourself.”

          “But you believe me now?”

          “We believe you now,” Rodney said. “We’ve seen Rose’s true form – she was a Shadow of the Dark Sorceress.”

          “I’m glad you believe me,” said Alistair. “Less glad for Rose. Listen to me  - the potion I made is working. I don’t feel that darkness in me any longer – I no longer feel the Sorceress’s presence within me. I feel…clear, somehow. Like I can think again. Like I’m free. As for those knights – I’m afraid Kian won’t want to call them up
just
yet. They’re under a sleeping spell that will probably keep them knocked out for another couple of hours. But don’t worry – they will be up tomorrow.”

          Kian and I exchanged glances. Crazy or not, Alistair’s power was certainly great: he would go far in our kingdom, we knew. I breathed a silent sigh of relief. Now that Alistair was cured, I no longer felt guilty about refusing Clariss’ demands. Plus, if the potion worked on him, there was a good chance it would work on me, too.

          “Alistair,” I said. “Our first priority is to find Rose. Take me to the Sorceress’ Book – I think it might lead us to some answers. We have to find out where Rose is, and if our magic won’t help us, we’ll have to use some other means.”

          “Come with me,” Alistair bowed low.   

          “I’ll go with you!” Kian stepped forward, standing next to me.

          I turned to him. He looked so kind, so chivalrous, standing there with his blazing blue eyes and his dark hair. I wanted him near me. But I knew that he would never understand Clariss – never know her as I did. I had known her for years, suffered at her hands for years: I couldn’t risk dragging Kian into another fight with her, risk losing him as I had almost lost Logan and Alistair. And I couldn’t risk letting Kian see what happened if I lost the fight.

          “No, Kian,” I said. The moment I spoke I felt that what I was saying was true – I felt a sudden wave of power pulsing through my body. “I feel…this feels like something I have to do alone. I think it was meant for me alone to find.”

          Kian drew me in for a kiss, and I braced myself for the agony of the freeze. But somehow his kiss was less bitter than before. I felt a chill, but I no longer felt the biting torment that had hurt me previously. Even without Logan there to warm me, I felt slightly less frozen than before. How good it was to be able to kiss him again! Maybe Clariss’ power was receding…

          “Bree,” Kian said. “You have to be careful, to take care of yourself. I know you feel that you have to do this alone, but I’m your betrothed. I go wherever you go – I always have and I always will. We’re in this together.”

          “I know,” I said, turning away. “But it’s my fault that these things are happening now. If it weren’t for me, and for how much Clariss hates me, then Rose wouldn’t be in danger right now. This battle between me and Clariss – it’s personal, Kian. It’s one for me to fight alone. She’s tossed down the gauntlet: injuring me, hurting the people I love. I’m the one who has to fight her off myself.”

          “The way you’re talking…” Tears were shining in Kian’s eyes. “It sounds like you don’t think you’re coming back.”

          “It’s not like that!” But I knew that, deep down, I wasn’t sure. And if I died, I didn’t want Kian to see it happen. I didn’t want him to suffer. He had already suffered enough on my behalf; I couldn’t bear to hurt him more. How could I fight – and risk my life – knowing how much my loss would hurt him? Something deep within me told me that this fight was to be the hardest one yet. And it was a fight that I would have to brave alone.

          “You talk as if you’re heading off to some far-off place, and that the chances of your returning…” He wiped the tears from his eyes. “Breena, I know how brave you are. How noble. But now you’re Queen of Feyland. You’re my betrothed. You have to believe that I will step in and fight for you, no matter where. No matter what. Just remember that I’m behind you. We all are.”

          “I will,” I promised Kian, squeezing his hand and kissing him before departing with Alistair. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Logan frown, sadness spreading across his face.

         
Poor Logan
, I thought to myself.
Poor Kian.
My love seemed to have condemned both men to so much sadness. I loved them both so much – and seeing either one of them unhappy broke my heart. Seeing both of them suffer was almost more than I could bear.

          But I had to fight this fight alone.

Chapter 15

          “
B
reena,” Alistair said as we rounded the corner, “I’m glad I got you alone. I have something to tell you – but you have to promise you can’t tell any of the others. At least, not right now.”

          “I promise,” I said.

          We entered Alistair’s laboratory. Alistair turned to me. “Listen – after you took the potion from my uncle, he and I spoke. And he told me something I didn’t remember – something, apparently, that I’d been enchanted specifically not to remember. There was a time in your childhood when you first had a brush with the Fey – from the Autumn Springs Fey to be precise. You were in your own land, in Gregory. You couldn’t have been more than twelve or so. And you found this book – this book that spoke to you. At the time I didn’t know much about the book, or about Feyland, so I didn’t know the significance of that…”         

          I thought hard. “I don’t remember that,” I said.

          “That’s because my uncle didn’t want you to remember. He erased your memory. And Logan’s.”