The Snow Queen's shadow

CHAPTER 15

King Laurence led them to a hidden passage that emerged into a small, circular garden filled with marble obelisks. Danielle guessed there were close to a hundred. The walls here had no windows, no doors save the one they had taken. The sounds of battle were muffled here.

Talia scowled. “Unless I got turned around, we should be in the northern part of the palace.”

“We are.” Laurence stabbed his scepter into ashdusted earth. The top of the scepter flared to light like a lantern with too much wick. He pointed to the new-formed shadows of the obelisks against the wall. “This garden is hidden, partly by magic and partly by architecture. The shadows will form a doorway. The spell was designed to allow the king and his family to escape the palace.”

Danielle approached one of the obelisks. Each was slightly different from the next. This one was black as ink, its six sides polished smooth as glass. Specks of green sparkled within the stone. “What are they?”

“Monuments to the dead.” Gerta was standing before a smaller obelisk, round and trimmed with gold. She pressed a hand against its surface. “This is my mother’s. Her ashes are worked into the stone. Why was she given a memorial here?”

“She was Queen of Allesandria,” said Laurence.

“She was evil.”

He tilted his head in acknowledgment. “So we should pretend she never existed?”

“Argue later,” Talia snapped. “Finish the spell.”

“The portal is almost ready.” Sweat beaded Laurence’s forehead. The light was brighter now. Two of the shadows were sharper than the rest, forming the sides of a doorway. He adjusted the scepter until the tips of the shadows touched the next row of bricks. The mortar darkened, forming the doorway’s upper edge. The stones within began to fade.

Behind them, the door swung inward. Danielle pulled her sword free and ducked behind one of the obelisks for cover. Talia stepped in front of Gerta.

The guards who had accompanied the king moved to block the door. Fire streaked over their heads, spattering against the base of the wall and ruining the shadows of Laurence’s magic. Danielle didn’t understand Laurence’s angry words, but she could guess the meaning from the tone. He yanked up his scepter and turned to face their attackers.

Queen Odelia stood in the doorway, flanked by Stormcrows. Danielle spied others crowded behind her, easily outnumbering those who stood with the king.

The queen was unarmed, dressed in a dark red cloak with wide, black-cuffed sleeves. The backs of her hands were marked in the intricate brown patterns of Morovan tattoos. “Hello, Danielle. Talia.”

The buzzing from the hallway meant some of Snow’s ice wasps had survived. Danielle could hear others gathering on the gutters overhead. “Where is Jakob?”

“He’s safe enough, for now.”

Laurence kept his scepter leveled at Odelia and her guards. “Release my wife and children.”

Odelia waved a finger, scolding him. “Be careful, Your Majesty. Your marriage might have led to peace with Morova, but what happens to that peace if you kill me? The king of Morova was quite fond of his cousin Odelia. As I recall, he never approved of her marriage to an Allesandrian sorcerer.”

Danielle lowered her sword. She gave a silent plea for help, praying the fire and lightning hadn’t driven all of the animals away.

“You know I can’t give you the throne,” said Laurence. “Even if I wanted to, the law is clear. Ermillina Curtana was sentenced to death. The Nobles’ Circle would never accept your claim.”

“The throne?” Odelia made a face. “Why would I want that old chair? It’s dusty and uncomfortable, the cushion fouled to the core by generations of royal farts.”

“Then what?” asked Danielle.

“I want my cousin to answer a question.” She pointed to Gerta. “What did you see in her mind when she entered the palace? Answer truthfully, and I’ll return your son. If you lie, I’ll change him into a butterfly and rip his wings off.”

“I saw fear,” said Laurence. “Uncertainty. She fears her future.”

“Useless prattle,” Odelia snapped. “I could learn as much from any false street witch. What is she?” For an instant, she appeared confused. “I recognize her, and yet I don’t remember…”

Danielle could see the conflict on Laurence’s face. He knew Snow had no intention of letting them go free, but what choice did he have? “She… is you. Her body was born of magic. Her soul is yours, as are her memories.”

“Impressive.” Odelia entered the garden, staying close to the wall as she circled. All of her attention was on Gerta now. “So Snow gave you her memories in order to lead you here, hoping to find a way to rob me of my power.”

“Give me my son,” said Laurence.

Odelia reached into her cloak and retrieved a large toad. “Toads are traditional for princes, aren’t they?” She planted a quick kiss on the toad, then tossed it lightly to the ground, where it grew into a small boy. His round face and awkward movements reminded Danielle of Jakob. He wore a bulky jacket that went all the way to his fur-trimmed boots.

Laurence dropped to one knee and held out his hand. “Come to me, Henri.”

“Be careful,” said Danielle. A red line marked the boy’s cheek. “You said you’d return him. Remove the glass splinter from his body.”

“He’s happier this way,” said Odelia.

Danielle shook her head. “He’s forgotten happiness.”

“He’s seen beyond it.” Odelia trailed her fingers over one of the obelisks. “Beyond false hopes and dreams. Beyond lies and deception. Much like your own son, Danielle.” Odelia’s blue eyes were dead, despite the amusement in her voice. “I know what he is, what the darklings awakened in you back in the Duchess’ caverns. I realized the truth when I fought Hephyra. My mirrors pierced her body, but even as she died, her blood resisted my magic. Fairy blood draws its power from another realm, a world long forgotten by mortals.”

Danielle’s stomach knotted. This was another trick… but there was no lie in Odelia’s eyes. “You killed Hephyra?”

Odelia shrugged. “I would have preferred to keep that one, but her death served me just as well. She gave me the key.” She watched Danielle closely, and her smile grew. “You knew, didn’t you? I can see the truth in your face. You knew your son wasn’t fully human.”

“Please, Snow. Give him back to me.”

“Oh, no,” said Odelia. “I have plans for him.”

Danielle looked to the rooftop. The buzzing had died down. Snow’s wasps were in position, ready to swarm into the garden. Danielle concentrated, calling to any birds which might have been close enough to hear her earlier plea. As Odelia waved a hand, Danielle ordered them to strike.

Wasps flew through the doorway and swooped down from above. Laurence’s Stormcrows stopped many, but Danielle saw two Stormcrows fall. Fire from Laurence’s scepter raced upward, intercepting the second wave of wasps. The caw of blackbirds announced the arrival of Danielle’s reinforcements. There weren’t as many as she had hoped, but they attacked the wasps without mercy.

It wasn’t going to be enough. Talia struck with her sword in one hand, the hem of her cape in the other. Gerta joined the king, working to try to reopen their escape route, but the shadows danced and flickered despite their best efforts.

Danielle backed toward Talia, staying close to one of the larger obelisks for shelter. More of Snow’s Stormcrows slipped into the room, keeping to the walls.

“Henri!” Danielle jabbed her sword into the dirt and lunged for the prince, who was running toward his father. She caught his wrist and twisted him back. He punched with his free hand, but she ignored the blows, tightening her grip until he dropped the icicle-thin shard of glass he had been holding.

Gerta dropped to the ground, scooping the shard with the hem of her shirt. She closed her eyes. “Mirror shattered, power spread. Magic twisted, demon fled. Sister broken, trapped and bound. Let that sister now be found.”

One of the wasps slipped past the blackbirds, flying straight for Gerta. Talia jumped over Henri and swung her sword two handed, obliterating the wasp with the flat of the blade.

Odelia stumbled. Her wasps slowed their attack, even as Laurence and the birds continued to destroy those that remained. Odelia squinted at Gerta. “I… I do remember you.”

Stormcrows spread out to surround them, but held back. For the first time since leaving Lorindar, Danielle felt hope. Could Gerta’s spell have worked? Was this the reason Snow had created her, to serve as an anchor to help Snow find her way back to herself?

“Do you remember sitting together in our room, the night our mother cursed Baron Estralla?” Gerta asked. “We were so young. As you listened to him beg for mercy, we whispered about what we would do when you ruled Allesandria. The changes you would bring. The lives we would save. Come back to me, Sister.”

Talia was crushing the last of the wasps. King Laurence whispered a spell and touched his scepter to his son’s forehead. Henri collapsed, asleep.

“Let us take you home,” Danielle said.

“I am home.” Odelia shivered. “I used to believe I could change this nation. That I could undo the damage my mother had done. Allesandria… this world… the rot runs too deep. I see what will happen, and what I must do.”

“Allesandria will never accept the daughter of Rose Curtana,” Laurence warned.

“I’ve no interest in ruling.” Odelia shuddered and stepped back. “You’re as naive as I once was, Cousin.”

“Snow, please.” Gerta flung the glass sliver away. Tears dripped down her cheeks. “You don’t have to do this.”

Odelia stooped to pick up the half-melted body of one of her wasps. She flicked her fingers, and the stinger flew through the air to bury itself in the king’s neck. Just as Talia had described in her vision. Danielle raised her sword and braced herself for the same.

Odelia hesitated. “Take them,” she said softly. “Danielle has fairy blood of her own, and Talia burns with fairy magic. I’ll need to examine them both to see how that magic responds to my own.”

“What of Gerta?” asked Danielle.

“I intend to study her as well, before I reclaim her,” said Odelia. Gerta flinched at the word reclaim. “Hold them until I arrive.”

The guards blocked the only escape from the garden. Talia could do nothing as her weapons were stripped away. They took her cape first, then her sword, knives, and zaraq whip. They also took the rods she used to keep her hair back. Snow would know how effectively Talia could use those rods to kill. Finally, they took the lockpicks from her boots, the fang-shaped punching dagger from the small of her back, and the iron fighting spikes tucked up her sleeves.

One of the Stormcrows secured a blue metal chain around Gerta’s neck. It rippled like water as he pressed the end links together until they merged into one.

“This isn’t you, Snow,” said Talia. “When your mirror broke, a demon-”

“I know what happened.” So strange to hear Snow’s earnestness from the mouth of a Morovan witch. “It’s a partnership. Look at me, Talia. I can cast spells without pain for the first time in years. I can see the world as it truly is.”

“How do you know? How many times have you cast illusions to fool those around you? How do you know the demon isn’t doing the same thing?”

“Oh, Talia.” The exasperation on her face was so typical of Snow it made Talia’s breath catch in her chest. “It would be like trying to explain music to a deaf child.”

Talia took a small step closer. “What about the demon? What does it take from you?”

“Freedom. I’ve given it freedom, and it has given me the same.”

Even unarmed, Talia could have killed Odelia. A kick to the knee, turning her body and bending her low enough to grab the head. One hand to the chin, while the other grabbed the back of the head. Twist and haul downward to snap the neck. Odelia would be dead before she could speak… and it would accomplish nothing. Snow and the demon would survive, with hundreds of slaves at their command.

Odelia’s lips quirked as though she knew what Talia was thinking. Knowing Snow, she probably did.

“You saw what they intend to do to me,” Odelia said. “How quickly Laurence ordered my double’s murder.”

Talia clenched her fists. When she closed her eyes, she could still see Snow’s body lying dead on the floor.

Odelia took the scepter from Laurence’s hand and turned away. The king followed her from the small garden, leaving eight Stormcrows to escort Talia and her companions back through the palace. Servants and guards moved in silence through the halls, an eerie contrast to the chaos of battle such a short time before. Talia could hear screams elsewhere, but within this part of the palace, all was quiet.

The guards brought them down a narrow staircase near the Stormcrows’ tower to a small room without windows. A woven rug covered most of the wall, and a trio of fat candles burned in one corner. Two cots were shoved against the walls. Though narrow, the mattresses appeared clean and uninfested. Thick quilts were folded at the foot of each cot. The moment Talia and her friends were inside, the Stormcrows slammed the door behind them.

Gerta slumped against the wall, the candles illuminating the despair on her face. “I thought I could reach her.”

“You did,” said Danielle. “I could hear it in her voice.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“Maybe it was.” Talia was already searching the room. The cots were framed with wood. Pine, from the smell. It should be easy enough to break them apart for weapons. “She could have killed us or infected us with her mirrors, but she didn’t.”

“She will.” Gerta hugged herself. “When I cast my spell, just for a moment, we were one. When she said she doesn’t intend to rule Allesandria, she meant it.”

The deadness of her words made Talia stop what she was doing. “What do you mean?”

“She wants to destroy it.”

“How?” breathed Danielle.

“I’m not sure.”

“Whatever the demon plans, I doubt it will be content to stop at Allesandria’s borders.” Talia checked the door next. There was no lock, no handle of any sort. The hinges were on the outside, and the crack beneath was too narrow for her fingers. She scraped skin from her knuckles trying to reach through.

“It won’t work,” said Gerta. “None of it’s real. I always hated this room.”

“You’ve been here before?” asked Danielle.

“It responds to the will of the king or queen.” Gerta flicked her fingers through the candle flames. “Our mother used to put us-used to put Snow in here, rather. Sometimes for days, until one of her servants reminded her to let us out.” She licked her fingers and pinched one of the wicks. When she removed her fingers, the flame sprang back to life.

Wood trim ran along the middle of the walls. Talia tried to dig her fingernails beneath the wood to pry it away, but the trim was seamless. “Can she watch us through this?”

“Probably not anymore.” Gerta touched the wood. “This conduit ran unbroken through the palace. When Snow burned down part of the building, she broke that circle…” Her eyes widened. “Talia, it was an unbroken circle. ”

Talia stared, not understanding.

“My mother added this trim when she first became queen. I thought it was so she could communicate with her servants, and to spy on them. But a ring this size could also be used for summoning.”

“That’s how she trapped the demon,” Danielle said.

Gerta nodded excitedly as she picked at the trim. “I bet Noita’s enchanted trees provided the wood. She never came to the palace, as far as I know, so she might not even have realized how our mother used her trees.”

“Can the circle be repaired?” asked Talia.

Gerta’s smile faded. “I wouldn’t know how. Even if we knew what kind of tree she used, and we could get more wood from Noita… I’d need years to figure out how she did it.”

“Snow knew,” said Danielle. “That’s why she attacked the palace. She destroyed the one thing that could stop her.”

“Not Snow. The demon. It would remember how it was first trapped.” Talia paced the room. She felt naked without the cape. She had come to rely on the wolf’s anger. Without it, it was all she could do to keep her grief at bay. “It’s Snow’s words. Her thoughts. The demon twisted her, but she’s still in there.”

“She created me to save her, and I couldn’t,” said Gerta. “I couldn’t reach her.”

“You’ll get another chance,” Talia said. “We know the demon plans to destroy Allesandria. What’s its next step, now that they’ve taken Laurence?”

“I saw a palace of ice,” Danielle said. “On a lake.”

Talia snorted. “There are hundreds of lakes in Allesandria.”

“She may intend to punish the king personally, first.” Gerta sighed. “Snow was grateful for everything Laurence did, but deep down she also resented him for receiving everything that should have been hers.”

“She never spoke of it,” said Talia. Snow rarely talked of Allesandria at all. When she did, it was about the beauty of the mountains, the crisp winter air, the colorful fashions… not once had she shown any hint of anger or bitterness.

How much else had she kept to herself?

“They have to return for us eventually,” said Danielle. “Sooner or later, the door will open. That will be our only chance to escape. If I summon the rats-”

“Magic keeps all such vermin from entering the palace.” Gerta tugged at the chain around her neck. “So long as I wear this, I can’t cast the simplest spell. Your weapons are gone. A single Stormcrow could overpower us all, and Snow controls most of the palace.”

“Stop calling her that,” Talia whispered.

They both turned to look at her.

“That thing. It’s not Snow.” Talia hammered a fist against the door, which swallowed the impact with hardly a sound. “Snow fought this thing. She ripped herself in half so we would have the key to stopping it. It’s not her fault we’re too dense to figure out how to use that key.”

She spun away from the door, rubbing her arms against the chill and fanning her anger until it was almost a match for the wolf’s. “Every time you call her Snow, you’re giving up on her. You’re saying she’s gone, that we can’t save her. You’re wrong.”

“Nobody has given up,” Danielle said, her words gentle.

“ Don’t try to calm me down.” Talia clenched her fingers together.

“You truly love her, don’t you?” Gerta’s eyes shone.

Her pain broke through Talia’s anger. A part of her wanted to apologize. Another part simply wanted to get away. She hadn’t asked Gerta to fall in love with her. It wasn’t her fault.

No, it was Snow’s. She had chosen to give Gerta these feelings. But why?

“I have an idea.” Danielle stared at the floor, not meeting anyone’s eyes.

“I’m not going to like it, am I?” asked Talia.

“No.” Danielle took a deep breath. “This room is enchanted to keep us from escaping. Does that enchantment also prevent others from entering?”

“Absolutely not.” Talia’s face was red, her expression taut.

Danielle couldn’t blame her. If there were any other way… “Snow told us the demon’s magic was less effective against fairies. The Duchess-”

“You spoke to her?” Talia asked. “You bargained with a fairy criminal? In your own bedchamber! Did you ever think what might have happened? You invited her into your home, risking-”

“When we came to Fairytown to rescue Armand, the Duchess warned that I would need her help again.” Danielle heard her own voice rising to match Talia’s, and fought to regain her calm. “If you have another idea for escaping this cell, this would be a good time to share it.”

“What price did she ask?” Talia knew better than anyone that all fairy bargains came at a cost.

“I had hoped we would be able to save Jakob and Snow both, without her help.” Had she accepted the Duchess’ bargain before, could they have saved Snow sooner? How many people would still be alive? Danielle took a deep breath, then told them what the Duchess had demanded.

Talia stared. “You’re mad.”

“The Duchess is powerful,” said Danielle. “She could help-”

“Some help isn’t worth the price.” Talia spun. “Why do we need her aid? We have you. Jakob resisted Snow’s power. Couldn’t you do the same?”

“Danielle might have fairy blood, but the human is stronger,” said Gerta. “Her mother must have been of mixed-blood. The child of a fairy and a human will be more human than not, and only pureblooded fairies maintain their connections to the fairy hills. After several generations, you’d be indistinguishable from humans, save for the occasional magical quirk.”

Talia frowned. “By that logic, Jakob should be even more human, and more vulnerable, than his mother.”

Gerta was playing with the candle flames again, cupping her hands around them and studying the red glow of her skin. “The Duchess’ darklings awakened Jakob’s magic when he was in the womb. Their spells blended the fairy and human magic in him.”

“What will Armand say if you give Jakob to the fairy who kidnapped him?” Talia asked softly.

Danielle met her anger without flinching. Anger was preferable to the anguish and loss knotting her chest. “You don’t know what I would give to be able to talk to him, to not have to make this choice alone. But Armand is gone, and I don’t know how else to get him back.”

“The Duchess-” Talia began.

“Had I accepted her offer before, Captain Hephyra might yet be alive.” Danielle’s voice broke. She had no doubt Snow had been telling the truth about Hephyra’s death. “We tried to stop her, and we failed.”

“You know what she’s done,” Talia said. “To you. To Armand. To your stepsister Charlotte. Each time, she evaded the justice of fairy and man alike. You would forgive all that? You would hand your son into her keeping?”

“She also honored her bargain with my stepsisters. Gave them the power they needed to-”

“To try to kill you?” Talia folded her arms. “Your stepsisters are both dead as a result of their dealings with the Duchess!”

“I saw him, Talia.” Danielle closed her eyes, remembering her vision from Noita’s garden. “I saw Jakob shivering in the cold, so thin he was little more than a creature of sticks and skin.”

“We’ll find another way,” Talia insisted. “One that doesn’t hand the Prince of Lorindar to a fairy. You saw how far the fairies have come in taking control of Arathea. Would you give them the key to your homeland as well?”

“Jakob is my son. Nothing the Duchess does will ever change that. He would only be with them for six months at a time.” Fairy bargains were unbreakable. So long as she was careful about the terms of the bargain, she would get Jakob back.

“Do you believe your people will accept a king known to have lived among the fairy folk?”

“Do you have a better suggestion?” Danielle asked.

Talia’s lips parted, but she said nothing. Eventually, her shoulders sagged. “No.”