Crown of Frost Page 13

  Elaine caught her breath. “Rose borrowed the power of the Briars directly,” she said. “You’re telling me she took a piece of her mother’s mantle?”

  Simon nodded. “At the end of the year, Rose presented her mother with a garden unlike anything the Briars had ever seen before. The Lady wept when she saw it, and called it a masterpiece. I can’t be certain… but I suspect that Rose took advantage of her power over the Briars to change them fundamentally. The garden was merely a ruse — a surface-level change that reflected the changes beneath it.”

  Elaine’s mind whirled. “The mantle is the realm,” she said. “If the realm itself were to change…”

  Simon considered her worriedly. “You’re looking to change a faerie realm?” he asked. “On purpose?”

  “Simon,” Elaine told him. “You have no idea how many stupid things I’ve done in the last few days. This is hardly the top of the list.” She eyed him. “Case in point: I just gave my true name to someone who serves a faerie lord who’s obsessed with me.”

  Simon shook his head. “I suppose you’re right,” he acknowledged.

  Elaine chewed on her lip. “Speaking of stupid things. You said Pallid Valentine is here. We’re not leaving her behind, are we?”

  Simon pinched at the bridge of his nose. “Pallid Valentine tried to sell your location to the Lady,” he told her. “Do you really want to set her loose again?”

  Elaine pressed her lips together. “I do,” she said. “No one deserves to be trapped here.”

  Simon shook his head. “If you insist,” he muttered. “But we’ll need to be quick.”

  He sped up his pace, walking them unerringly through the Briars.

  At one point, the rain melted away into darkness — the toy sun went out, replaced by thousands of alien stars.

  Underneath it all, something terrible waited… something vicious and hungry.

  By the time Simon stopped, just before the edge of a monstrous, twisted wall of thorns, Elaine was exceptionally on edge. It took her a moment to realize that they had made it to their destination — for there was a figure tangled up, high among the thorns.

  Pallid Valentine looked even worse than she had when she’d departed Toronto — and that was saying something. The Lady’s briars had carved whole ribbons of skin from the poor woman… but somehow, the blood was minimal. The briars, Elaine realized with horror, had leached much of the warlock’s blood; the tips of their thorns showed rosy tips, where they still idly drank from her.

  “This is horrible,” she choked out.

  Simon gave her a grim look. “You don’t hold a woman like Pallid Valentine without being a little bit horrible,” he said.

  “And you would have just left her like this?” Elaine demanded.

  Simon sighed. “The Drowned Lord is looking for her,” he said. “And as ruthless as the Lady has been with her, he is likely to be worse by far. Being trapped here might well be a better fate.”

  Elaine set her jaw. “I think we’ll ask her about that,” she said. “Can you get her down?”

  Simon reached out reluctantly for the briars. They shivered a few times — Valentine groaned softly — but eventually, they lowered her gently back down the ground and pulled away.

  Pallid Valentine’s bloody body remained. Slowly, she curled in upon herself on the ground, covering her face.

  Elaine hurried toward her, falling down to her knees. “I can get you out of here if we hurry,” she said. “Do you think you can you walk?”

  Valentine made a sound, deep in her throat. After a moment, Elaine realized she was laughing.

  “…you little fool,” she rasped. “You want to steal me from a vengeful faerie lord?”

  Elaine narrowed her eyes. “That is what I was about to do,” she said. “But if you really want to go back where you were, I can leave without you instead.”

  “No.” Valentine forced herself painfully to her hands and knees. “I have things to do. Just because they’re impossible doesn’t mean I should stop trying.”

  For just a second, Elaine felt a moment of kinship with the horrible woman. “What are you trying to do?” she asked. “The Drowned Lord didn’t send you to attack me. He’s looking for you right now.”

  “He would be,” Valentine muttered contemptuously. She spat on the ground. “I thought Blackfrost might buy my contract in exchange for your location. But he must have found you by other means. The Lady was my next best choice. She decided to break the information out of me instead.”

  Elaine pressed her lips together. “And did you?” she asked. “I had the impression you were harder to break than most.”

  Valentine shrugged. “I have a timetable,” she said. “I was more worried about wasted time. A faerie like that could forget me for years on end. It’d be too late, then.” She paused, staring at the ground. “Is there someone else there with you?” she asked.

  Elaine knitted her brow. “Yes,” she said slowly. “Can’t you see for yourself?”

  She ducked beneath one of Valentine’s arms, helping her to her feet. As she did, she caught sight of the woman’s ruined face — and choked.

  Pallid Valentine’s eyes had been gouged out by thorns.

  “What… what happened?” she managed. “Did the Lady do that to you?”

  Valentine straightened, forcing herself to walk — though she leaned heavily on Elaine as she did. “I withered half that stupid plant,” she replied. “But it grew back. An’ I guess it got angry.”

  Simon’s eyes widened as he saw Valentine’s state. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I should have come for you sooner—”

  Valentine laughed harshly. “Is that you, Wanderer?” she asked. “Lord, you always were a soft touch. The Lady won’t be kind to you when she finds out you’ve helped set me loose.”

  Simon frowned. “I’ll deal with her,” he said. “For now… you’re sure you want to risk the Drowned Lord’s wrath?”

  “I’ll deal wi’ him,” Valentine mocked him. “Now where the hell are we going?”

  Simon turned to look at Elaine. “That’s an excellent question,” he said. “It wouldn’t take long to get you home.”

  Elaine met his eyes. “I don’t want to go home,” she said. “I’m headed to Blackfrost.”

  Simon raised his eyebrows, very slowly. “You… want to go to Blackfrost?” he asked her skeptically.

  Pallid Valentine gave a blind, bloody smile. “What a treat,” she said. “Let’s not keep His Lordship waiting, then.”

  Chapter 12

  Simon led them out of the Briars, into a dark, twisting area of the Hedge. Elaine knew the moment that they crossed the threshold of the two realms, though there seemed to be little visual difference between them. The black forest yawned before them like a mouth, swallowing them down into its shadowed depths.

  The sight of it set Elaine instantly on edge… but Simon seemed unperturbed. He pulled his brass compass from his pocket, and summoned up a tiny ball of golden foxfire to light their way.

  Fire magic and directional sense, Elaine thought. A brass talisman. Of course. He’s a Sagittarius.

  “Why exactly do you want to go to Blackfrost?” Simon asked Pallid Valentine, speaking back from his place ahead of them. His tone was distinctly suspicious.

  “I need to unburn at least one bridge, if I’m going to get anything done,” Valentine said. Her sightless eyes gazed in his general direction. “If the lady wants to go to Blackfrost, an’ Lord Blackfrost wants her protected, who am I to get in her way? I’ll play escort and hand her over.”

  Simon’s unease remained. “You’re not in any condition to be escorting anyone, by my reckoning,” he observed.

  Pallid Valentine smiled. “If I’m no threat, then why are you so worried that I’m walking behind you, Wanderer?”

  Simon was very quiet for a moment. “…touché,” he muttered. “Fine. But you’re on a time limit, you said.”

  “I’ve got a little less than a year left,” Valentine informe
d him. “But the Lady’s been known to put people to sleep for a hundred years at a time.”

  Elaine grimaced. “Is that a favorite of hers?” she muttered.

  Valentine scoffed, even as she leaned heavily on Elaine’s shoulder. “Don’t you read faerie tales?” she asked. “She put a whole kingdom to sleep once because she didn’t get a party invitation.”

  Elaine blinked. Oh. “I never made that connection,” she murmured.

  “And what happens at the end of that year?” Simon asked.

  Valentine smiled grimly. “I’ve only ever given a damn about two people in my life,” she said. “One of them sold me to a faerie lord. Something very bad will happen to the other one, if I don’t sort him out.”

  Elaine felt a sick pang in her stomach. “Wait,” she said. “Go back a bit. Someone else sold you to a faerie lord?”

  Valentine shrugged. “Back when I was married, good Christian women put their souls into the care of their husbands. That, too, is a binding contract. My husband gave me up to the Drowned Lord in return for unnatural long life.”

  Elaine recoiled. She nearly lost her grip on Valentine entirely, and had to struggle to haul her arm up over her shoulder again. “That is… horrific,” she managed.

  “You’re trying to garner sympathy,” Simon accused Valentine quietly. “After you used her like a bargaining chip. Miss Elaine might have ended up in servitude herself, for all you know.”

  “That’s also true,” said Valentine. “I never claimed to be a good person.”

  “I suppose keeping you in plain sight is still better than wondering where you’ve gone,” Simon muttered. He paused to check his compass. The little golden wisp stopped with him, bobbing in place. “Things have shifted a bit since I last came this way. I think we’re going to have to go through the Sleeping Bog, if we want to make good time.”

  Elaine shifted Valentine’s weight on her shoulder. “Is that really a good idea?” she asked hesitantly.

  Simon straightened. “Normally, I would say no. But the risk is worthwhile, if it keeps us ahead of the Lady. She will be coming to demand an explanation, I’m sure. You should be… safe… in Blackfrost by then.” His tone made it clear just how dubious he was that Blackfrost could ever be safe.

  Elaine was quiet for a moment. “…thank you for this,” she said finally. “You’ve gone very far out of your way for me. I know I wasn’t exactly kind to you the first time we met.”

  Pallid Valentine groaned against her shoulder. “You really shouldn’t say the words—”

  “—yes, I know,” Elaine muttered, irritated. “But I meant them. And everything they imply.”

  Simon turned to smile back at her, sheepish. “I appreciate that, Miss Elaine,” he said. “But I hope you understand, I would have done the same for anyone else in your position. I’m not going to help the Lady kidnap someone.”

  “You left me rotting for what felt like weeks,” Valentine pointed out. Her tone was biting and amused, instead of bitter.

  Simon stiffened. “Time moves differently in Arcadia,” he said. “I only found out you were here a few hours ago. Given that you got yourself into this mess, I decided to prioritize Miss Elaine first.”

  “Bullshit,” Valentine shot back. “You’ve got a strange attachment to her. I don’t have to be able to see to know you’re not doing this out of the goodness of your heart. What, you think she’s going to give you a grateful little kiss?”

  Elaine went red. “Stop,” she said. “Please. I don’t think this is a good idea, right here and now.”

  “You are heading into dangerous territory,” Simon warned Valentine sharply. For the first time since Elaine had met him, his voice grew cold. “I don’t wish for anything of the sort. I am leaving you both at Blackfrost. And bon débarras to you, in particular.”

  A strange blue light began to flicker at the edges of Elaine’s vision.

  Valentine snorted. “Right. You’re just a sweet fellow looking to help. Risking the wrath of his faerie lord on principle. At least be man enough to admit you’ve got other motivations.”

  Simon whirled on Valentine. “She reminds me of someone!” he said. “Is that what you want to hear? I loved my wife, and she is dead, and seeing someone so like her is destroying me!” His breathing turned ragged. “I do not want her. I am upset by her. If there is anyone I want right now, it’s—” He cut himself off abruptly, and went pale. “…someone else. It’s someone else I want. But that’s no matter.”

  Valentine went silent. Elaine thought she felt a hesitation in the woman’s body. Was that an instant of regret?

  The light wasn’t alone. It was joined by many others, all flickering in and out of view. Elaine stared, caught inextricably by the sight. Her head felt oddly light, as though it were floating far above her body.

  Valentine dug her fingers into Elaine’s shoulder. “Wait,” she said sharply. “Stop—”

  It was the last thing Elaine remembered, before the light overtook her.

  Mud climbed down Elaine’s throat. It tasted of rotting plants and methane… and maybe other, more awful things.

  Somehow, she’d waded into a deep bog — and then stepped off into a sinkhole. The afterimage of a hundred little blue lights danced across the back of her eyelids.

  She thrashed blindly, clawing her way up to the surface. She broke the top, coughing violently. Cold, moist air hit her face.

  “Si— Simon!” She tried to call out, but her voice was hoarse, and it came out barely a whisper. “Valentine!”

  Blue lights swam around her, just beyond her closed eyelids. Elaine kept her eyes screwed tightly shut, as she waded her way toward shallower ground. Her heart pounded in her chest. They’d gotten distracted. What if the other two were in trouble—

  Bony, rotted fingers closed around her ankle and dragged her back down.

  Elaine cried out — but the sound was strangled by the mud. She kicked backward, and her heel caught something mostly solid. The fingers failed to let her go, however.

  One of the Sleeping Bog’s previous victims had caught her in turn.

  She choked and gagged uselessly, trying to drive the mud from her mouth. Stars burst behind her eyes. I’m going to die, came the wild thought. This is going to kill me.

  Mud shifted and writhed. With a burst of magic, Elaine shot to the surface once more. Someone grabbed at her arm, hauling her forward onto solid ground.

  Valentine slammed a hand into Elaine’s back, hard enough to jar her rib cage. She coughed and spat, spitting the mud from her throat.

  “Are you a witch or aren’t you?” Valentine asked her, irritated. “You can do magic of your own, remember?”

  Elaine pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, gasping for breath. “I… I panicked,” she said miserably. “I can’t believe I did that.”

  Valentine flicked her hands derisively. Elaine heard mud spatter all along the bog. The swimming blue lights outside her eyelids winked out abruptly.

  “How did you—” she started.

  “I’m blind,” Valentine told her shortly. “But I’ve still got Witchsight. A lot of things in Arcadia have magical auras — the two of you included.” She paused. “Which is how I know where the Wanderer of Arcadia has stumbled off to.”

  Elaine opened her eyes cautiously. Valentine had pulled an old ivory charm from a bracelet on her wrist. Capricorn, Elaine realized. Bone was a greater anchor for them… though salt also worked in a pinch. No wonder the Drowned Lord wanted her.

  Another surge of Valentine’s magic followed — old, strong, and practiced. The bog rippled and churned… and tossed a mud-soaked figured onto shore with them.

  Elaine hurried over toward Simon, pulling him upright. He coughed weakly, but slowly started blinking back to awareness. His brass compass was still clutched tightly in his hand — but his glasses were nowhere to be seen.

  “Oh… ugh,” he managed. “I can’t… believe… I got caught by a bunch of will o’ wisps.”

 
; “I heard you were an expert navigator,” Valentine observed wryly. “You must have been distracted by something unfortunate at the time.”

  Simon paused, dripping.

  It wasn’t quite an apology. But it was something.

  “…yes. Well.” He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Perhaps we should move. I’ve never heard of the Sleepers crawling onto land before, but there’s a first time for everything.”

  Elaine shuddered, thinking of the rotted hand that had grabbed at her ankle. “Yes, please,” she said.

  This time, as they walked, Simon scattered strange lines of golden fire in their wake. Every once in a while, Elaine saw a tiny blue light in the distance run into one of those glowing lines and dart away again, as though confused.

  Eventually, they came out into the Hedge again, and the air slowly grew more and more chill. Elaine shivered miserably, still covered in wet mud. She dug into her side bag, but the coat she’d brought with her was soaked.

  Simon gestured, and the little golden fire he’d created before roared back, even more strongly than before. The heat of it was more than just physical — it was deeply comforting, like a fire in the hearth on a winter’s night, or a nightlight gently illuminating your room when you were scared. Most Sagittarius had a dry, scorching heat to their magic… but there was something much softer about Simon’s power. It was weaker — but also kinder, and less harsh.

  Even Pallid Valentine relaxed just a little bit, beneath that glow.

  Simon peered down at his compass absently, blinking a few times. He didn’t seem useless without his glasses, but their absence wasn’t doing him any favors either. The bright, soothing magic was so second-nature to him that it barely took his attention.

  It’s hard to do that sort of magic without having the feeling within you already, Elaine thought. She shifted on her feet uncomfortably. Simon had made it clear that he found her presence more distressing than comforting. I wonder what he’s thinking about instead. Or… who.