Green grasses began to grow up from the cracked ashy ground and then flowers and trees. The lava hardened, becoming a thick mound blanketed with grass as the Spring Castle garden was restored to its former glory.
I stood, brushing my hands off on my thighs. “It worked.”
Trissa and Elle looked happy, but Jasper frowned. “You can’t kill the king with flowers. Shoot that stone wall into smithereens, or I’m not convinced.”
Trissa nodded. “He does have a point.”
Okay… true.
I’d felt the Queen’s power when it sucked into me, but they didn’t know that, and it was best to practice now rather than experimenting with the Winter King where I could be hurt.
Widening my stance, I took a step back and raised my hands, aiming at one of the castle’s outer protective walls. It was solid stone and would be a good test for my new power. Pulling up the light from within me, I let the power build in my palms before shooting it out in one big burst. The light shot from my palm, blasting me backward a little and incinerating the wall before me. It was… dust.
“Holy shit!” Elle breathed.
I’d been rocked back with such force that I teetered on my heels, staring open-mouthed at the ten-foot hole in the wall as the dust cleared.
“Okay, I think I got the full power activation,” I breathed.
Jasper strode across the newly grown grass and peered at me. His bald head and snake tattoo were unsettling to look at, but I’d come to have his presence grow on me.
“You know I could invert the power you have that gives life, and you could kill a man with one touch.” He gestured to the ground around him.
“Jasper!” Trissa hissed.
“Yeah, whoa, dude. That’s some dark shit. We aren’t inverting her power,” Elle barked.
Jasper shrugged. “Just giving her options.”
I chuckled, clapping the mage on the shoulder. “I appreciate it, but I’ll pass.”
A blur in the sky to my left caught my attention, and I whipped my head that way just in time to see Liam’s second eldest brother Tye. His eyes were wide with terror as he flew toward us at full-speed.
Something was wrong.
I kicked up into the air to meet him, and he stopped before me, panting from exertion.
“What is it?”
“Liam’s been taken by the Winter King.”
My whole body went numb at his words, and a stone sank in my stomach.
Chapter 10
I flew faster than I’d ever flown before, heart pounding against my chest, rattling my ribs like a cage.
How the hell did the Winter King get in Faerie? Mara? Was she hurt? Was Liam hurt? Why did he take Liam? These thoughts spun maddeningly around my head as I raced after Liam’s brother, flying too fast to ask him anything. We zipped across the farmlands, past my new house, and over the bridge to the boys’ new campgrounds.
My feet hit the ground hard, sending a jolt up my legs. A few of the guys were comforting Liam’s younger brothers. Cam had his arms wrapped around Cain.
“What happened?” I shouted, adrenaline rushing through me.
Cam looked up at me with terror in his eyes but said nothing.
Fuck.
“Talk to me,” I breathed and allowed my heart to calm down.
Cain was sobbing in Cam’s chest, no doubt reminded of when his father had kidnapped him.
Cam nodded, seeming to snap out of his shock, and I noticed then that he was bleeding from his thigh. “Tye and I were getting ready to accompany Liam to Earth to go to the hardware store.” My heart constricted, thinking of our dreams of living in the treehouse, dreams that didn’t work without Liam here. “Then, the Winter King came out of nowhere. Just stepped into the camp through the woods and yanked Liam right from his hut.”
I frowned. Out of the woods?
“There must be another portal around here.” Trissa looked beyond the woods and pulled her blade.
“Did he say anything? Why he wanted him? Did he take a crystal?” I asked Tye, who stood next to me.
Cam handed Cain off to Tye and stepped closer to me. “The moment we saw him, we attacked. We were able to protect the bridge so that he couldn’t cross and get the crystals, but… he didn’t seem like he cared. He just wanted Liam.”
Liam was a good fighter, his father’s equal. There were no scorch marks or icicles to show any sign of struggle. As if reading my mind, Cam stepped closer and lowered his voice to a whisper. “His father had the Sword of Night, used it to control Liam. He went… willingly.”
Willingly… because he was mentally controlled.
Breathe. Focus. Be strong.
“Did he say why?” I growled. If not for crystals, then why the hell was the king here? Did he need Liam for something?
Cain sniffled, rubbing snot from his nose, and whispered something. I didn’t catch it. Stepping closer to him and dropping on one knee, I asked him what he’d said.
“When my daddy took me before, he talked to the bad witch lady about needing my blood for a spell.”
Chills ran the length of my arms, and I swallowed hard. “What else did they say?”
Cain sniffled again. “The bad lady said if he had blood from his strongest heir… it would be better. Then Daddy said Liam’s name.”
It was so beyond fucked that he called the Winter King Daddy, but I wasn’t even going to think about that right now. Opening my arms, I gave him a hug. “Thanks for telling me that. I love your brother a lot, and I’m not going to let your dad take his blood, okay?”
He nodded, pressing his chin into my chest.
I stood, prepared now to fully be the Queen I needed to be and get Liam back. “I’m going to reinstate the protection dome, and then we’re going to get Liam back. Prepare to head out!” I shouted. “The young boys can stay at Elle’s house with
