Jim Hines - The Snow Queen's shadow

“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.”