Oliver’s cry of pain sliced through me. I thrashed back to the surface, trying to find him and the edge of the lake among the steam and the splashing water.

Another cry, this one of relief, drew my eyes over to the door, which now stood on the edge of the lake, giving entry to the antechamber that still stood beyond it. Despite overturning us, my final push had gotten us close enough it seemed.

Giselle, the one who had cried out, knelt at the side of the water, reaching down to pull her gasping brother onto the solid ice beside her. I kicked out toward them, anxious to see how badly Oliver had been burned, but a sizzling splash of water pushed me to one side.

Turning, I saw the Snow Queen. Still balanced precariously on a thin film of ice, she threw another icicle at me. This one I dodged, throwing myself to one side, and it hit the water with an equally loud splash, quickly melting into nothing.

I dodged another one, managing to bring up one hand and send a fire ball back. This time it was the queen who had to dodge, half-crouching on her meager platform. The action seemed to break her concentration enough that she slipped, one foot falling into the water.

Her scream pierced the room, shaking chandeliers of ice down from the ceiling. They crashed into the water, one landing so close that it swamped her remaining block before sending me tumbling beneath the surface.

Pushing back up into the air, I looked for her. I heard her before I saw her, her horrible screams shaking the walls. Her block of ice appeared to have melted completely, and she thrashed wildly in the water, almost fully submerged.

I glanced back at Giselle and Oliver. I absorbed that he seemed to be moving easily, his face clear of any serious pain, before my eyes were drawn back to the queen’s desperate cries. The water steamed in the cold room, but it didn’t boil. And despite the discomfort that prolonged immersion must have brought, Oliver seemed to have survived his dunking intact.

And yet the Snow Queen screamed as if we held her down in a pot of boiling water. As if she was…

“Melting!” cried Giselle. “She’s melting!”

There was no other way to describe what I was seeing, though it seemed impossible. Like the chunks of ice had already done, the queen herself was slowly losing her shape, becoming smaller and smaller as the features that made her human disappeared, reducing her to a vaguely human shape. And at the center of that shape, in the place where her heart should have been, I saw a small metal object.

Even as my mind registered that it was a simple locket, the remaining part of her chest melted away, and it slipped beneath the water. Her face remained for another breath, held above the water and contorted into an expression of anger and pain and madness. And then even her head had sunk beneath the water and disappeared.

I gasped and swallowed and swallowed again. Had the locket replaced her heart? No wonder Sterling had never seen it.

“Celine!” Oliver’s voice pulled me from the horror that had overwhelmed me at the terrible sight. “We need to get out of here.”

I kicked out toward them, no ice left now to impede my path. When I reached the edge, they both held hands down to help, but instead I sent a burst of air through the water behind me, shooting up and into Oliver’s arms.

He grunted and staggered backward, just managing to keep us both upright. He looked down into my face and moved as if to press his lips to mine, but Giselle’s sharp voice made him pull back.

“There’s no time for that!” she yelled. “I think we need to run. Oliver do you know the way?”

I pulled back from him and looked around. The heat in the water had reached the walls of the throne room, and they had begun to melt, water streaming down to join that already in the lake. Looking across at a distant wall, I saw the dim glint of the mirror frame as it slid free of the wall and fell into the water with a splash.

Perhaps it was coincidence, but at the exact moment it disappeared beneath the surface, a screeching crack resounded above all the other sounds of the disintegrating palace.

Giselle and Oliver were already backing away from the edge of the lake, pulling me with them.

“This way,” Oliver yelled, and I stumbled after them, forcing my exhausted limbs to yet further effort.

We slipped and slid across the wet floor, barely avoiding chunks of ice that fell haphazardly from higher up the walls or from the ceiling. Thankfully it wasn’t long before we burst into the empty entrance hall. The front doors beckoned across a large floor.

We all put on a fresh burst of speed, Oliver’s long legs moving him ahead. He reached the doors and ripped them open, swinging them wide before turning back to search for us. Ahead of me, Giselle stumbled and fell, slipping as she tried to regain her feet.

I shook my head and grabbed her hand, running the last few steps with her sliding through the thin layer of water behind me. As I shot out past Oliver, he reached down and swung his sister back to her feet.

But when we all stopped to look down the long staircase leading up to the door, we realized we would all have to slide. Already the melting stairs had lost definition, one merging into another in a steep incline. Plonking down, I pushed off, the others close behind me.

“Wooooooo!” I screamed as I slid down the newly-created slide, the snow at the bottom rushing up to meet me. All of my pain and terror and horror and exhaustion expelled in one long wordless exclamation. Oliver yelled behind me, and then Giselle’s higher voice a beat behind.

When we all tumbled into the deep, soft snow, I just lay there for a moment, too spent to even push myself to my feet.

“That last part was actually sort of fun,” said Giselle, her voice breathy, and her eyes glassy.

I shook my head at her, too tired for any verbal response.

“What?” she asked. “We’re all alive, aren’t we?” And then she laughed, and it sounded slightly hysterical.

Oliver shook his head at her, but he was smiling. He pulled me up, and reluctantly I let him.

“I would feel more comfortable if we put a bit more distance between us and this melting palace,” he said.

I wanted to protest, but he was right. I didn’t want to stay near this place for a moment longer, either.

“Look!” Giselle held something up, her voice triumphant. “Look what I found.”

I forced my eyes to focus and saw that she was holding our two sets of snowshoes. Quickly she began to lace hers on, and I tried to make my fingers and arms follow suit, but they didn’t seem to be working properly.

Oliver knelt to attach them for me, letting me lean against his shoulder as he worked. I breathed a sigh of relief, all my energy focused on staying upright.

When he had finished, we took off, poor Oliver falling into the snow with every stride. How were we going to get back down the mountain when he didn’t have snowshoes? But my brain was too tired to focus on anything other than moving forward.

Briefly I wondered if the flurry of killer iceflakes would reappear, but to my relief, nothing darkened the late afternoon sky. I didn’t think I had the energy to protect us from anything else.

“We left our packs in a cave just over there,” I heard Giselle say. “I think that should be far enough, don’t you think? Because if we don’t stop soon, I think the two of you are going to keel right over.”

I didn’t protest, relieved at the idea of a dry cave and food after a long day without any. But as I stumbled the last few steps, a surge of energy filled me at the unexpected sight of another person. Perhaps I did have something left after all.

For a horrible moment, I thought it was the Snow Queen herself, somehow re-formed. But then I blinked, and a different familiar figure appeared. Not the Snow Queen, but her loyal lieutenant.

“Sterling!” Oliver’s shout made the other man falter and nearly trip.

He was emerging from our cave, and I suspected he had just been looking through our packs for anything of value. From the surprise on his face as he looked over his shoulder, he hadn’t been expecting us to emerge alive from the rapidly disintegrating palace.

His expression as he took off running gave me the remaining strength to send out a blast of air. Catching him square in the back, it sent him sprawling face first into the snow.

I swayed from the effort, but held up my hands, ready to send another blast. Oliver and Giselle had both taken off running toward him, however, so I refrained. Giselle, faster because of her snowshoes, reached him first and promptly sat down on his back, pushing him further down into the snow.

He mumbled something in protest and stirred feebly, but he couldn’t gain any traction against the soft snow. Only when Oliver arrived did she pop back up so that he could reach down and wrench the other man to his feet.

“Going somewhere?” Giselle asked sweetly, as Oliver pulled Sterling around to face us.

Sterling glared at them in silent anger, but when his gaze moved to me—standing a way off still, but with both arms extended, ready to fire—he slumped.

“No, I suppose not,” he said.

Between my exhaustion and the discovery of Sterling, I hadn’t mustered the energy to look back at the Ice Palace. But standing in the mouth of the cave at last, I saw the tallest of the spires droop, dripping and melting into oblivion, steam rising as water raced down its sides.

As I watched, the last remnants of the structure crumbled in, leaving in its place a great lake, bigger than the frozen one we had swum through. Its surface roiled and steamed, but it didn’t seem to be expanding any further, solid ground and snow standing firm between us and what had once been the Snow Queen’s home.

“It was beautiful, you know,” said Giselle, who I hadn’t heard come to stand beside me.

I gave her a disbelieving look, and she shrugged.

“Well, it was. But that doesn’t mean I’m not glad to see it gone.”

I sighed, my eyes drawn back to the lake. “I suppose it was beautiful. But I prefer your palace. The real one. That’s made of stone.”

Giselle smiled. “Me too.”

Reluctantly I retreated back into the cave where a silent, bound Sterling sat beside a small fire. He had helpfully brought some wood with him, so I had only needed to provide the briefest burst of flame to get it started.

Swaying, I sank down to sit on the opposite side of the cave to him, admitting to myself I was more than glad we wouldn’t be relying on me to keep us warm all night. Dim embers still burned somewhere inside me, but I felt too drained to whip them into any sort of serious heat.

Despite myself, I found my eyes straying to Sterling’s still form. He had a full pack with him—which had turned out to contain some of our own things as I had suspected—and not only snowshoes but a second spare pair as well. Finding him had been fortuitous. But what had driven him from the Ice Palace so fully prepared? He couldn’t have put all that together after it started melting, especially not when he had been ahead of us.

Had he taken my words in the kitchen seriously, after all? It was true that something about his manner had seemed to change during our conversation.

When I realized he was staring straight back at me, I shifted slightly, turning myself away. Oliver had already declared that we would take him down the mountain with us, to be secured in the palace where he could await judgment from the king. And that was good enough for me. I wanted nothing more to do with a man who had let his thirst for power lead him to assist in nearly destroying an entire kingdom. And, if he was the man Prince Dominic had asked me to watch out for, he might have had a hand in nearly destroying Palinar as well.

Giselle, who had entirely escaped the icy and then burning waters of the lake, had more energy than either me or Oliver, so she volunteered to prepare food. By the time she brought some to me, I could barely keep my eyes open to eat it. Only my complaining stomach kept me upright for long enough to get it down.

The light of sunset hadn’t faded from the sky when I at last lay down, but a little light wasn’t going to be enough to stand between me and blessed rest. My eyelids closed, and sleep claimed me.

* * *

When I awoke, it took me several moments to orient myself. Two figures slept around the still-smoldering fire, and the darkness of the cave suggested it was still night. But light flickered outside the mouth of the cave, and I thought I could hear faint movement.

In another moment I remembered everything of the day before and that we had Sterling with us. I sat up abruptly, focusing on the other sleepers. The small one was clearly Giselle, and the other…he stirred and moved in his sleep, and I realized it was Sterling, sleeping restlessly due to his bindings.

I got up, no longer feeling sleepy, and crept silently from the cave. Oliver sat just outside, his attention on the sky—the source of the flickering light.

He looked up quickly at my approach and smiled, but the expression held sadness as well as welcome.

“I’ve been here several nights, but I don’t remember seeing these before. But then I wasn’t really looking.”

I sat down beside him, nestling against him when he reached out an arm to invite me close.

“You can’t blame yourself for what the Snow Queen did to you. I’m just glad you can enjoy it now. And that it’s still here. I just knew that something so beautiful couldn’t be part of that woman’s evil.”

“I can’t describe to you how bleak the world was once she leached all the beauty from it,” he said, and I noticed his eyes were on my face now and not the sky.

I flushed, hoping the reflected colors would disguise it. “I can’t imagine a world without beauty.”

“I wish I didn’t remember any of it,” he said, and there was anguish in his voice now. “But it’s all there, just like last time. Dream-like, but not gone. And the horrible things I said to you keep running over and over in my mind.”

He shifted slightly so he could look down at me more easily. “I’m so sorry, Celine. I wish there was something I could do to show you that none of it was true.”

“There is,” I said, a smile creeping up my face.

He regarded me with creased brow, uncertainty in his gaze, so I rolled my eyes, grasped his face and pulled it firmly down to mine. He started slightly, but then seemed to catch on, his own arms sliding around to pull me close and his mouth warm and responsive against mine.

Fire roared inside me, but after everything I had gone through—everything we had broken through together—this time it remained firmly under my control. Which was something of a relief, given the circumstances.

When he finally pulled away, I made a soft mew of disapproval, but he just laughed softly and guided my head down to rest against his chest.

“I don’t deserve you, Celine,” he said with a soft sigh.

I shook my head against him. “Don’t be silly. Of course you do. I’m in love with you which means you must be quite exceptional. I’m not that easy to please, you know.”

His body shook with silent laughter. “Why do I have the feeling you’re going to keep me on my toes?”

“Because you’re very wise. Like I was just saying.”

His arms tightened around me. “But are you sure, Celine? Are you sure you could ever be happy here in Eldon?”

I paused to really consider his question. We were talking about the rest of my life, so it wasn’t the time for impulsive decisions.

It was true I still hated the cold. And there were many things about my home I would miss. The sun and the heat, for one. Along with the flowers everywhere and the long, sandy beaches. But when I tried to imagine going back there—returning to a life without Oliver—my mind turned away, unwilling to form the images.

And our earlier embrace had stoked the embers within me, revived by his presence and a good sleep. Would I ever truly be cold again?

I felt him go tense as he waited for my answer, the silence drawing out between us.

“I could be happy here,” I said at last. “If I had your love.” I twisted so I could look up at him. “Do you love me, Oliver? Truly?”

His arms tightened around me again, a ghost of pain flitting through his eyes. “I love you, Celine. I swear I do. I really didn’t mean those things I said in that throne room.”

I shook my head quickly. “I wasn’t thinking of those.” I hesitated. “Well, not exactly. I knew you were under the evil influence of that corrupted mirror. But it made me realize you’d never actually said the words to me. I assumed, after Valley View, but…”

His brow creased, his mind obviously racing back. “Didn’t I say it? I felt as if I did. I was bursting with the effort of keeping it in, since I was convinced you would never want to stay in Eldon, even if it were free from the curse. But after you nearly killed yourself saving us from the blizzard…” He swallowed and shook his head. “Don’t ever scare me like that again, Celine.”

“I’ll do my best,” I said, grinning up at him. “But no promises.”

He shook his head with a rueful chuckle.

I settled back against him, overwhelmed by what I saw in his eyes. A delightful warmth seemed to have reached into every part of me, and I couldn’t tell if it came from my magic or from this man, or perhaps some combination of the two.

“Celine,” he said into my ear, “just in case there’s any doubt—you are brave, and bold, and clever, and true, and I have never enjoyed spending time with anyone as much as I do you. I can’t imagine ever wanting anyone else to be my queen. I love you.”

I stilled at his words, taking them in. Then I looked up at him cheekily through my lashes, creasing my brow in confusion.

“So…is that a proposal, Your Highness?”

“Celine,” he growled my name, tightening his arms around me and shaking me slightly. “You know it is.”

I grinned up at him. “Maybe I do,” I conceded.

“And your answer…?” He sounded impatient, although I couldn’t imagine how he could truly doubt it.

“Yes, of course,” I said. “I mean, I’m the youngest of seven, I never thought I’d get a chance to be a queen.”

“Celine!” He sounded half-amused, half-irate, but when I pressed my lips up against his, the colors of the sky reflecting against our faces, everything else melted away except for our love and this perfect moment.