Chapter 29

I woke to sleet pelting my face.

I jolted upright, disoriented with sleep, and blinked at the unfamiliar room. It was small, but ornately decorated with furniture carved from some sort of blue crystal that resembled ice—but only resembled, because the actual items of ice were dripping.

The winter court.

Memory washed over me, clearing away the last haze of sleep: Jenny’s stagnant pond; Rawhead’s death, the fight with his ghost, and his revelation that Ryese was the alchemist; and then the queen’s insistence that I recover here, in her court. More sleet fell from the ceiling, sticking to my hair and eyebrows and making a darkening wet spot on the light blanket pooling at my hips. Shivering, I shook the melting ice away, but it was quickly replaced. What happened? The queen had managed to stop the sleet from falling, even if she hadn’t been able to turn it back into decorative snow. Had she relapsed into the fevered madness?

Pulling the blanket free of the bed, I tugged it around my shoulders and over my head like a cloak. I realized only after I’d bundled myself that I’d used my left arm without any twinge of pain. I held it out and flexed the fingers of my hand as I examined the flesh of my forearm. The healer the queen had sent had done a good job; there wasn’t even a scar left where Rawhead’s ghost had bit me. But I was tired, so very tired now that the initial adrenaline rush of waking to frozen rain was wearing off.

How long had I slept?

It could have been minutes or hours. One thing was for sure, I hadn’t acquired my tie to Faerie yet, and I was running out of time. I hope Rianna and Ms. B are okay. How long was it safe to wait for the queen to confront Ryese and decide our bargain was complete? And if I felt this bad, how much worse was it for my friends? As they were sworn to me—in the roundabout way of fae inheritance—self-preservation had apparently cut down the flow of life-sustaining magic to them before I’d even started feeling the effects. And I was definitely feeling it now—just the idea of crawling out of this bed was exhausting.

I had to speak to the queen. One way or another, I had to establish my tie to Faerie. Now.

Sliding out of bed, I stood and looked around. When the healer had left earlier, the doorway had vanished behind her. Now it was back, looking a little like a popsicle on a hot day, but it was a doorway. I stepped up to the edge of it, taking the blanket with me. Like all doors in Faerie, there was no telling what was on the other side before stepping through. I glanced back at the room, making sure I hadn’t left anything behind as I’d likely never find this room again. I’d slept fully dressed down to my boots—strange things happened in Faerie and I’d once fallen physically into a nightmare when I’d lost control of my planeweaving ability during sleep. I had no desire to spend the rest of the trip half naked or barefoot, so the decision had seemed prudent. Other than my purse, which I grabbed off the dresser, and the dagger strapped into my boot, I hadn’t brought anything else with me.

Well, here goes. With any luck, the queen had already caught Ryese in a lie, or better yet, found his lab. Then she would have no wiggle room out of our deal.

I stepped through the doorway, wondering where Ryese was now.

And found out much quicker than intended.

I expected to emerge from the doorway into the long ice halls. Instead I stepped into another room, one not much larger than the one I’d just left. But where my room had sported a bed, wardrobe, and other bedroom-like furniture, this one held several chairs bolted to the floor, each chair sporting large leather straps on the arms, legs, and at the waist area. In the corner was a desk cluttered with crystal beakers, tubes, and other chemistry-type equipment. Or really, alchemical-type equipment. And leaning over the desk?

Ryese.

Shit.

I tried to backpedal out of the door, but the threshold was gone. Great. Just great. The first time I’d traveled through Faerie, Rianna had taken me to the castle I’d inherited. She’d warned me to be careful of thresholds, that I needed to know where I was going before stepping through one. I’d forgotten that particular advice, most likely because every time since, I’d been escorted through Faerie by guards who’d told me which door to take. I’d never known where I was going, but my guides had, and apparently that was enough. This time I’d been wondering where Ryese was as I’d stepped through the threshold. Apparently Faerie had decided to show me.

Ryese hadn’t noticed my presence. Moving in slow motion, I fumbled for my dagger, drawing it without making a sound. It buzzed in my hand, reassuring me that we had the element of surprise.

I frowned at the dagger. Unless I was willing to sneak up and assassinate him in cold blood, the element of surprise did me very little good. If I made it across the room without being detected—and that was a big if—the dagger would have no qualms against directing my hand into a vulnerable but lethal strike. But I didn’t need any more blood on my hands. And I had no idea how to incapacitate an opponent. I seriously needed to start carrying a knockout charm. Well, okay, those were illegal. But I needed something. In a fair fight I didn’t stand a chance. I needed to get out of here. To find Falin and figure out why the queen hadn’t done anything about Ryese yet.

With the door behind me gone, the only exit from the room was on the opposite wall. The same wall where Ryese’s desk stood. At least it was on the far side of the wall. We were probably equal distances from it. Moving slowly, I edged around the perimeter of the room. The sleet continued falling around me, making soft sounds as it hit the half-frozen puddles on the ground and hopefully covering any noise I made.

I’d reached the halfway point when Ryese looked up. He startled as his gaze fell on me. Then a smile crawled across his face, but the expression was far from friendly.

“Dearest Lexi,” he said, his hand dipping into one of the desk drawers.

I didn’t wait around to find out what he might have, but dashed for the doorway.

He was faster.

He grabbed the back of the blanket, trying to jerk me off my feet. I released it, so all he got was the soggy material as I kept moving for the door.

Just another yard. Almost there. I could make it.

I’d just reached the threshold as I felt his body collide with mine.

Falin. I thought at the door. Take us to Falin.

Maybe, just maybe, Faerie would be kind to me.

It wasn’t.