voice in his mind.
“You should know,” answered Will, his voice raw from the freezing air.
You’ll die if you don’t find shelter.
“If you cared then you shouldn’t have left me alone.” He tried to spit to clear his mouth, but it was too dry.
Sometime after midnight he drew close to the crest, the high point of the path between mountain peaks. His thirst was intense, but when he tried to get water from the skin he carried he discovered it felt like a rock was inside. The snow had melted at some point and then hardened into a solid piece of ice. Ignoring his better judgment, he scooped up some snow from the ground and put it into his mouth.
It didn’t help much with his thirst, but he felt better anyway. He ate some more and then decided he should take a short rest. His body was so tired that a nap sounded like a perfect remedy. He wasn’t that cold anyway. He found a rock jutting up from the snow and sat down, putting his back against it. His eyes closed almost immediately.
Wake up, dumbass!
“Leave me alone.”
You’ll be as dead as that frozen lump of fat you call a brain if you don’t get up, said his grandfather.
Will smiled. “You used to have better insults.”
That’s because I’m a delusion. You’re too stupid to come up with a decent impression of me, said Arrogan. Get up!
Despite thinking it was a bad idea, Will tried. His eyes wouldn’t open, and it took him a moment to realize they had frozen shut. He rubbed at them with his hands, but that didn’t seem to work, so he gave up on it. He struggled to get to his feet but promptly fell over. “I can’t,” he mumbled into the warm snow.
Then call her!
“Who?” asked Will.
Who do you think? Never mind, just forget it. You’re doing the world a favor by removing your stupidity from it.
Will giggled. “I was just teasing. I know you meant Tailtiu.”
Say it again.
“Tailtiu,” he whispered. “Your daughter is really beautiful, even if she’s my aunt.”
Once more.
“I’ve had some really naughty dreams about her. You’d be so mad if I told you,” said Will.
Say it, you demented half-wit!
“Tail—” he began before drifting into a warm darkness.
Chapter 32
The first thing Will became aware of was a red glow that seemed to suffuse everything around him. In fact, it was the only thing around him. When he opened his eyes, nothing changed; there were no shapes or anything else, other than the red glow.
“You called, yet you say nothing when I appear,” said a soft, feminine voice.
It sounded like Tailtiu, but Will wasn’t sure. He might be dreaming. As far as he could tell, he no longer had a body.
“If you won’t speak, I’ll leave,” she warned. “This is boring.”
Will tried to answer, but the only sound that came out was, “Grhk.” That answered the question about his body, though. He must still have one if he could make sounds.
“You’re awake,” she said, sounding surprised.
“Helphh,” he managed. The words got easier as he moved his lips more.
“Why don’t you look at me?” asked the fae. The light grew brighter for a moment. “Oh. Your eyelids are frozen shut. Why would you do that?” A warm wind caressed his face, and after a few minutes he felt his lashes come unstuck.
The red glow made more sense after he cracked his eyes open. A bright light hovered in the air above Tailtiu’s head, but it had seemed red as it filtered through the lids of his eyes. “I’m dying,” he told her, his voice thick but intelligible at last.
The fae woman cocked her head to one side, reminding him of a curious dog. “You’ve been dying since you were born. Is this a riddle?”
“Too cold,” he said. “I need help.”
Tailtiu frowned. “Why don’t you just use your magic to warm yourself?”
Will groaned. “I don’t know how.”
Arrogan’s daughter laughed as though he had told a joke. “That’s ridiculous. Father could do it. You’re just like him; you should be able to do the same.”
Even exhausted, Will found her tone irritating. “Tell me how then.”
His aunt shrugged. “I don’t know how human magic works. Mother does, but you called me. Besides, that sounds like a favor, doesn’t it? We haven’t made a bargain. I could warm you myself if you like. Would you like to use one of the unbounded favors to ask that of me?”
As foggy as his thoughts were, Will still knew that was an