soothed my nerves and made me almost forget my disappearing body parts.
“We’ll take you to the Crystal Caves then,” Simeon said. “You’ll hopefully find the answers to all you seek on the other side.”
Agnë wrung her hand, pleading gaze on me. “The healer said Jon’s injury would have killed a weaker being. He’s not ready to move yet.”
“But time is of the essence,” King Yulian warned. “The Wild Hunt maraud the Folkshore at this time of year, so if you don’t hurry, you might miss them.”
“Leave me,” Jon yelled from the room beyond. “Just go get Marian and Fairuza’s prince.”
Simeon set his hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Do you have to accompany them? If you stay, you could finally meet Sorcha, and watch over your friend’s healing.” Before she could say anything, he added, reproachfully, “I haven’t seen you in so long—and you missed my wedding.”
Agnë’s eyes filled with terrible conflict. She cared for my fate more than I could have imagined. But this was her home, and she’d been away from it for so long, because of me. And she cared for Jon, who did need someone to stay with him at his weakest, and in an unfamiliar place.
I would have loved to hug her. I could only attempt a smile. “You stay here and take care of Jon. You must miss this place. I’ll be fine.”
Agnë sobbed and rushed to wrap her arms around the space I occupied in the approximation of a hug. “I don’t want to leave you. I want to be there when it all goes right.”
I didn’t have it in me to tell her I couldn’t see anything going right. Even if I survived. She was the most optimistic person I’d ever met, and people like that, childlike in their trust of the world, took disappointments harder than those of us who expected them.
“Meira should be the one stuck with me in every part of this trip. This is all her fault, after all.” My fake levity clearly didn’t work, evidenced by Meira’s strangulated gasp. I gave her an apologetic grimace, before turning to the king. “Now, where exactly are those Crystal Caves?”
Yulian led us out at once, taking us through his castle of crystal—or was it ice? The beauty of all the reflective surfaces, and the kaleidoscope of colors that refracted off every facet was hypnotic.
From the outside, the castle was a cloud-scraping, crystalline structure, with turnip-shaped domes, and soaring spires that gleamed in the moonlight. It was such a feat of architecture and magic, it even managed to take my mind off my despair.
Robin seemed as taken with the place. “And I’d thought the Summer Palace was the most wondrous place I’d ever see. Now comes this castle made entirely of crystal. Or is it ice?” Just what I’d been wondering. He sighed. “I heard so many stories about this place, but none could describe its reality. No wonder many in Arbore believe Faerie is where we go when we die, that this land is our Underworld.”
“But now I know better.”
I regretted my bitter quip the moment it was out. Robin seemed stricken, and we followed King Yulian to a carriage in charged silence.
After he directed the driver to take us to our destination, and we were pulling away, Ella yelled after us, “When you finally meet the Spring Queen, bite her head off! Literally, if you can!”
I couldn’t help a huff of mirth. Yet another rival, who’d deprived me of a chance at survival, that I would have liked to know better.
Out of the carriage’s rear window, I could see our horses galloping after us. I felt bad for dragging Amabel through this treacherous quest, but hopefully once in Spring, she’d have vast green fields to joyously run through.
We soon passed through the city of Midnight, the Winter Court’s capital, and alongside a green river that painfully reminded me of the one in the Underworld.
Attempting to distract myself, and because I was truly curious, I asked Robin, “The stories you heard about Faerie, were they from your mother?”
Robin massaged his neck, as if it hurt, a frown settling between his spectacular eyebrows. “Some of them. I thought she was making things up to entertain me. Turns out she was describing the places she missed. Then at some point she got tired of missing, and decided to go back.”
“Do you know where she went?”
He shook his head. “She just left. I always wondered if she ever missed my father and me the