eyes again, Cody was walking toward me.
“Anna?” he asked worriedly. “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” I said with a smile. I touched my lips to feel the smile that stretched over my face. This was happiness at seeing one of my mates.
Cody held out his arms to me, surreptitiously looking me over.
I sighed as he embraced me and explored the emotions his touch brought. They were faint, but I pulled them to the surface. This is what I’d been missing since I came back.
“Something’s wrong with me,” I whispered.
“I know, pretty girl,” he murmured into my hair. “But we’re going to get you fixed up.”
I pulled away from him and frowned.
“I feel enough to know what’s missing,” I said as I looked into his Caribbean blue eyes. “But I don’t know how to get myself back.”
I stared off into the distance as everything slowly faded away again, leaving me numb as I got lost in the vastness of the world around me. There was too much for me to comprehend all at once.
“We were talking about her mother,” Caleb told Cody quietly. “I thought it might help.”
“Yes,” I told both of them as I abruptly remembered my purpose. “Cody and I are going back to Winter.”
I abruptly opened a gateway without warning, and it shimmered to life directly in front of us. The guys both took a step back in surprise, and cold snow from the Artic drifted slowly through. Cody shivered as the cold wind cut through us and I wrapped us both in a protective layer.
“We’ll be back,” I told Caleb as I stepped through the gateway.
Cody followed me after a second of hesitation, and a glance back at where Caleb waited on the other side, his jaw slack in shock.
“Anna, I’m not sure this is a great idea,” Cody said as the gateway snapped closed behind us. “We wanted to keep your new powers a secret from all of the other fae, and that includes your father.”
I ignored his words and instead focused on making my gateway into the world of Winter. It was my first time doing this, but the knowledge came easily, like it had always been a part of me.
A gateway snapped open in front of me, and I stepped into the empty courtyard of Froston’s castle.
Cody let out a resigned sigh but followed after me. Once our feet were firmly in Winter, I released my gateway. This world felt different to me than the one I’d just come from. More chaotic, more wild.
My world felt fully formed, the magic subdued and passive. In this world, magic was everywhere for the taking. With the slightest effort, I could bring anything into being. Be anywhere. See anything.
“Anna?” Cody asked. “Maybe we should find your father?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Froston said from behind us.
I turned slowly to face him, still savoring the feel of this world.
“Anna,” Froston greeted me. “You seem different.”
I regarded him with an impassive face. Tiny threads of emotions started to rise at the sight of his face, but instead of embracing them, I pushed them away.
“I wish for you to accompany me to Summer to retrieve my mother,” I said in a toneless voice.
Froston’s jaw dropped. Distantly, I had a feeling this was the first time I’d ever managed to surprise him. I knew I probably should have felt some satisfaction, but I felt nothing.
“Your mother died,” Froston said slowly as his eyes examined me from head to toe and then back again.
“What happened to her?” Froston asked Cody.
Cody inhaled a breath to answer, but I held up a hand.
“It doesn’t matter,” I informed him. “Do you wish to bring anyone with you, or go alone?”
“To Summer?” Frost asked with a slight widening of his eyes. “That’s not a good idea.”
Froston suddenly lunged forward and grabbed a hold of my hand. His eyes watched for my reaction, but I simply waited to see what he was going to do. He closed his eyes, and I felt him probe my magic. I didn’t make any attempt to hide what I’d become. I let him feel everything that I was now.
When Froston opened his eyes, he merely stared for a moment.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” he said quietly.
I thought I might have caught a flash of emotion on his face, but it was quickly gone.
“I’d hoped you would embrace your fae side and become more powerful,” Froston told me as he tilted his head slightly to the side. “But I’m surprised to see you allowed power