to replace everything that you were. I thought you were stronger than that.”
I laughed out loud, but there was no humor in it.
“I’ve transcended,” I told him coolly.
Froston shook his head. “It was your passion and your heart that drove you. Without that, you’re lost and alone.”
I snarled at him as rage suddenly boiled up inside of me. “I’m not alone,” I hissed.
“Good,” Froston said with a nod. “It’s not gone, just buried.”
I whirled around and embraced the hot sensation that flowed through my veins. Anger. I could use this for where we were going. I’d be the vengeful goddess on a warpath when I stepped foot into Summer.
I opened a gateway back to the Artic.
“Come,” I told Froston and Cody. “We’re done talking.”
“You won’t be able to open a gateway to Summer,” Froston cautioned me as he stepped through with me. “You’ve never been there-”
His voice abruptly cut off when I did what he said was impossible. He would have been correct if I was still the timid half-fae girl who was afraid of stretching her magic too far. But that girl was gone, and in her place was a goddess who didn’t feel fear.
A gateway to Summer opened, and I saw my mother jump to her feet as I stepped through. I may not have ever been to Summer, but my mother and I had a blood connection. I only needed to stay focused on her and let my magic do the same.
“Anna!” my mother cried out in joy as she ran to embrace me. “How did you get here?”
Her body crashed into mine, and emotions flooded through me that were too intense to suppress. My mother held me in her arms for the first time in my living memory, and her love was an overpowering force that triggered something within me.
I only hesitated for a second before wrapping my arms around her in return. She held back a sob, and I gripped her tightly to me.
Joy, mixed with a sense of loss, flooded through me. I was so happy to be here with her, but sad that I’d missed a lifetime of her hugs. She should have been with me all this time.
A tear streaked down my cheek, and something broke inside of me. The dam that had been holding back all of my emotions broke. Overwhelming waves crashed through me – an entire range of emotions that I hadn’t been able to feel for days.
The vastness I’d been drowning in receded, and it was like I finally had a sense of who I was again. I wasn’t lost in a sea of power; I was holding onto the core of my identity. Holding onto everything that made me Anna.
Froston cleared his throat behind us and my mother tensed as she turned to him. I was surprised that she was just noticing him near. Our reunion had lasted for more than a few minutes.
“What are you doing here?” she asked coldly.
“Our daughter wished to reunite us,” he told my mother. “Astrid,” he said softly as he held out his hand. “I thought you were dead.”
My mother ignored his outstretched hand and turned back to me.
“Anna,” she said urgently. “We need to get Skye. I can’t leave without her.”
I gave her a determined nod. “I’ll get her.”
“No,” Froston ordered. “They will have already sensed our presence and will be searching for us. I can shield this general area to make it difficult for them, but it’s not safe to go out in the open.”
“Where is Skye?” Cody asked. “I can blend in better than either of you. I know Summer has some wolf shifters working for them.”
“That’s true,” my mother said as she eyed Cody. “The king has summoned spies from your world to report to him. Others will assume you’re one of them.”
Cody nodded. “I can do this.”
“He’s your mate?” my mother asked as she turned to me. Her eyes shone with hesitation and worry.
I nodded and clasped both her hands. “You can trust him with your daughter’s life,” I reassured her.
My mother’s chin trembled. “I already do,” she said in a whisper as she reached to touch my face as if she still couldn’t believe I was here in the flesh.
My mother gave Cody directions as to where he could find Skye playing with some of the other fae children. When it came time for her to tell Cody the passphrase that Skye would know came from her mother, Astrid shot Froston a dark look and