Page 26 of Wings of Snow

My throat bobbed in a swallow when Genoova stepped closer, then brought her palm to my chest. The unsolicited contact took me so much by surprise that I stepped back, but she moved with me, her hand never leaving my body.

Warmth bloomed across my chest, and a wide smile danced upon her lips, revealing small canines. “She’s perfect.”

“Perfect?” I repeated. Even though some might think that was a compliment, something told me it wasn’t. “Perfect in what way?”

“The power you carry is as my king described. Come.” She gestured toward the stairs and began to climb them.

“Wait.” I planted my feet to the sandy rock as Cailis plastered herself to my side. “What is it you want from me, and why exactly are we here?”

“I told you,” Drachu replied in a patient tone. “We’re going to attempt to free your trapped power, but to do that, we need God Zorifel’s help.”

Cailis scowled. “How do you know he will free it?”

The king shrugged. “I don’t, but it’s worth trying, isn’t it?”

Cailis’s hand slid down my arm until her hand clasped mine. She gave two squeezes.Two.

Mother Below. Drachu was lying.

I took another step away from the temple, and my sister moved with me, our bodies glued together. If Drachu was lying, then he knew that whatever they planned to do with me would either indeed free my affinities, or it would do something else. Something I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“I’d rather not.” I lifted my chin, holding eye contact with Drachu.

Something flashed across his features, but then his easy smile returned. “I promised you that we would treat you as a queen, did I not?”

“You did.”

“Yet you still balk at my trying to help you. How do you intend to be queen if you are as weak as a babe?”

“I...” But I didn’t have a response for that. I had no idea how I would ever be worthy of being the Solis queen in my current state, but allowing them to conduct a ritual, or gods forbid a sacrifice, didn’t seem like the wisest option either. Because the truth was, I had no idea what they intended to do with me in that temple.

“What will occur up there?” I nodded to the columns.

Genoova clasped her hands in front of her, her posture demure. “We shall call upon God Zorifel and beg for his help. As the God of Power, he may respond. Drachu was right about you. You carry strong magic inside you, Krelahala.”

“What does Krelahala mean?” Cailis hissed.

“Krelahalais what we call a female who possesses intensely strong magic.” Tylen stepped closer to us, breaking his silence.

Cailis squeezed me once. So, Tylen was telling the truth.

“You have a name for fae like me?” I cocked my head.

“We do,” Drachu replied. “It’s very rare to wield as much magic as you do. Few of our clan have ever possessed it to that extent. Those who have, have risen to be queen and advanced our race. They ruled like no other leader. They were all queens.”

My eyes widened. For Drachu to admit that queens prior to him were stronger leaders than him took a level of humbleness that wasn’t something I’d expect in a king. I could never see King Novakin admitting to something like that.

But Cailis had still detected a lie from him when he’d said they didn’t know if they could free my trapped affinities. “Do you know what will happen to me if I do what you’re asking?”

“It’s quite simple,” Genoova replied. “God Zorifel will either respond and bless you with his gift, or he won’t.” She shrugged as though it were really that easy.

I looked to Cailis, and she squeezed once.

Deep breaths lifted my chest as I felt for my magic again. Something still covered it, smothered it, and made it nearly impossible for me to access. Considering that Murl, the head healer at the Court of Winter, had been as stumped by it as me, I knew my options for freeing my affinities were minimal at best. And considering time was not in any way weakening whatever was dousing my magic, I was beginning to believe that it would forever taint my abilities if I didn’t do something drastic.

Perhaps this was the only way for me to regain my affinities, or maybe it wasn’t, and I was making a huge mistake.

Mother Below, it’s not like I have many options.I was thousands of millees from home. King Novakin would either execute me if I returned or force me to marry Arcane Woodsbury, and in my current state, I was nearly as helpless as I’d been before Prince Norivun had entered my life.

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