First Two Chapters

Chapter One

Sometimes, I hate Jax. 

I hate how insistent she is. How she can just show up in my life and I’m already stuck to her side like she’s a toddler running around a pool. I hate how I can list in chronological order all the times I have done this—drop everything, take care of Jax. No matter what it costs me. 

“Hell no,” I say. 

“He’s not as bad as he looks,” Jax says, patting an enormous caribou with fangs. We are all standing awkwardly outside the walls of Death’s keep. A keep that is still crumbling from my rock attack. “Frosttide is harmless…mostly.” 

I back away from the snorting reindeer. He’s almost as tall as Elixir and has sharpened antlers hung with charms that are large enough to skewer me, Jax, and Winter together. 

“Frosttide is the only option for reaching my kingdom,” Winter says. “The snow is too deep for humans to cross on foot.” 

Frosttide shakes his head at me as if impatient. Betrayal is moments from catching up to us, but Betrayal be damned. I’m not adding another monster to my magical creature passport. 

“Something feels off about him,” I say, inching away. 

Winter shakes a few snowflakes from her hair, as impatient as her caribou. 

“Admittedly, Frosttide was once an unsettled ijiraq,” she says, sounding slightly guilty. “And he had a taste for…kidnapping humans and leaving them to die in ice caves. But he has changed. Even shapeshifted into a more settled form. You are safe to ride him.”

“Safe? It’s a reindeer wearing clothes. I’ll be dead in a snow cave by morning.”

Winter straightens the woolen jacket around the reindeer’s shoulders, then clicks her teeth. Frosttide lowers and Jax climbs on, looking expectantly at me. I sigh through my teeth. She really is pushing me to new heights of discomfort tonight. 

I climb up behind her, catching a good whiff of reindeer fur and brimstone. I will be leaving a negative review. My hands subconsciously wrap around Jax’s waist. It feels strange to touch her again, even though her body is so familiar. 

Winter mounts last, in front of Jax. Unlike Elixir, this caribou has reins. 

“Away,” Winter says, flicking her pale blue fingers. They look frostbitten. 

Frosttide trots down the bleached cobbled street of Dead End City, hooves clicking against the stones, me clinging to Jax like a moron. Ghost orbs light the way overhead. Incarnate villagers pass us, running the opposite direction, heading toward the ruined palace. They must have heard the sound of me breaking the keep in half. I cringe. I hope Betrayal and War make it out ok. 

Frosttide exits the city. The world opens up around us, a dusting of snow on the silvery, leafless trees. The sun hasn’t risen yet.

The caribou begins to run. I lurch forward, clutching Jax, my heels gripping shaggy reindeer ribs. But I have to admit, I don’t feel as close to death on this reindeer as I do on Elixir. 

“Frosttide may not be as fast as Elixir,” Winter informs me, “but he is untraceable to all other incarnates. Betrayal won’t be able to find us.”

That’s what you think. I haven’t told them about my unholy bond with the Queen of Treachery. Betrayal may not be able to track Frosttide, but she can certainly track me. Hopefully, we’ll reach Winter’s keep before then. And hopefully, I can keep this bond a secret. Because who knows what they will do to me if they find out. 

We ride all night. Snow piles up, more and more. Towering pine trees on either side are thick with ice. But Frosttide’s thin hooves somehow stay on top of the snow, making his brisk jog easy. Each footstep is soft. Cushioned. There’s no noise in this wintery land. 

Winter passes us a drink from her flask. Life’s potion. I chug the drink and instantly feel stronger. My sore ass from riding Frosttide, the ache from where Betrayal hit me earlier, nearly dying at Death’s hand; all of it disappears. I feel terrific, physically. My mental game is still scorched earth. 

Jax leans backward, resting against me. “I’m happy you’re alive.”

I squeeze her waist. “I’m happy you are. This place has a thing for boning humans into oblivion.”

She turns her cheek into my chest. “I’ve missed you.”

I’m glad she can’t see my face as I reply, “Same.” 

I don’t know how I’m going to tell her that I came back. I was in Tokyo, but decided I wanted to be in the Otherworld so badly, I chose it over her. 

I don’t know how to explain that only moments ago I was pinning Betrayal’s wrists into the dirt and shoving my tongue down her throat. 

I swallow. There’s nothing to explain, really. I had a few brief, undefinable moments with Betrayal, but I left her for Jax. I’ll do anything for Jax. 

“Yes,” I say firmly. 

“What?” Jax asks. 

“Almost there,” Winter says. 

We exit the snow-covered pines. Winter’s keep looms in a valley below. It’s huge. Much bigger than Sequester. The windows blaze with light, lanterns hanging from every tower. The massive castle is built on an island of cliffs in the center of an icy black lake. Snow-packed walls encircle the water. 

“Snowdrift,” Winter says as I gape at the keep. “Impregnable. No incarnate has ever breached my walls. It is the safest keep on the Isle. Besides perhaps Ruin’s.”

Jax reaches up and pats my neck. “You’re safe now, Kit Kat.”

It does look incredibly solid. Walls. Lake. Cliffs. It would be hard breaking through that. Except for the fact that Betrayal is a one woman army. 

Winter clicks her teeth and Frosttide descends the sloping hill. As he reaches the bottom, the sun cracks the horizon, turning patches of the cloudy sky lavender.

A shadow flies over us and I jump, terrified Betrayal is descending on me. 

“Is that what I think it is?” I ask, looking up. 

Winter scowls. “Scorch.”

A dragon beats leathery wings against the sky, blowing back my bangs. 

I whistle. “No one will believe this at my next dinner party.”

Jax snorts. “Getting a lot of invitations to those?”

The dragon follows us to the massive wall, throwing up gusts of wind that make Winter’s coat flap. Jax pushes my head down. 

“Don’t look up so much,” she says. “The snowflakes will fall in your eyes and make you bitter and heartless.”

I tuck my chin. “What the fuck?” I whisper to Jax.

“Don’t ask,” Jax whispers back. “Winter’s touchy about it.” 

The gate has two huge doors made of snow and sculpted to look like reindeer frolicking. 

“Only I can open the gates of Snowdrift,” Winter says, placing her hand on the frozen entrance. “I know everyone who comes and goes. Unless of course they fly in.” 

She mumbles something as the gates swing open. 

“But don’t fret,” Winter says to me as we watch the dragon glide over the lake. “Nothing enters my keep without my permission.”

Our bouncing reindeer makes his way across the ice bridge lit that is lit with lamp poles, stretching over choppy black water. As we approach the keep I feel nothing but trepidation. This keep is so grand and inhospitable. The walls are covered in mirror shards. I spot someone, beckoning to me in the highest tower, but when I look back, they are gone. Only a flurry of snow. I look away quickly, incase a snowflake messes up my personality. 

We approach the dragon, waiting for us at the Keep’s front doors. Frosttide seems as nervous of the dragon as I am. The reindeer’s footsteps slow as we climb up the cliff steps. The dragon looks like an enormous bat with black fur, big ears, and a face like a gargoyle. Its tail could flatten a horse.

I dismount from Frosttide and pretend not to care that I am standing next to a pulsing monster tail covered in hooked spines. 

From off of the dragon slides an incarnate, landing lightly on the ground. He’s dressed in burnt red armor and has black hair pulled back into a slick bun. There’s charcoal under his eyes, down to his lips. At his side hangs a glass dagger. He looks angry, but I wonder if that’s just his face. His eyes are black. Fallen. 

No one has to tell me. I know this is Fire. 

“Winter,” Fire says, striding toward us. “Do you realize what you have brought us?”

The diamonds around Winter’s eyes catch the lavender sunlight as she dismounts Frosttide. 

“Brought us?”

“Betrayal’s human,” says another incarnate atop the dragon. He clumsily slides down, landing on the ground like an anvil. This other incarnate also has black eyes, a wild beard, and actual muscles. The first incarnate I’ve seen who looks like he lifts. 

The muscular incarnate meets my eyes. “Our salvation.”

Chapter Two 

“Salvation?” I ask. I’m not sure if this is an “incarnates only” discussion, but I’m butting in. I don’t like what I’m hearing. 

“What do you mean?” Winter asks the muscular incarnate. 

“Life didn’t send you the message?” Fire asks, his charcoal eyes fixated on me. “She sent it to all her loyal followers.”

Winter frowns and the air becomes several degrees colder. 

“What message?” she asks. 

“The human has bonded with Betrayal,” the muscular incarnate says. 

Everyone looks at me. 

I fidget. So much for keeping it a secret. 

“Bonded?” Jax asks, her face twisting. “You mean that marriage thing you guys do?”

“No,” I say quickly. “It was done without my permission.”

“Impossible,” Winter says, her voice glacial. “Bonds with humans have always failed.” 

“This one didn’t,” Fire says, tone eager, with a hint of desperation. He reaches out to me, but I know better than to let an incarnate touch me. Even a fallen one. I shove his hand away with my elbow, which makes him angry. 

“It isn’t yours,” he says, sharply. “It’s my craft. And Stone’s.” He gestures to the muscular incarnate. 

So this is Stone. 

I take him in. Stone is wearing rings made of rock. His shoes look like they are rock too. He looks heavy, like every step he takes could crack the earth. And his face is…sad. Like he hasn’t smiled in a long time. 

His face reminds me a little of my bio dad. The one I never knew, but saw plenty of pictures of. They both had bushy beards and loud features. Thick shoulders. An imposing, space taking stance. 

So this is the original of my favorite craft. A craft I have grown so fond of, I consider it mine. 

But it isn’t mine. It’s his. 

“It isn’t ours,” Stone says to Fire in a deep voice. “It’s Betrayal’s. She won the claims.” 

Fire crosses his arms. He is lean and angular where Stone is heavy and hunched. 

“And now we have a chance to take it back,” he says, tapping black fingernails against his arm. 

My stomach sours. They want their power back. Of course they do. 

Fire eyes me. “You should return it to us.”

I bite my lip. Fuck. 

“Fire…” Stone says.

“What, Keep Maker?” Fire snaps. “The settled have been crippled for too long.” Fire eyes me. “Without Stone and me to protect them,” he explains, “we have been forced to make alliances with Death. Winter.” Winter snorts but Fire ignores her, eyes only for me. “We need this power returned to us.” 

Winter steps between me and Fire. “You are too forceful with my guest,” she says and my fingers grow numb. “She has been to the brink of death and back again, yet, you place the weight of our history with Betrayal on her shoulders.”

“You have your craft, Winter,” Fire snaps, finally looking away from me. “In no way can you comprehend the toll of being fallen. Do not be so selfish.” 

Fire attempts to step around Winter, but the ground frosts over and he slips, grabbing onto Stone who keeps him from falling. 

“This is my keep,” Winter says as Fire straightens, furious. “Stand down and give my guest time to recover before you unload decades of miseries upon her.”

Fire gets into Winter’s space which seems brave considering he doesn’t have any power. “You will not steal this opportunity from me.”

They begin arguing. I look at Stone. He gives me half a smile, which I return. 

“I hear you brought down Death’s keep,” he says, stepping toward me. I’m surprised that the ground doesn’t shake.

I nod. 

Stone smiles a genuine smile. “Betrayal never did anything like that with my craft,” he says and I hear appreciation in his voice. “Fire is her favorite. How did it feel?”

I remember the way the ground sustained me, while crumbling everywhere else. The shake of the stone as it fell. Bringing down such a colossal structure that housed the man who attempted to murder me.

“It felt like what I was meant to do.”

Stone puts his hands behind his back, surveying me slowly. “If it can’t be me,” he finally says, “I am happy at least someone is using stonecraft to its full potential.”

Fuck. I so rarely receive this. Acceptance. I’m a sucker for it. I think of the way Betrayal looked at me with this same look in Stone’s eyes. Like I’m valuable. Like I’m not broken. 

“I’ll give it back,” I say. 

Fire and Winter stop fighting. They look at me. My stomach feels like it is full of acid, but it’s the right thing to do. 

“It isn’t mine,” I say, meeting Stone’s eyes. “It’s yours. I’ll give it back.”

“What?” Jax says. 

Stone swallows. “Are you sure?” 

Fire waves Stone’s question away. “Of course she is. It was never hers to begin with.”

I ignore Fire. “Yes,” I say. As always, the stonecraft in my fingertips is begging me to use it. I love the rush, the insane power. It’s like family at this point. 

But it doesn’t belong to me. 

Winter gives me an approving nod. “So different from your mistress.”

“Betrayal’s not her mistress,” Jax says. 

Where are you?

I jump and the incarnates look at me in confusion. 

“Are you all right?” Stone asks, putting one of his large, heavy hands on my shoulder. I feel the weight of his stone rings. 

I nod, attempting to inhale. They told me I’m safe here. They told me she can’t get in.

“I wondered how Betrayal could have done it—” Winter says, giving me a look that could freeze a waterfall. “I remember how long it took her to build Sequester. But you…you razed Death’s keep like Stone razed Perpetual. Didn’t you?”

Everyone looks at me. I shuffle my feet. 

“That was you?” Jax asks. “You made that…earthquake?”

I half-heartedly shrug. 

“No wonder Life was so eager to warn us,” Fire says. “Betrayal’s doppelganger.”

I stick my hands in my suit pockets. I’m not nearly as strong as Betrayal. 

“So…how do I give it back?” I ask, changing the subject. 

Fire eagerly pulls out his glass dagger. I think there’s fire somehow inside the dagger. Deep red fire. He places the tip of the blade on his palm, but I hold up a hand, stopping him. 

“Can I…” I gesture to all the rock around me. “One last time.”

Winter understands first. “A proper farewell.”

I survey the landscape. There isn’t a lot of room for stonecraft. It’s all snow, the sun turning the powder a frosty pink. 

“Who’s gonna fight me?” I ask, turning back. Everyone looks baffled. 

“You want a match?” Winter asks. 

My body is humming after Life’s potion. I feel great, despite nearly dying a few hours ago. 

“Fighting is the funnest way to use stonecraft.” I crack my knuckles. “How about you, Snowflake?” 

“Winter?” Fire asks, incredulous. “She will freeze every bone in your body.”

I grin. “I guess you can freeze a few, if you really want to. What do you say?”

Winter’s thin smile has bite. “I haven’t had a match in some time. It isn’t the settled way.”

“Come on, live a little,” I say. “Give me a proper send off.”

Winter considers me for a moment. “The bridge,” she finally says. 

Jax touches my wrist. “Don’t,” she whispers. “Winter is one of the oldest incarnates. The older, the more powerful. She’ll freeze you.”

I tousle Jax’s hair. “I got this.”

***

The bridge is all rock, covered in ice. The foundation is rock too. So much stone. I can’t wait to move it. 

Winter stands across from me. She doesn’t look that scary, wearing that big, fluffy cloak. The only thing intimidating about her is a knife made of diamonds hanging at her side. 

Behind her stands the other incarnates, the dragon, and Jax. No one stands behind me. 

Winter beckons to me and a few snowflakes fall on my shoulders. 

“Whenever you’re ready,” she says. 

I push my toe into the ice. “Ladies first.”

Winter smiles. “You really shouldn’t let me make the first move.”

I hear it before I see it. Hundreds of icy needles jetting out of the lake from both sides of the bridge, whistling toward me. 

Shit. 

I drop to my knees, place a hand on the bridge, and split the damn thing in two. 

The two sides of the bridge lift, blocking the ice needle onslaught. Winter and I both plummet toward the water. 

But the stones beneath the water rise up and catch me, cradling my fall. I don’t even get a toe wet. 

I grin. 

Where is Winter? There are ripples where an incarnate shaped body has fallen. 

The stones beneath my feet push me back onto the bridge. There is now a gaping hole between me and the other incarnates. 

Winter is still in the water. I’m guessing she isn’t taking kindly to an early morning plunge. 

Ice forms and I watch Winter emerge from the lake, soaking wet. A shaky ice column pushes her back onto the bridge, on my side of the gap. 

She removes her sodden cloak. 

She looks different. Emaciated. Her dress is soaked, maybe that’s why, but I think it’s something else. Her cheeks are hollow. And her eyes are no longer a frosty blue. Instead, they are pure white. 

“Did you find pleasure in dunking me?” she asks and her voice is different too. Any warmth is completely gone. I feel cold just hearing her. “No one has managed something like—,”

I send a piece of bridge straight into her torso. She crumples comically and falls to her knees, gasping. The incarnates on the other side gasp too. 

“Now that we’re all caught up,” I say and lob another bridge chunk at her. 

She rolls like a wet dog and jumps to her feet. I’ve made her angry. And apparently, very unsettled. She could be Death’s twin. 

“So, this is what it’s like to fight Betrayal,” Winter says, holding out her hand. 

The sweat on my forehead freezes. I feel it puncturing my head, like shards of glass are suddenly pressing into my skin. 

I light my hand on fire and wipe the shards away with the pink flame. 

Winter draws her knife and runs at me. Oh boy. I reach out and a metal lamp pole on the bridge detaches and flies into my hand. It’s massive, so I grip it with both hands and swing like a moron, using a mixture of metalcraft and my own strength to move the thing. A five foot lamp pole coming at Winter isn’t something she can ignore. She tries to dodge, but the pole clips her shoulder and Winter tumbles backward, snow flurrying across the bridge. 

I grin. “Bet your ancestors felt that one.” 

Winter clutches her shoulder. “I don’t have any ancestors.”

My elbow freezes, locking into place and I drop the lamp pole. Winter lifts her hand and my internal temperature drops what feels like 100 degrees. I am suddenly freezing. My vision blurs and I think I might be sinking to the ground. I’m disoriented. The cold is so intense, it’s all I can focus on. 

“Wha…wha di you do,” I say, but my words won’t come out right. My tongue is a chunk of ice. I think I have hypothermia. I tuck my hands under my armpits, trying to conserve any body heat I have as I hunch over. 

Winter approaches me, her white eyes glowing. Ice encases my feet and knees, making it impossible to run away. 

“Bit…ch” I murmur. 

Winter lowers her hand to my face. 

My knees are touching the bridge. I summon any last stonecraft I can and crack the bridge beneath her feet. 

“Oh no you don’t,” Winter says and she forms a layer of ice where she stands, just as I collapse the stone beneath her. The ice holds and she stays right where she is. 

“You are sensational,” Winter says, then places her thumb on my forehead. I recognize the move. It’s what they do in the Kill Ring. 

It means she’s won. 

The hypothermia in my body disappears. I am able to stand, my thoughts no longer sluggish, though I am still trembling. 

“Testing, one, two, three.” My voice is working. 

Winter’s cheeks round out and she no longer looks like the corpse of the abominable snowbride. Her dress hugs her figure, instead of hanging off it. 

“You should have used fire,” she says. Her eyes are back to blue. 

I rub my aching arms. “I wanted to say goodbye to stonecraft.”

Winter sheathes her knife. “Are you ready then?”

I look back at the crowd of incarnates, Stone among them, looking concerned. 

“Let's do it,” I say, trying not to sound like I am giving up my firstborn child.  

Winter spreads her ice floor until it covers the gaping hole in the bridge. We cross the ice, me expecting to fall through any second. Winter’s unsettled side seems the type to revenge soak me. But we make it across without incident. Jax takes my hand and I stop shaking. I look at her, grateful, feeling warm again. She must have used destruction to eradicate any leftover snow magic. 

“Kate is ready,” Winter says. Fire approaches, but Winter stops him. 

“Stone first,” she says. “You can wait a little longer, fallen lord.”

Fire’s eyes are furious, but Winter doesn’t seem to care. Stone steps forward, looking like he doesn’t dare hope. He stops in front of me. 

It’s his craft. Not mine. 

Tears threaten to come to my eyes so I clench my jaw. 

Kate? 

I flinch. Fuck, Betrayal. 

Kate? What’s wrong?

I close my eyes. Dear lord. I can’t handle sympathy from her right now. She’s gonna make me really cry. 

I take a breath and push her out of my head. “What do I do?” 

Winter takes my hand. 

“Forgive me if I am a little worried about you bleeding out after Door’s mistake with the first human. May I be the one to cut you?”

She flips my hand over so my palm is facing up.

“Knock yourself out,” I say. 

Winter plucks a piece of ice from thin air, sharpening it to the finest point. She gently presses the ice blade to my palm. 

A drop of blood blooms. 

Stone quickly cuts his own hand. Dark ash falls out of the wound. He offers me his hand. I take it, my drop of blood mingling with the ash. 

This is it. 

“Repeat after me,” Winter says. 

“Claim or Owe or Bond with me 

Which of these three shall it be?

Neither of these three I require

The Return is my only desire

Burden released, undo the twine,

What’s mine is yours, no longer mine.”

I say the spell, the words feeling tight in my throat. I grip Stone’s hand for support. He grips it back, nodding at me encouragingly. 

We stare at each other for several heartbeats. 

“Is something supposed to happen?” I ask. “Or is that it?”

Winter scowls, circling us. “Yes, something is supposed to happen. But it isn’t.”

Stone releases my hand. He looks at the ashy mess on his palm. 

“Betrayal was the one who claimed my craft,” he says, his tone collected. “Only she can return it.”

I look at my bloody palm. 

“Shit,” I say. “So I can’t give it—?”

Fire turns and jumps onto his dragon’s back. The monster lifts off, huge wings nearly knocking over Jax. The dragon flies toward the forest and roars, a horrible, gut wrenching roar of despair. 

The sound makes me sick. And everyone else too apparently. They all look miserable. 

“I appreciate you trying,” Stone says to me. Before I can respond, he walks away too.  

The rest of us stand there, not speaking, snow falling on our heads. 

I look at the ground, feeling guilty for failing. And also feeling guilty for being happy I can still use stonecraft.

Winter places a hand on my shoulder, making me cold all over again.  

“You did what you could,” she says, voice heavy. “You have earned a rest.”

***

The inside of Winter’s keep is nothing like the outside. While the outside looks frozen and inhospitable, the inside is like stepping into a Christmas cabin. Holly wreaths hang from thick ceiling beams. Roaring fires encircle the hall. Caribou antlers form chandeliers above us, lit with candles that smell like pine needles. Friendly looking dogs bound up to me, so I scratch their heads. 

Jax leads me through the keep, which is good because I would be lost with all the twisting passages and crooked staircases. Every hall smells like freshly baked cake and wassail. Candles in tinsel lanterns cover every window sill. 

“It’s cozy, isn’t it?” Jax asks. 

“Yeah,” I say, looking at one of the many window nooks that is piled high with blankets and books. A perfect spot for surveying the falling snow. 

“It didn’t use to be like this,” Jax says. “It used to be this bleak fortress. No one hardly came here. But when Winter decided to be settled, she enlisted the help of a human decorator.”

I notice a tiny fireplace with a kettle hanging over the flames and walnuts in a basket on the floor. Outside, the wind howls against the window, but inside it’s safe and warm. 

Jax points. “That kettle is how I remember where my bedroom is.”

She opens up a narrow door beside the fireplace. 

I step past, my shoulder brushing Jax. It makes me unexplainably anxious, touching her. 

The room is boiling. A huge fire roars in the fireplace, making the room stifling hot. 

“Shit,” I say, fanning myself. 

“Sorry about that,” Jax says, closing the door, which only makes it hotter. “At night, when Winter is sleeping, her subconscious slips back into unsettled mode and the whole castle freezes over. That used to be her thing—freezing life. She can even freeze an incarnate's spellcraft. The nightly frost doesn’t bother the incarnates as much as it bothers me, so I have to keep this place really warm. I’m glad you’re here. Now we can snuggle like we used to…”

She pauses, suddenly self-conscious. “Unless…you don’t want to share a room.”

I never expected to see that look on Jax’s face. Back in our world, I never dated anyone besides Jax, but she dated lots of other people. I was the one always giving her that uncertain look. 

But now she’s unsure…

“Of course,” I say quickly, wanting to put her at ease. Wanting her to never doubt. Falling back into old ways. 

Jax slides into my arms. It’s such a natural thing for her to do, but it surprises me. I haven’t been hugged in a while. I did hug Betrayal the other night, as I held her in her bed…oh god, I’ve got to stop thinking about that. 

“You were amazing out there,” Jax mutters into my jacket. “Unreal. I can’t believe you took on Winter.”

I wrap my arms around her. “I still lost.”

“You shouldn’t have even got close.”

The wall across from me is made entirely of window, giving me a picturesque view of the black lake below and falling snow. I think the window is made of ice. 

There’s a knock at our door and we both jump. Jax releases me and opens the door. One of Winter’s offspring stands in the hall. 

“Winter needs you, Jax,” the offspring says. 

Jax looks back at me. “But Kate just got here.”

“It’s ok,” I say. “I’ll give myself the room tour.”

Jax nervously twirls her finger through her ponytail, a familiar quirk. “I’ll be quick.”

I nod and she leaves, closing the door behind her. 

Phew. 

Alone. 

Even if I’m happy to be back with Jax, I need to be alone. I need to think. 

I look around the room. Everywhere are signs of Jax. Unmade bed. Clothes on the floor. A plate of half eaten cake. She always had a sweet tooth. Her pink cocktail dress she was wearing the night we stepped into this world hangs over the back of a chair. I touch it. 

“Kate.”

I spin around. Betrayal is standing in the room.  

My back slams against the ice window and I fall on my ass. 

“How?” I choke out. “They said no one could break in.” 

Betrayal doesn’t move, her long black hair mussed from traveling. 

“How?” I demand. 

She waves her hand impatiently. “Like it was hard.”

I think I’m trembling. They promised no one could break in. And now I’m on the floor in front of Betrayal. 

Betrayal takes a hesitant step toward me. “Are you…scared of me?” 

“Uh, yeah. Terrified.”

Betrayal holds out her hand, offering to help me up. “Why? I’m here to rescue you.”

I look at her outstretched hand, heart rate speeding. She doesn’t know I left voluntarily. 

Her hand reminds me of that night in the alley when I first met her. I took her hand without a thought. But now I know, I can’t touch her. She’ll put her loyalty spell on me and I’ll want to go back with her. I’ll jump out this window and run back with her. Back to home. Sequester. Where I belong. 

I swallow, and Betrayal catches it. She retracts her hand. 

“You…need me to rescue you, right?” she asks, voice uncertain. 

I swallow again. 

“No,” I whisper.

The back of Betrayal’s throat lights up with fire. 

Fuck. I hastily climb to my feet, but she has me cornered against the window. Nowhere to go. 

“Kate,” Betrayal says, leaning toward me. She’s so pretty. So inhumanly pretty. I remember kissing her in the forest. I remember the…dirty thoughts I had. What I wouldn’t give to feel her body right now. Maybe tug her messy hair a little. 

“Betrayal,” I say and I mean it to come out cool and collected, but it comes out crackly. “Don’t.” 

“They took you,” Betrayal says. “Tell me they took you.”

I didn’t think I’d have to betray her to her face. It was much easier to do it behind her back. But this feels fucked up. 

I promised I would protect her. 

I can’t meet her eyes. “They didn’t.” 

The fire dies in the back of Betrayal’s throat. She steps away from me, hand griping Incisor. 

I’m hurting her. And right after I promised I wouldn’t. 

She looks at me as if this is what she expected all along. As if I did exactly what she anticipated. 

Jax removed her loyalty spell, so why do I still feel so taken with her? So desperate to tell her I’m lying and leave this place at her side. Maybe roll around in the snow with her. 

I don’t say anything. Just wait for Betrayal to attack me. But she doesn’t. She just stares at me, looking lost. 

“You have set a record,” she finally says. “Fastest yet.” 

Anger prickles inside. It helps me forget I’m a scumbag. 

“I was supposed to go with them in the first place when I walked through that Door.” I gesture around this sweltering room. “I was supposed to come here.” 

“Oh please,” Betrayal says, her anger matching mine. “You came of your own free will the second time. You wanted to be with me, so I deserve to know why that has changed.”

The door to the room opens and we both look. 

Jax, mouth hanging open, stands in the doorway. 

I see recognition in Betrayal’s eyes. She remembers Jax from that night in the alleyway. 

Any pain on Betrayal’s face evaporates as she looks Jax up and down.  

“Her? she asks. Oh boy, I know that tone. I quickly place myself between Jax and Betrayal.  

Jax doesn’t stay behind me. She bolts. 

“Winter!” We hear her shouting as she runs down the hall. 

Betrayal’s face is now giving nothing but dark queen. She throws her head back and lets out a waft of green smoke. 

“I understand,” she says. 

“I can’t abandon her again,” I mumble. 

Betrayal gives me the side eye, then blows hot smoke over my face. I freeze, eyes stinging. I feel like I’m still under her spell, despite Jax taking her loyaltycraft away. 

Betrayal clicks her tongue at me. “Do you feel noble, Kate?”

She takes a step toward me, and I step back, tugging at my collar which is way too tight.

“Do you feel chivalrous?” she asks, tone mocking. “Joining your human lover and saving her from the likes of me?”

“I feel fucking miserable,” I say honestly. 

Betrayal lights her hand on fire. I flinch, but instead of using it to burn me alive, she slams her palm against the window. The ice cracks, then shatters, falling away, jetting us both with welcome freezing air.  

“Enjoy being their hero,” Betrayal sneers. “It suits you.”

Then she steps backward and drops out the window. 

Holy shit. I run to the edge, peering down. Somehow Betrayal is already running away, crossing the grounds below, completely unharmed from a three story fall. 

I watch her cross the bridge, a wild black spot. Other incarnates are shouting, chasing after her. 

There’s no chance she will get away. 

Betrayal 

How dare she? 

She told me to try a human—a human has never hurt you. Then moments later, she sticks her burning hot knife through my back. 

I hear them chasing me, Winter and her legions. 

The bridge is broken in the center, held together by ice. I know who is responsible. Kate. I gnash my teeth. With my power, she destroyed this bridge. The power I bestowed on her. 

Ice creeps up my back, trying to freeze my spellcraft.

I summon fire, more fire than I have summoned in a long time, and let it engulf the bridge. A festoon of green flames cascade behind me, melting the ice. I hear it crack, ice chunks dropping into the water below. I cross over onto the sturdy side of the bridge just as the last piece of ice falls. 

I don’t bother looking back. I know there is now a rift in the bridge. Winter can cross it with her ice. My craft is freezing again. I snarl and re-ignite myself in fire. A huge green fireball. 

Wings beat overhead. It makes me shiver, recalling my claim with Fire. Scorch is chasing me, Fire on his back. 

I summon Elixir. He appears in the snow beside the gates of Snowdrift, letting me leap aboard. 

We run. I send bolts of fire at Scorch. The dragon growls but pulls back, unable to fight fire with none of his own. It gives Elixir enough time to make some distance and we disappear into the trees. 

The sound of wings fades. The forest grows quiet, midwinter snow muffling Elixir’s steps. The silence strangles me. 

I make Elixir stop on a cliff that overlooks the valley, Winter’s keep barely visible, a tower of ice in a lake of black. 

Kate. I say it subconsciously, then curse myself. I don’t want her to know how much this hurts. I drive my sharp fingernails into my palm. 

I had her for the briefest moment. The sun stopped in the sky. My virulent, sad heart had become hers for a comfortable moment. 

But then she went back to what she knew. The loyal hero, riding off into the sunset. 

Snow is falling heavily. So heavy, I can no longer see the keep. The wind has picked up, becoming a blizzard. 

Foiled again. Dupped again. 

A fortnight ago, when I thought Kate was worth saving, I used destruction to break Death’s spell. It was the first time an incarnate used destruction. 

And it created something.

I don’t need Kate. Let her die of boredom with her drab little girlfriend. 

I have my next move.

Thanks for reading!

Book Two will release 9/22/2026

This is a work of fiction. All the events, characters, organizations, etc. in this novel are either fictitious or products of the author’s imagination. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. 

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All rights reserved. All editions and subsequent editions belong to the author. Copyright by Rowan Joy