Road To Winter (Fae's Captive #2)
Lily Archer
1
Leander
(Author’s Note: If you haven’t read Book 1, Fae’s Captive, you’re going to want to do that before starting Road to Winter.)
Fire scorches across my back as I twist away from the witch’s claws. Her venom is particularly potent, slowing my reactions and dimming my vision.
“On your right!” Gareth leaps for her, sword swinging, but she disappears in a black plume and cackles with glee.
“You taste like power, winter king.” Her voice whistles through the trees. “Old, strong roots. Cold wind and the delicious bite of fresh snow.”
I stumble forward, staying upright as I follow my mate’s scent. Her fear is acrid in my nostrils. The vile witch took her as she slept, slipping her past my defenses with powerful dark magic straight from the Spires. I only realized Taylor was gone when the other changeling began to yell.
Gareth keeps close to my back, just like old times. We’re at war again, but now the stakes are even higher. I can’t lose Taylor.
“So sweet to try and save your poor, poor mate.” The voice comes from everywhere and nowhere.
“If you’ve harmed her, I will—”
“No.” A shadow whips to my right. “I won’t harm that one. That wouldn’t do. Don’t you know what she is?”
I sense the attack coming and spin, lashing out with my blade. Contact, but my sword glances off her obsidian skin, the blow jarring up my arm.
“She’s a changeling, foul witch,” Gareth growls and throws out his hand, sending a wild blue fireball crashing into her.
But she’s an Obsidian. Fire cannot harm her. She opens her mouth wide and inhales, swallowing the flames before disappearing again.
Her cackle sounds from behind the next tree. I rush forward and stab the spot, finding only air. Another slash of fire opens across my back, and I whirl as the dark creature dances back, her feet not touching the ground. Gareth rushes her, swinging for her face, but she vanishes before he lands the blow.
“A changeling?” The cackle grows to a cacophony that echoes around us. “Fools.”
There’s only one way to destroy an Obsidian witch, and it almost killed me the last time. But to save my mate, I will fight until my last breath. This sacrifice will be worth it.
“Draw her ahead of us.” I back up to stand next to Gareth. Blood drips down a nasty gash on his face. If he’s not careful, he’ll have another wound to match the jagged scar on his right cheek.
“This one gives even better than the last one we killed.” He spits blood. “It will take all you have. Can you do it?”
“I have to. Be ready.”
He grimaces. “You shouldn’t—”
“Secrets make enemies, my lords.” Her voice whispers right beside me, but when I strike out, nothing is there.
Gareth limps ahead of me, his sword down. He’s exposed. The witch won’t be able to resist. Dirty fighters, they take their prey however they can get it.
Her sharp claws click, each tap like a crack of lightning. Gareth drops his sword and trips, falling onto his knees.
The darkness grows around him.
I close my eyes and breathe in the strange warm air, the hint of brimstone, the flowery scent that pervades these woods. But when I open my eyes, I breathe out winter, snow, and ice. The ground freezes beneath me, shooting out in a ring of frost as I focus on the darkness that circles my second in command.
“Sleep now, warrior. Sleep and know I will take you with me. Back to my cave. You will join my beautiful bones. Your flesh will wilt until I’m ready to feast.” She comes into view, standing behind him, her claws drawn back.
I focus on her as everything inside me unbinds itself, the magic flowing through me in a rush that almost knocks me off my feet. We only have one shot at this, one chance to destroy her before she kills all of us.
She slashes downward, her black claws glinting, and I push my magic to her, unleashing the icy bite of the winter realm in all its beautiful terror.
The witch screeches, but the ice does its work, freezing her stone skin and locking her into a prison of frost. I keep my magic flowing as she fights against the winter’s hold. Beads of sweat coat my body, and my wounds bleed like a mortal’s. I can’t heal myself, not when all my magic is spent to cage the witch. Her struggles slow, her body freezing into a mass of rage and fear. When the ice is thick around her, I hold my magic steady, pulling it deep from within and focusing all of it on her. Just like any stone, freezing makes obsidian brittle, prone to crack and shatter. Her skin provides the perfect armor … until it’s chilled by the heart of the winter realm.
Gareth grabs his sword and rises. “Almost there.” Pulling back, he aims to shatter her.
“I relent!” she screams through frozen lips. “I relent and shall not harm any of your party!”
Gareth pauses and glances at me. I’m fading, my magic stores burning away. My radius of ice blasts outward, coating every tree and flower in sight with frost. I must freeze all the way through to her rotted heart before he can strike. I’m almost there, my ice diving into every dark nook and putrid cranny of her being.
“A boon in exchange for my life.” Her voice is a wail, her black form frozen in a sea of white ice. “Please, my lords. A boon for your mate! Spare my life.”