“Angelique, are you ready for the next drill?” Quinn asked.
“Yes!” Angelique said with far too much enthusiasm, eager to shut down her thoughts. “Yes. Let’s do all drills—twice. Just to be sure I practice enough today.”
Odette gently poked her in the back of the spine. “What were you thinking?”
“Nothing of importance. Now—what’s the next drill?”
Angelique paused in the middle of dismantling a spell and sniffed the breeze. The wind felt damp and wet—still cold, but less icy and more like cold slush.
It’s the first thaw. I imagine spring will soon arrive.
The breeze played with the tips of her hair—which she’d quickly braided this morning—as impatient as Angelique felt.
Soon. In the next few days, we’re going to Juwel…and maybe…just maybe…he’ll be there.
“Is something wrong?” Quinn dumped snow on the sputtering fire—putting it out—then kicked the remaining embers into a snow bank.
“No—I was just thinking spring will soon come.” Angelique forced herself to dismantled the protection spell she’d put on the camp the night before. “Which means Emerys will come for you.”
Quinn shoved her bedroll into Angelique’s magic satchel, followed by Angelique’s. “Of course, he’ll come just as we narrow in on our target—after all of our careful searching,” Quinn said.
With practice brought from dismantling camp together over dozens of mornings, Quinn tossed Angelique a strip of jerky without looking, then set about brushing Fluffy.
“The pace we searched at was necessary,” Angelique said.
Except now it feels like we’re so close, yet we’re moving so slow!
“We needed to be careful,” Angelique added. She spoke with enough firmness to remind herself that they couldn’t afford to be stupid. “If the Chosen found out we know they have the mirror—and Evariste—somewhere in Mullberg, they’d hide both of them, and we’d have to start over again.”
Everything in Angelique wanted to go sprinting to Juwel and throw all the power she could muster at the place to find Evariste.
But this could be it.
Evariste could be in Juwel.
And I’m not going to mess it all up by being impatient.
Angelique chewed thoughtfully on her jerky, watching Fluffy and Quinn.
I wonder where Pegasus—
Before she could finish the thought, something slammed into her back. Angelique staggered a few steps, then wheezed, “Good morning, Pegasus.”
The star-studded horse exhaled at her, creating puffs of steam, then turned so his side faced her.
“Sorry to ask for it, but, Quinn?”
Quinn laughed. “Here.” She tossed the brush she’d been using on Fluffy to Angelique.
Angelique took it and started grooming the fussy constellation, who snorted his approval.
“At least we’re fairly certain that Evariste was sent to Juwel,” Angelique said.
A careful, spiraling search had shown that Dodge’s information was correct. The closer one got to Juwel, the less trouble there was with monster attacks and the like.
The tipoff that the Chosen were involved—and Evariste, hopefully—was watching the encampments.
Every day, workers from the two Chosen encampments that were located just outside Juwel rotated into the city. After recording the camps’ schedules and doing a lot of careful observing to pick out which of the Chosen employees had magic, Quinn and Angelique were able to put together a time table that showed at least one Chosen mage was always in Juwel—even at the late-night hours.
They’d searched one of the encampments when Odette was still with them and had uncovered the mention of a mirror being transported into Juwel months prior, in the summer.
It’s far too late to be the mirror the Snow Queen had tried to destroy, since the entry Odette told us about was years ago. Which means it must be Evariste!
But why keep Evariste in Juwel of all places? Were they doing something with his magic?
Angelique and Quinn still didn’t know where the ancient mirror was. It was possible it was in Juwel as well, being kept in the same location as Evariste. But they hadn’t seen any mention of it in their searches.
Angelique patted Pegasus’ shoulder.
I don’t have to wait much longer to find out. We’re supposed to enter Juwel tomorrow, unless we could do it tonight?
Angelique blinked. “Do we really need to buy rations before we head into Juwel?”
“Do we need rations? No. Will we buy them in a bid to establish our new disguise as Elle taught us to? Yes.” Quinn saddled up Fluffy, then strung her bow. “Unless you don’t think we should use disguises?”
“We should,” Angelique sighed. “If only to avoid me being recognized by a stray mage.”
Getting a disguise was my idea. I can’t cast it off just because Evariste might be in Juwel!
They were planning to enter Juwel as a lady—Quinn—and her guard, visiting Juwel to purchase gems.
“Do you hear something?” Quinn asked.
Angelique tilted her head and listened. Faintly, whistling on the wind, she thought she heard thunder. “Is that…horse hooves?”
They’d camped next to a thicket of trees that divided a snow-covered field in half—the trees made it easier for Angelique to cast protection and alarm spells without flashing magic around for the entire country to see, and they provided shelter from the wind that was so frigid, breathing it made Angelique feel like her lungs were bruised.
The hooves sounded like they were coming from the other side of the thicket.
Together, Quinn and Angelique scrambled around the trees, staying in the shadows. Pegasus followed behind, keeping so close that he stepped on the heels of Angelique’s boots.
Quinn pushed back several skeletal, barren branches, revealing the horses…and their riders.
Chapter 16
They were resplendent horses with brightly colored tack and coats that practically shone in the morning sun. Only half of the steeds had bridles—pretty things made of gold chain and ribbon. The other half pranced along with nothing but their saddles and riders, who directed the horses with leg pressure.
The riders, dressed in bright greens, dazzling blues, and deep reds were an equal match to their mounts’ beauty—with polished weapons, perfect hair pulled back into impossible braids, and their tapered ears lending them an air of grace.
Riding at the front of the group was a male elf in a dark blue and silver tunic, mounted on a massive, coal-black unicorn.
“Oh.” Angelique sagged, her enthusiasm leaking from her.
Quinn, however, couldn’t contain her joy. “It’s Emerys!” Her smile was so bright, she practically glowed.
“It looks like he’s come to collect you,” Angelique said. “Early.”
She tried to sound happy for Quinn’s sake, but she knew what this meant.
Quinn would leave, and Angelique would have to search for Evariste alone.
No—wait. This isn’t like it used to be. Quinn stayed with me for months, and I’ve gotten so much farther in my search than I expected because of her. Besides, if I can actually find Evariste, Severin will send me some help to free him!