Too late, I realized Blaise’s screams had transformed.

Human now, naked, he wrenched the knife from his hand and snarled, “What was his name?”

..................................................................

Frozen Heart

Lou

My footsteps wore a path in the ground as I paced. I hated this feeling—this helplessness. Reid was in there, fleeing for his life, and there was nothing I could do to help him. The three wolves Blaise had left to guard us—one of them Blaise’s own son, Terrance—made sure of that. Judging by their size, Terrance’s companions were equally young. Each of them stared at the tree line, giving us their backs, and whined softly. Their rigid shoulders and pinned ears said what they no longer could.

They wanted to join the hunt.

I wanted to skin them alive and wear their fur like a mantle.

“We have to do something,” I muttered to Coco, glaring at Terrance’s dark back. Though he and the others were smaller than the rest, I had no doubt their teeth were still sharp. “How will we know if he reaches Gévaudan? What if Blaise kills him anyway?”

I felt Coco’s gaze, but I didn’t look away from the wolves, longing to embed my knife in their rib cages. Restless energy hummed beneath my skin. “We don’t have a choice,” she murmured. “We just have to wait.”

“There’s always a choice. For example, we could choose to slit these little imps’ throats and be on our way.”

“Can they understand us?” Ansel whispered anxiously from beside Beau. “You know”—he dropped his voice further—“in their wolf form?”

“I don’t give a shit.”

Coco snorted, and I glanced at her. She smiled without humor. Her eyes were as drawn as mine, her skin paler than usual. It seemed I wasn’t the only one worried about Reid. The thought warmed me unexpectedly. “Trust him, Lou. He can do this.”

“I know,” I snapped, said warmth freezing as I whirled to face her. “If anyone can out-beast the Beast of Gévaudan, it’s Reid. But what if something goes wrong? What if they ambush him? Wolves hunt as a pack. It’s highly unlikely they’ll attack unless they have him outnumbered, and the idiot spurns magic—”

“He’s armed to the teeth with knives,” Beau reminded me.

“He was a Chasseur, Lou.” Coco’s voice gentled, so unbearably patient that I wanted to scream. “He knows how to hunt, which means he also knows how to hide. He’ll cover his tracks.”

Ansel nodded in agreement.

But Ansel—bless him—was a child, and neither he nor Coco knew what the hell they were talking about.

“Reid isn’t the type to hide.” I resumed pacing, cursing bitterly at the thick mud coating my boots. Water sloshed up my legs. “And even if he was, this entire godforsaken place is knee-deep in mud—”

Beau chuckled. “Better than snow—”

“Says who?” His eyes narrowed at my tone, and I scoffed, kicking at the water angrily. “Stop looking at me like that. They’re equally shitty, okay? The only real advantage in the middle of winter would be ice, but of course the dogs live in a goddamn swamp.”

Howls erupted in the distance—eager now, tainted with unmistakable purpose—and our guards stood, panting with feverish excitement. Terrance licked his lips in anticipation. Horror twisted my chest like a vise. “They’ve found him.”

“We don’t know that,” Coco said quickly. “Don’t do anything stupid—”

Reid’s cry rent the night.

“Lou.” Eyes wide, Ansel swiped for my wrist. “Lou, he doesn’t want you to—”

I slammed my palm into the ground.

Ice shot from my fingertips across the swamp floor, the very ground crackling with hoarfrost. I urged it onward, faster, faster, even as tendrils of bone-deep cold latched around my heart. My pulse slowed. My breathing faltered. I didn’t care. I stabbed my fingers deeper into the spongy soil, urging the ice as far as the pattern would take it. Farther still. The gold cord around my body pulsed—attacking my mind, my body, my very soul with deep and boundless cold—but I didn’t release it.

Vaguely, I heard Coco shouting behind me, heard Beau cursing, but I couldn’t distinguish individual sounds. Black edged my vision, and the wolves in front of me faded to three snarling shadows. The world tilted. The ground rushed up to meet me. Still I held on. I would freeze the entire sea to ice—the entire world—before I let go. Because Reid needed help. Reid needed . . .

Frozen ground. He needed frozen ground. Ice. It would . . . it would give him . . . something. Advantage. It would give him . . . an advantage. Advantage against . . .

But delicious numbness crept through my body, stealing my thoughts, and I couldn’t remember. Couldn’t remember his name. Couldn’t remember my own. I blinked once, twice, and everything went black.

Pain cracked across my cheek, and I jerked awake with a start.

“Holy hell.” Coco dragged me to my feet before slipping on something and plummeting back to the ground. We landed in an angry heap. Swearing viciously, she rolled me off her. I felt . . . odd. “You’re lucky you aren’t dead. I don’t know how you did it. You should be dead.” She struggled upward once more. “What the hell were you thinking?”

I rubbed my face, wincing slightly at the sharp scent of magic. It burned my nose, brought tears to my eyes. I hadn’t smelled it this concentrated since the temple at Modraniht. “What do you mean?”

“Ice, Lou,” Coco said, gesturing around us. “Ice.”

Thick, crystalline rime coated every inch of our surroundings, from the blades of dead grass, ferns, and lichen on the forest floor to the boughs of cypress in the canopy. I gasped. As far as the eye could see, La Ventre was no longer green. No longer wet and heavy and alive. No. Now it was white, hard, and glistening, even in darkness. I took a step, testing the ice under my foot. It didn’t yield beneath my weight. When I stepped again, checking behind, my footprint left no impression on its surface.

I smiled.

A snarl to my left jerked me back to attention. A wolf had just launched himself at Beau and Ansel, who lifted his knife in an attempt to defend them. Coco darted forward to help, dodging Terrance, who slid right past her in his haste. The third wolf loped toward me, teeth first.

I grinned wider. It seemed I’d broken the rules.

With a snort of amusement, I twirled my fingers, and the wolf spun out of control on the ice. The pattern dissolved into golden dust. I wobbled but kept my feet, fighting a rush of vertigo. When the sensation passed, the wolf regained his footing. I bounced a finger off his nose as he careened past once more, slipped, and fell in a tangled heap.

Though my vision swam, I laughed—then clenched my fist, guiding the ice up and over his paws.

He yelped as it devoured his legs, his chest, edging steadily toward his throat. I watched in fascination, even as my laughter turned colder. Chilling.

More more more.

I wanted to watch the light leave his eyes.

“Lou!” Coco cried. “Look out!”

With hollow compulsion, I turned and flicked my wrist—catching a pattern easily—as Terrance leapt for my throat. The bones on the right side of his body shattered, and he fell to the ice with a piercing cry. But I felt no pain. Stepping over him, I lifted my hands toward his remaining companion. He backed away from Ansel and Coco slowly.