“No. I tried to fight her… but that’s not why she created me.”
Veleris reached out to cup Gerta’s face. “How long have you known?”
Gerta pulled away. “I started to suspect back in Noita’s garden. I wasn’t certain until after I tried to fight her, back in Kanustius. I thought you might have another way.”
Veleris said nothing, allowing Bellum to explain. “The girl is incomplete. I can feel the darkling shielding her, hiding the thread that ties her back to her creator. Use that connection to strike at Snow through Gerta. The demon will try to escape. Every infected soul is a potential host. But if you can trap it, block off those paths, then it will share Snow’s fate.”
“Snow’s fate?” Talia repeated.
“Use that bond,” Gerta whispered. “By killing me, you could kill her as well.”
“No.” Danielle shook her head. “The Duchess sent us here so you could help us save our friend. Not kill her.”
Bellum scowled, her eyes going to the headband on Veleris’ brow, but apparently the giant wasn’t yet angry enough for Bellum to take control. She looked at Danielle and asked, “Your friend is possessed. Enslaved to a power you still don’t understand. This is the only way to save her from her torment. How long will you waste in pointless protest? How much time do you think your son has?”
Danielle didn’t answer. Save her son by murdering Snow?
“You can’t be considering this.” Talia grabbed Danielle’s arm. “I won’t let you kill them.”
Danielle’s eyes blurred. “Talia-”
Talia’s fingers tightened. “Don’t try to justify this.”
“Snow knew,” said Gerta. “This is why she made me, so we’d have a weapon to use against her.”
“Then we find another weapon!” Talia was shouting now. “When Danielle’s stepsisters took Armand, we saved him. When the mermaids attacked Lorindar, we beat them. Danielle faced down the Wild Hunt. We can-”
“I’m sorry,” said Veleris. “The longer you wait, the longer your friend suffers, and the more powerful the demon becomes.”
“Snow White was dead the moment the demon took her,” added Bellum. “Stop dragging things out because you’re too selfish to let her go.”
Talia’s hand moved toward her boot.
“Talia,” Danielle said sharply. When Talia looked over, Danielle shook her head. Did Talia think she hadn’t noticed one dagger was missing from the weapons they had turned over to the troll?
Slowly, Talia straightened. “We find another way, and we do it now.”
“How?” asked Bellum. “You think you can just sit down and rewrite the laws of magic?”
“You’re safe from the demon’s magic,” Talia yelled. “You can help us.”
“We might resist enslavement,” Veleris said. “But we can still die, like your dryad friend. We’re not soldiers, and we will not send our people to their deaths for you.”
“It’s all right, Talia.” Gerta swallowed. “I’ve known what was coming. I’ve seen my future, and I’ve been preparing myself.”
Something in her tone raised the hair on Danielle’s arms and neck. She took a step back, her chest tight. “Gerta…”
“Noita said those futures could be changed,” Talia said.
“And she was right.” Gerta lifted her head. “I’m sorry.”
Gerta gestured at the lantern, and Danielle dropped to the ground as fire exploded through the room.
CHAPTER 19
Talia jumped to the side, putting the giant between herself and the blast. She braced herself against the flames as she searched the room. Where was the giant’s water barrel?
She heard the door open. Through the smoke and fire, she saw Gerta disappear into the tunnel.
Veleris patted out her hair while Bellum stomped the worst of the fire on the floor. Danielle had swept off her cloak, using it to smother the rest of the parchments.
The curtain was beginning to smoke as well, orange embers spreading over the edges. The darkling moved toward it, thinning to cover the entire curtain. The glow died with a hiss.
Bellum snatched the headband from Veleris. A growl reverberated in her chest. “You came into our home to beg for our help, and instead your friend attacks us?”
Talia swatted out an ember on her sleeve. The fire had been more flash than substance. The lantern burned merrily, blackened but otherwise undamaged, though Gerta’s stunt appeared to have consumed most of its fuel. She glanced at Danielle. “Fix this, would you? I’m going after Gerta.”
Danielle stared. “You expect me to-”
“Thanks!” Talia ducked out of the room and slammed the door.
Outside, the dragon was on his feet, straining to get into the room to see what had happened. A knocker yanked futilely at the chain, trying to calm him down.
“What happened in there?” the knocker demanded. “Don’t you people know magic is prohibited?”
Talia jumped past the dragon and scanned the tunnel. She spotted a faint light retreating to her left, heading deeper into the mine.
The tunnel was worn smooth, and she gained ground before Gerta ducked around a corner. Talia should have swiped the giant’s lantern, bulky as it was. Gerta’s magical light was enough to see the outlines of the tunnel, but if she extinguished that light or if Talia fell behind, she would be left in total darkness.
“Leave me alone!” Gerta shouted.
Talia ran faster. She heard raucous singing from one corridor that smelled of tobacco. The scent of fresh fish wafted from another. She passed through a small room, barely dodging around a wooden winch set into the floor beside a square pit. Something snarled at her as she passed, but she didn’t stop long enough to determine if it was animal or fairy.
The tunnel opened into a larger cavern, with stairs curving down along the side. Gerta was already halfway to the floor. The air was warmer here, more humid. Talia stopped to gauge the distance, then grabbed the railing and jumped.
Gerta spun, fingers flared as she shouted a spell.
Talia’s feet hit the rock and shot from beneath her. The ground was slick with ice. She twisted the best she could to cushion the fall, but the impact jarred the air from her chest. She lay stunned, trying to force her body to breathe.
“I’m sorry,” yelled Gerta as she ran. “Please don’t make me hurt you again.”
Talia rolled onto her side, grimacing at the pain in her elbow. Her palms were scraped bloody, and a lump the size of a marble had already begun to swell where her elbow had struck the rock. She flexed the arm to make sure the bone wasn’t broken.
“Are you all right?” A group of goblins had been working in here, shoring up the broken beams of another tunnel.
One of the goblins spat. “Magic. Is your friend trying to expose us?”
Had Snow been here, she would have made an indecent quip about exposing herself. Talia swallowed, pushing the thought aside. Gerta’s light was already fading down another tunnel, going deeper into the earth. Talia carefully stepped out of the frost-edged area which had been frozen by Gerta’s magic. “Where does that passage lead?”
“To one of the older areas of the mine. It flooded years ago. Great fishing, but it can be a dangerous place if you’re not careful. Even for your witch friend.”
“Sorceress,” Talia muttered, limping after Gerta. This was another square-cut passage, with log beams supporting the planked walls and ceiling. Dust and mold obscured old carvings in the wood. Warnings, or simply the accumulated scrawls of old miners and fairies?
Thankfully, Gerta had slowed as well. Snow had never trained as hard physically as she did mentally. It looked as though that was another thing she and Gerta shared.
“We’ll find another way,” Talia shouted. “I’m not going to let either one of you die.”
“Please don’t lie to me, Talia.” Gerta’s voice echoed strangely, and the sound of her footsteps had changed. Moments later, Talia discovered why.
The tunnel emerged at the top of an enormous cave, easily as large as the palace courtyard back home. The air smelled of steam and sulfur, and a lake filled the lower portion of the cave. A wooden walkway was built into the side of the rock, descending back and forth toward a stone bridge on the far side where the lake narrowed, connecting to another cavern through a ragged gap in the wall. The lake’s surface was perfectly still, like black glass.