“The other dragons. The mated pair. Don’t go after them on your own. Wait until we get there.”
I stared at him curiously and saw a flash of blue behind his eyes, almost like starlight. I wondered if my own reflected the same. “Why?”
“Because you need us,” he rumbled. “It’s safer when we’re all together.”
“He won’t,” Randall said from behind me. “I’ll see to it. Even if I have to lock him away in a tower, I’ll make sure of it.”
And that broke whatever hold Kevin (Was it really? a little voice whispered in the back of my head) had on me. I glanced over my shoulder at Randall, but he only had eyes for Kevin.
I wondered just how much Randall knew.
I thought maybe it was almost time to find out.
I turned back to the others to see Kevin frowning and looking a little dazed. I decided right then and there that the gods were jerks and I was just about done with their meddling.
“I won’t,” I said, because I knew the others needed to hear it from me. “I’m not that stupid.”
Justin snorted. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
Best friends 5eva.
“It’s time,” Randall said from behind me.
It was. I hated it, but the longer we drew this out, the harder it’d be. I swallowed thickly and took a step back away from those I loved most.
“I’ll see you soon,” I said. “All of you.”
Ryan looked like he was going to say something more, but he looked away, jaw tightening, knuckles white on the hilt of his sword.
“I’ll see you soon,” I said again.
And then there was a pull and everything swirled around us and we—
II: Castle Freeze Your Ass Off
Chapter 8: Love Letters and Lesbians
THE FIRST time I went to Castle Freesias, I was sixteen years old.
The year before, when I’d initially met Randall, I’d turned his nose into a dick, because they were pretty much all I thought about. It hadn’t helped that he’d had to officiate at a wedding the next day and couldn’t figure out a counterspell.
He’d pretty much hated me for a long time after that.
But if Morgan had been
telling the truth, he’d also been begrudgingly impressed.
So when Morgan had taken Gary, Tiggy, and me to the North, I was, of course, terrified. Randall, after all, was the wizard of all wizards. He was the one who decided who was put through the Trials, the secretive process that all apprentices were required to complete before becoming full-fledged wizards. He oversaw them too, and it was his decision whether said apprentices passed.
He didn’t pass many people. Or so I’d been told. The Trials hadn’t been held since long before I was born, as wizards were few and far between. It was easier to go the way of the Darks. The rules weren’t as stringent, there wasn’t anyone to tell you that no, you couldn’t do what you wanted with your magic. It was darkly seductive, and while I would never agree with the path they’d chosen, I could see why. You wouldn’t be beholden to anyone. You didn’t need a cornerstone, a person you had to depend on. You didn’t have to jump through hoops that were laid out in front of you seemingly at random.
And there was no one to keep secrets from you.
But I was sixteen years old. I didn’t know anything about secrets then. At least none that mattered.
So when we arrived at Castle Freesias that first time, the only thoughts on my mind were that Morgan was marching me toward my doom and that I’d probably never see the City of Lockes ever again.
It hadn’t helped when I saw the glittering castle made of ice looming in front of us, the tops of which disappeared into low-lying clouds, fat with the promise of an imminent storm. The snow crunched under my feet, the mountains rose like gods around us, and I really wanted to be anywhere but where we were.