Page 35 of Wings of Starlight

For a moment, he did not reply. If she didn’t know better, she’d say he looked almost flustered. “There’s a lot more to see. Follow me.”

“All right,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound too eager.

And with that, he led her into the forest.

Only the crunch of their footsteps and the soft rustle of wind-stirred branches filled the silence. Clarion found she didn’t mind it. The quiet here wasn’t eerie but almost cozy, as though all the world were asleep. She had expected desolate landscapes and swathes of monochrome, lifeless earth. But everything was spectacular, from the intricate pattern of frost on the leaves to the sunlit icicles hanging from the trees. Here, everything sparkled, as magical as pixie dust.

Soon, the terrain grew rockier—and steep. Her breaths came heavier, puffing out of her in little white clouds. Wind rushed down the mountainside, sending the tails of her coat whipping behind her. The fur lining of her hood tickled her cold-stung face. She was certain she was bright red. Milori, meanwhile, remained as pale as the snow-covered earth; he flushed neither from exertion or the chill. Even as they ascended, he did not fly but insisted on walking alongside her.

Stubbornly chivalrous,she noted.

After what felt like hours, they crested the peak of one of the mountains. What she saw stole her breath away. From here, she could see all the Winter Woods sprawled out before them. It was a land of brilliant white and deepest green, with rivers and lakes clearer and bluer than she’d ever thought possible. In the distance, she could see the winter fairies’ homes carved from ice and molded from snow, gleaming in the moonlight and glowing softly from within.

How had anyone thought this place so terrible?

“Here it is,” he said softly.

She could hear the reverence in his voice so plainly—one she felt, too. What was there to say, really? She’d never seen anything quite like it.

After a moment, he added, “Our destination is the Hall of Winter. You can see its glow from here.”

He pointed, and Clarion squinted to see a faint aura of blue gilding a distant mountainside. “That’s a long way to walk.”

He flashed her a small smile. “There’s a faster way to travel.”

“If you suggest carrying me—”

“Certainly not.” He looked almost insulted, which made her grin. “I take it you don’t have sledding in the warm seasons.”

“Sledding,” she echoed.

“Mm.” He approached the base of a fir, where a few wooden planks carved into circles leaned against its trunk. He dusted the snow off two of them and carried them over to her.

Clarion did her best not to look utterly perplexed. “What are those?”

He plopped them down on the ground at her feet. “Sleds.”

“I see,” she said, but she did not see at all. “And what do we do with these?”

“We ride them down the mountain.”

“We…” Clarion gawped at him. “What? That’s absurd.”

He shrugged and climbed onto one of them. “We’ll see. It’s been a very long time since I’ve done this.”

“You’re serious, then,” she said disbelievingly. All she could think about was just how high they’d climbed—and just how slick the hard-packed snow beneath her feet was. Forget Nightmares. This would surely be the end of her. She couldn’t deny that the obvious foolishness of the prospect made it more enticing. When was the last time she’d gone on arealadventure? “This is a common pastime among winter fairies?”

“During happier times, yes.” He looked up at her through his eyelashes. “Of course, if you’d prefer, we can walk…”

“No! No need.” Clarion did indeed feel ridiculous as she perched on the other sled. There were rough-spun ropes looped into holes drilled onto each side—what Milori informed her were meant to pass for handholds. “And now what?”

“We go.”

“What does—hey!”

He did not wait. With asmirk—one she very much resented, given how it made her stomach twist into an impressive knot—he pushed off the ground. His sled edged closer to the slope of the mountain and then careened down. Well, there was nothing else to do but follow him. Determined not to think about how dangerous this was, Clarion went after him. The terror—and therush—was immediate.

She had never flown this fast in her life.