BAZILE WAS pacing back and forth. His makeshift office, the one the Royal Counsel had given him, was covered in sheets of ice, some layers thicker than others. He felt the chill seeping from his pores, wrapping around him in a mist of ice.

Everyone had been right about Anlithamy; his power was infinitely stronger here. He had missed this part of himself, the part that had lived and thrived off of his powers, manifesting around him as if they were their own entities. He felt the ice curving around his limbs as he paced, becoming a part of him.

Everything was going to plan. Everything was falling in line perfectly. He grinned to himself as he watched from his own little bit of truth pond. The water laid in a bowl, and under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have worked. But not everyone was the Winter Prince, and not everyone could hold the power of truth beyond the pond.

He watched as the Sun Clan rallied outside of the newly made gate to Anlithamy. They were ready. They were hungry. Bazile watched as Paulisn, the Sun Clan leader, spoke with his people, his arms swinging wide as he spoke. The rest of his clan rallied, excited about entering. Bazile hoped they felt the same taste of vengeance he did.

He needed them to help secure his spot on the throne.

There was a knock at the door, interrupting Bazile's scurrying. He let the image of the sun clan disappear as he called out, "Come in!"

He had expected it to be a member of the Royal Counsel, but instead, it was the last person he expected.

"Father, you wanted to see me?"

Bazile gave his son a grin. The months apart had done Nohx well. "You certainly look more the part of Clan Leader. Destroy any fae villages yet? Or, perhaps you've conquered land by freezing your enemies? Tell me Nohx, just what have you been up to without me?"

Bazile knew it was impossible to get a reaction out of his son. It had always been impossible to read Nohx, ever since they had deposited the princess with the humans. Still, Bazile tried, poking his bear of a son, hoping for a reaction.

Nohx slid his hands into his pants pockets. "I've been helping our people reacclimate to Anlithamy." A boring answer from a boring son. Bazile rolled his eyes.

"Where is the excitement in that?" Then, Bazile grinned, knowing what would get a reaction from his wretched offspring. "I have a surprise for you downstairs."

"The Princess? I already saw her." Nohx leveled his father with a blank stare.

"And? You didn't release her?" Bazile felt his tone of voice verge on desperate. "You could have, you know. Her bracelet trapping her here is technically keyed with your blood. Our blood."

Nohx cocked his head slightly. "You wanted me to release her." A statement, not a question.

Bazile scoffed. "So, what? Nothing? No tears from you, begging me to let her go? No demands for me to save her?"

"What do I care if you release her?" His measured voice was pissing Bazile off, more than he thought. He slammed his fist on the ice desk, watching the ice shatter against his strength.

"I don't understand. You begged me to let you bring her home. You begged me when I sent her away. And now, I've brought her here, I've trapped her, and you don't care?"

Nohx didn't even blink in response. "I did my job. I brought her to the clan. I got us into Anlithamy. I saved our people, and now I'm trying to keep them safe. Can I go back to the Snow Clan now? I've seen you, you've seen me, what else do you want?"

Bazile let out a frustrated roar. He swept his hand, sending ice shooting against the far wall of the office. When he looked back at his son, his eyes were as black as the night. "So, you don't care if I have her killed?"

"If you're looking for power over me, father, then you won't find it in the Princess. If you want me to bow your every word, act like the servant son you want, you'll have to dangle something else in front of me. The Princess is still here, unsaved. Kill her if you wish."

Bazile stared at his son, breathing hard. It had always been like this; Bazile had always been fighting his son. There had always been a power imbalance between the two of them, right from the start. Whether Bazile wanted to admit it or not, Nohx was more powerful than he was.

He needed something to hold over his son. And if it wasn't the princess, then it had to be something.

"Fine. You say you don't care, so I'll release her. Let the daemonium kill her when they arrive in a few short hours. Or, maybe it'll be the Sun Clan that gets to her first. I've heard they're very angry with her."

Bazile pulled his bracelet, the matching one to Andorra's, and he started turning it to ice. "How will you feel then, when your Princess is being devoured by a monster? I was keeping her safe, but since you don't seem to care..."

Bazile watched as the bracelet started to freeze. Then, it started to crack, shattering the bracelet immediately.

He looked up at his son, watching Nohx's reaction. "There. She's free. And in a few hours, she'll be dead."

Nohx gave nothing away. "Can I go back to my home, now? Or do you want the daemonium to destroy our people as well?"

"Let them!" Bazile screamed. "They didn't like me anyway! Let them suffer like I did! Like your mother did!"

Still, Nohx didn't flinch, didn't give a single emotion away. He watched his father like a train headed for a collision, unable to stop it, but unable to look away. Manic was the only way Nohx could describe his father in that moment.

"I should have never had an heir," Bazile continued on. "You are the worst son I could have ever imagined! Your mother would be so disappointed in you."

"Ah, the dead mother route. I wondered when you would go there. But guess what? That still doesn't bother me. You don't have anything to hold over me, father. I'm going to go home, now. Good luck with the whole daemonium thing. Oh, and becoming King, thing." Nohx waved his goodbye with a flick of the wrist.

"I'm going to kill her! I wasn't lying! I will kill your Princess and you will regret this, Nohx!" Bazile continued to yell as Nohx closed the office door. He leaned against the office door for a moment, letting his eyes close. The thoughts in his head ran rampant, but he couldn't let them take hold here. Not while in the Royal Court.

He had to get home. Had to get to his own office and think of what had to happen next.

"You!"

When he opened his eyes, Andorra was there, marching towards him. Her finger was pointed towards him, and her face was scrunched up in an angry way. It didn't suit her at all.

"Perfect. Do you think you can open a gate back to my home? I have no desire to travel there on foot."

Andorra was seething by the time she was in front of him. Her finger pressed into his chest. "You left me down there!"

Her voice was too loud, too shrill. Nohx grabbed her by the arm and whirled her from the door, yanking her down a hallway. As soon as they were out of sight, he pressed her up against the wall, his hand covering her mouth, his body hiding hers from view of anyone passing by.

She was screaming something, but it was muffled from his hand.

"Enough. My father is in there, plotting your death as we speak, and you are screaming."

Andorra glared at him, and she bit down on the skin of his palm. Nohx let out a hiss of pain, pressing his hand harder against her mouth. "Pull us in the in-between right now before he finds you here with me."

Andorra's eyes narrowed even farther, shocking Nohx. This wasn't the same girl that he'd met in the human realm. She had grown a backbone.

"Andorra, do it now." His voice was low, commanding. There was a moment of powers clashing, but soon enough, she did what he demanded. As soon as they were in the in-between, he blew out a frustrated breath.

She stepped away from him, still glaring. "I'm going to kill you," she seethed.

"You and everyone else. We need to get out of here."

"Oh, now you want me to get out of here? What about earlier when you left me down there!"

"Fine. You don't want to leave? Then we need to come up with a plan for the daemonium. And the Sun Clan. They'll be here in a few hours. Unless we can somehow stop all of them."

Andorra shook her head. She ran her hands through her hair, and then she yanked on the roots. She felt the frustration welling up inside of her. "I need to save Callum first."

Nohx shook his head. "Nope. We don't have time."

"You don't get to make the decisions around here. I do. And I'm going back for Callum."

There was a tense silence around them. Nohx clenched his jaw, his eyes hard for a long moment. "You really like him."

"He's my friend."

Nohx closed his eyes, letting himself breathe. Letting himself think. "We need to find a way to stop them from getting into Anlithamy. Andorra, we need to focus on that. Not on Prince Puck's son. That side quest will have to wait."

Andorra was not budging. Not on this. "No. He's been here for me, every single day. He's stood up for me, he's protected me, he's helped me. Every single day. And now I have to save him."

"He's your guard!" Nohx exploded. "He has to protect you!"

"He's my friend. At first, yeah, he was my guard. But he's my friend now, and I'm going back for him. I don't care if it's because I'm too human. I'm not doing this without him." Nohx turned his back on Andorra, feeling too many things all at once. He couldn't keep them all stuffed away, not when being around Andorra made his walls crumble. He felt the emotions slipping through his fingers, playing across his face, and he couldn't hide them from her. Not anymore.

"If you don't want to help me, which I know you don't, then leave. I'll drop you back off right here. But I'm saving Callum first."

Nohx didn't respond. He drew his hand over his face, trying to force it back into a neutral expression.

"We don't have to be enemies, you know. You could help me fight your father. Everything else may have been fake, but your hatred for him was real. I know it was."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Nohx bit out, his voice harsh, his back still to her. "Let me out of here. Go save your idiot guard. I'll get back to the Winter Court on my own."

Andorra blinked at his back, trying to hold the tears. Why do you keep hoping he'll be your friend again? She opened the gate for him, and watched as he left. He didn't even look back at her as he casually walked down the hallway, turning a corner and disappearing out of sight.

She let the first tear slip, then she wiped it away just as fast. Callum needed her, and crying over Noah would solve absolutely nothing.

She closed her eyes and pictured Callum, the real him, not the stone version. And she hoped, she prayed, that she could save him. Because if she couldn't save him, then she had no idea how she would save Anlithamy.

* * *

THIS WAS the only thing Kyle had been thinking about for months. He stood with the rest of his clan, waiting for the gates to open. Waiting for his chance to finally, finally enter Anlithamy.

When the Snow Clan leader had been left behind, he had found them to tell them about the daemonium, warning them. But, the Sun Clan had already known, thanks to Kyle.

It was there that they began plotting their way back into Anlithamy, without the Princess. And ever since her betrayal, it was all Kyle could think about. The Snow Clan leader spoke of vengeance, and Kyle wanted it alright. He wanted it against the Princess, against Noah, against the entirety of Anlithamy that had locked his clan away.

Vengeance burned in him. Burned in his clan.

"Now is the time!" Sir Paulisn crowed to the crowd. "We will be finally living amongst our kind! Invited back into the land that is so rightfully ours!"

The crowd cheered, fueling the excitement of others. But, all Kyle felt was the anger growing stronger. The hatred festering in his bones. I will kill them, he thought to himself. I will finally get my revenge.

Behind them, daemonium surrounded like a flock of hungry vultures, waiting to attack. Taming them had taken a long time, and secrets that the Sun Clan would never release. They were powerful, now. Not to be taken as a joke.

There was this feeling of the air thinning. Kyle felt his breath being stolen away from him, the temperature dropping around them. He felt it hard to breathe as they all watched the world around them seem to bend and contort.

Then, suddenly, a rip in the world tore open. A man stood there in the tear, the Snow Clan Leader. Behind him stood a group of fae in robes, large wings spanning out behind them. A warm glow surrounded the group, beckoning the sun clan in.

"We are here to welcome you into Anlithamy!" The Snow Clan leader yelled to the group. "You have been banished for too long! You have been forgotten for too long! It is time to take your place in our world, and fight for your vengeance against those who locked us out!"

There was a loud cheer from the sun clan in agreement.

"And lastly, you will get revenge on the Princess for leaving you behind, just like she did to me! She will feel the wrath of her people! You deserve to be heard, and we will make her listen!"

More cheering, Kyle included. He felt the rush of energy around him, the anger brewing, the hatred gathering in the crowd. It was their time to show Anlithamy how powerful they really were. To remind them that they made a mistake banishing them, all those centuries ago.

"I welcome you in! Welcome to Anlithamy, your rightful home! May we prosper here."

Kyle was ready

Paulin was ready.

And the woman on his arm, the human seeking revenge against her devil niece, was ready.

* * *

END OF BOOK II