CALDER AND I DIDN'T stop but once to rest on our way back to the palace. I didn't want to waste anymore time letting Sylvi live and roam free in my realm. I was cold and worn out beyond any comprehension. I could tell Calder and the horses were too, but he and I both knew no more time could be spared. Too much had been already.

All I really wanted was a fire going in my chamber and to be under my covers with Calder beside me, no one disturbing us at all. However much I wanted that though I knew it couldn't surpass all that would have to be done once we reached home. There wouldn't be any time to rest. All focus had to be on the strategy of killing Sylvi.

Because there were limited stops and the fast pace we pushed our horses Calder and I were able to reach the palace in two days instead of three. I felt a small chunk of the heavy weight on my shoulders lift as we approached the bridge.

"Are you ready for what everyone has in store for us? I have a feeling it won't be pleasant," Calder said.

"Might as well be," I sighed, "We can't avoid it. We've been gone for almost a week, they probably think we're both dead."

"They should be happy we aren't then. Perhaps it will soften the blow. Come on."

Going down the bridge and through the gates we proceeded in taking the horses back to the barn. As we came upon it though I noticed the horses in a slight frenzy, jumping restlessly in their stalls and neighing.

"Why are they worked up? It's so quiet out here," I asked Calder who was just as confused.

"I don't know," he replied, "but I have an uneasy feeling."

We put our steeds back in their stalls, mine trying to jump away from me and bucking his head while Calder's struggled with him.

"Whoa, boy, easy," I cooed to him, "What's gotten into all of you?"

Then there was suddenly a female scream that echoed from outside the barn, making my own body jump. My heart fell into my stomach as I looked at Calder who's face turned to stone. He unsheathed his sword and ran out into the snow to see what was happening. Feeling frantic I went to grab the iron sword from Calder's satchel, but the towel slipped from the hilt and touched my palm.

I exclaimed in pain and threw the sword to the ground, a deep burn settling into my skin. I dropped to my knees as I gritted my teeth and tears swelled in my eyes, but I quickly pushed them back. Standing once more I neglected the wound and tried to think of a plan. I frantically searched around the barn before my eyes settled on the first aid kit on the wall. I ran over to it and threw open the box.

Grabbing a roll of gauze I used the towel to hold the sword and wrap it around the hilt. Once it was secured with no iron able to peek through I ran after Calder, carrying it heavily in my good hand.

"Calder? Calder!" I called his name until I reached the gardens and found him there. His sword was lowered with a hand stretched out to man. The faery was donned in armor that I recognized as what Sylvi's men wore, but with a helmet nearly masking his face. Blood was stained on his hands as he held a silver knife to Astrid's throat while she struggled in his grip.

"Princess," she begged fearfully for me to help her, but all I could bring myself to do was stand there as tears rolled down my face.

"Don't do this," Calder spoke firmly to him, "She is nothing to you or the frozen queen. Let her go. You don't have to follow her orders. You don't have to support her cause. Anything she has promised you is a lie."

I watched the man hesitate for a single moment, internal struggle flashing behind his eyes before it was gone.

"Long live the true queen," he snarled, slashing the knife across Astrid's throat and letting her fall to the ground.

"No!" I cried, covering my mouth as a sob left me.

The man swung his arm at Calder but wasn't much of a fight, giving Calder a clear shot to run his sword through him.

More screams and commotion began to erupt from inside the palace, mimicking the ones from my visions. I didn't have to ask myself if this was what I had been warned about all along. We were out of time.

"She's here Calder," I panicked, "Sylvi's here."

"Hey, we don't know that," he tried to reassure. "Just stay calm. Don't leave this spot alright? I'm going to go find out what's happening."

I opened my mouth to protest but he was gone before a word could get out. My lip quivered at the sight of little Astrid lying in the crimson snow, a flush of anger then igniting inside me. I clenched the iron sword in my fist, disregarding Calder's order and running to the palace.

The front doors had been pulled from their hinges and were lying in a crumpled heap by the stairs as I entered. Several bodies of my staff were scattered along the floor with swords through them. I felt the vomit already churning in my stomach as I had to step over them, their blood splashing on my boots like rain puddles.

There were screams from every direction, my staff and knights running around and fighting off Sylvi's men. In the corner of my eye I noticed one of the maids on the floor trying to crawl away from a traitor who was taunting her.

"Hey!" I yelled as I ran over. I slid along the floor on my knees despite the pain of my wound, cutting his calves with the sword.

The man exclaimed in horrified pain and his back hit the ground, giving me access to stab his chest. My hands shook as I pulled out the sword, standing up from the body as the maid's thanks were white noise in my ears. It was the first traitor I had killed. I watched the life drain from his eyes just as I had Blane, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it now that it was actually happening. It was always so easy for Calder to take a life even though a haunting stayed with him after.

"Princess? Are you alright? Princess?" The maid's concern finally brought me out of my thoughts.

"Uh, yeah," I said, turning away from the man. "Go find a place to hide. Go to the bottom wing and lock yourself in one of the rooms. Don't leave there until this is over. Find more survivors to take with you if you can."

"Bless you, Princess," she thanked as she ran off.

Darting my head back and forth to figure out where I should go next I then heard a roar from behind me. I jerked around to see another traitor running at me with his sword. I readied myself to trike, our swords clashing together before one of my knights quickly intervened. He knocked off the traitor's helmet and sliced his sword across the back of his neck, killing him.

"Go hide yourself Princess, we've got this!" he told me, but I wasn't about to tuck my tail and run as much as I wanted to.

"I can take care of myself! I'm just as much a part of this as all of you. I'm not going to let the frozen queen do this to my people. I'm ending this!"

"Check upstairs then," he said, "The captain had us give our efforts down here when he came in. He went in the same direction."

I nodded to his words and ran toward the staircase as he turned to fight off another traitor.

Not sure which hall to go down as I reached the top I decided to take left first. I kept my sword on standby as I checked each room, finding some of the young male cooks and female maids huddled together in one.

"Princess! Oh Princess!" they exclaimed ecstatically as they approached.

I quickly hushed them and spoke quietly. "Go to the bottom wing and hide. There's a secret door in the kitchen that will take you straight to it. Don't leave there until myself, Captain Hansen or one of the other knights comes and gets you, ok? Go."

They thanked me and rushed off while I proceeded to keep looking. As I turned a corner to go down another corridor I suddenly felt a hand grasp my shoulder. I jerked around with the sword raised only to find a wide eyed Eeira gaping at me.

"Eeira!" I exclaimed with relief, lowering the sword to hug her.

"Eerika, thank goodness," she breathed, her arms tight around me. "Where have you been, child?!"

"Calder and I went to find the sword that will kill Sylvi," I informed her as we released each other. "I have it right here. I can finally end this."

"Why didn't you tell anyone where you were going? It's been five days! We were starting to think you were dead, or that you and Calder might have run off together as crazy as it sounds. What was in your head to do such a thing?"

"None of that is important right now. What I need to know is what the hell happened here while Calder and I were gone. How did the traitors get in? Where's the Clan in all of this chaos? There are dead bodies piling up downstairs, Eeira!"

"It's all a blur," Eeira explained, touching the bloody cut down her cheek. "They just started coming, more and more of them and slaughtering everyone here. There are numbers down in the village, too. The Clan is there now trying to help the wounded and fight off the iron knights, but it seems no use! I feel so weak, i-it's as if she's draining our powers! We can't use them to fight the traitors off!"

"Is she here? Have you seen her?"

"No, but I feel her. She's coming. You have to go, Eerika. You shouldn't be here. Have Calder take you back to the ephemeral world where she can't find you!"

"The prophecy and the Clan told me I'm supposed to be the one to defeat her so that's what I'm going to do. I'm not running away. She'd only send her iron knights after me again. I am going to finish this and avenge my family and my people, Eeira. Only I can. Go to the bottom wing for safety. Gather any others there and wait for this to be over."

I then left Eeira there as I ran to the corridor's exit, blocking out her voice calling my name to come back.

Going down the right hall this time I checked the rooms once more, luckily finding nothing. I turned to search around a corner but quickly froze when I heard Calder's struggling cry.
My heart sped up as I jerked my head around to find out where it was coming from.

"Calder?"

Another shout of pain echoed through the corridor, sounding like it was just down the corner from where I stood. I called his name frantically as I followed the sound.

Reaching the end of the hall I stopped in my tracks with a gasp as I saw him there-his neck constricted by Gulbrand's arm. Gulbrand gave a deep laugh with a sinister smile at me as I gazed in horror. Calder's cheek was red and bloody with Gulbrand's forehead cut, telling me they had fought each other.

"And the prodigal daughter returns!" Gulbrand rejoiced sarcastically. "Come to her own funeral. Well, besides yours, Captain."

"Get your hands off him," I growled at Gulbrand, lunging forward with the sword gripped tightly.

"Ah, ah, ah!" he unadvised, gripping Calder's neck tighter as if his arm was a boa constrictor. Calder's chest rose and fell quick but short in between, telling me Gulbrand was cutting off his air. Calder's hands gripped onto Gulbrand's arm trying to tear himself free, but in the position he was held that was impossible.

"One jerk of my arm and his neck is snapped like a twig," Gulbrand said. "I don't need my powers to kill him. He's dying slowly right now each second that I cut off his air supply. I'd watch your step, Princess."

"Go Eerika, get of here," Calder strained to say, but I refused his warning.

"Why are you doing this?" I questioned Gulbrand. "You rescued Calder when he was near death, took him under your wing. Why kill him now? You should be helping everyone downstairs, there are people dying!"

"I know," Gulbrand smiled, "I started the beautiful massacre."

I took a step back as my stomach gutted and my brain began to spin. "You brought the knights here? You brought them here. . .to kill everyone. Why?"

"You were gone on your little trip, Princess, I thought it'd be the perfect time. Are you pleased? I think it's all going very well."

"You're a sick bastard," I sneered, but Gulbrand corrected me.

"I am the one who is going to deliver this kingdom to the true queen of the Vinter realm," he spat back. "I am going to bring it up from the putrescent belly you and every generation of your family has soiled it in. And doing so I shall be rewarded with riches beyond your slightest comprehension. She shall make me her king!"

"So you were pretending all along," I concluded. "I knew there was something off about you. You've hated me from the start. When you took in Calder was that all part of your plan too? Because she wanted him dead. You could have finished the job when he was laying there in the snow, barely alive. You could have even killed me, poisoned my drink or stabbed me while I was sleeping. Why give either of us the second chance? What have you been waiting for?"

"She wants to kill you herself, sweetheart," he replied. "She wants to feel your blood in her hands and watch the life drain from your body. As for the fallen prince, my queen knows not that he lives. I was blind to the disease of the Arnesen crown when I found him. It wasn't until I met her myself just a year ago that my mind was awakened. What a prize I will receive to present both of you at her feet. Two star-crossed lovers. Did you honestly think I didn't know what was going on from the start?"

"I'll kill you," Calder growled, only making Gulbrand squeeze tighter and turning Calder blue.

"Stop! Stop hurting him!" I pleaded, feeling powerless to do anything. Calder choked until there was nothing left he could get out, and his eyes started to roll back in his head. "Please, stop it!" my voice ached. "You're killing him! Sylvi can have me, just let him go!"

Gulbrand's face shifted suspiciously but finally he loosened his arm. Calder took a large gasp of air, his blue shade fading and a sigh of relief leaving me.

"I'm glad you finally came to your senses," Gulbrand smiled, the sound of two goons suddenly coming up from behind me.

I turned with the sword to strike them, but my wrist was harshly grabbed before I could swing. I cried in pain from his crushing grip, hearing Calder struggle to break from Gulbrand and get to me.

"Just in time, gentlemen. I believe the queen is about to arrive," Gulbrand said to them. "Take her."

"No! No!" Calder snarled as one of them grabbed me and the other snatched the sword. He gave it to Gulbrand who used the hilt to knock Calder out.

I gazed in shock at the sight of Calder slumped in Gulbrand's arms as I fought with my assailant. I screamed for help only for his hand to cover my mouth. I kicked as he dragged me away, Gulbrand and the other traitor bringing Calder's unconscious body with us.

Coming down the stairs I gaped in disbelief at all of the dead bodies that hadn't been there before I went up. The knight's body who had helped me was laying in a crumpled position in the corner-his severed head just a few feet away. One of the cooks and maids I had sent to the bottom wing were next to the staircase. Her bloody body laid in his lap, while his head was slumped forward as if he'd been crying over her when he died. Tears pooled in my eyes at the sight, wishing I'd kept them upstairs instead of sending them to their death myself.

An iron knight stood by the front door, his head slowly turning as if watching us. I could feel my powers weak in my veins just by his presence, but didn't have time to wonder why. I had to swallow down my fear as Calder and I were taken through the kitchen, out the doors to the garden.

Outside all of Sylvi's knights surrounded in waiting with swords on guard. Being dragged along the snow until we reached the end, one of the traitors held me down on my knees. Gulbrand took the iron sword and placed the tip against Calder's neck, waking him up with a scream. The other traitor kicked him in the back and put him in the same position I was.

"Kneel before your queen," one of the men ordered us.

A cold wind blew by that seemed right on cue for Sylvi's entrance. The woman who's appearance I remembered from the vision of my family's murder slowly sauntered along the path. She was still tall and thin, but her face had aged and her pearly hair was longer with strands of gray.

Her white gown donned with sparkling icy jewels flowed behind her, with shining iron made for sleeves. A crown to match sat on top of her head that was sharp and sinister looking, much suiting her. Two white wolves and traitors followed behind, the beasts snapping their teeth at Calder and I.

Gulbrand threw the iron sword to the ground and stepped forward, kneeling at her bare feet. "My Queen," he spoke in extreme adoration, kissing her hand as she held it out for him.

"Stand now, Chamberlain," she ordered him.

Her voice hadn't aged among herself, still flowing off her tongue like soft velvet. All of it made me utterly sick. I glanced back at Calder who's gaze on his mother was colder than anything I'd seen from him.

Gulbrand stood and bowed to her. "I have done everything you asked of me, my most beautiful queen. Dead bodies cover the castle floors. I brought the girl who's blood you wish to feel in your hands. There is even a special prize."

The other traitor shoved Calder forward as he continued to restrict him, and Sylvi smiled. I peeked at Calder from the corner of my eye to see he wouldn't look at her now.

"Calder. My precious boy. So it is here that you've been all this time. On the other side of this war. All when I thought you'd been disposed of those seven years ago."

"Go to hell," Calder spat to her though he still refused to look up.

Sylvi chuckled, nodding at one of her traitors who walked over and kicked Calder in the stomach. A gruff escaped him as he hunched over and coughed violently. I wanted to protest, to break free from my strain and go to him, but I knew worser things Sylvi would do if she knew of us.

"Let me see your face, Calder. It has been so long," Sylvi said, glancing at her knight who grasped the top of Calder's hair and yanked his head back. I tried to keep my breathing steady not to draw attention to how restless I was feeling.

Please, I begged in my mind, Please don't hurt him.

"Ah, there he is," Sylvi cooed, "My handsome boy. You've aged as I have since I last saw you. You had such a baby face."

She then bent down and took Calder's face in her hands all while his expression was stone. She pressed her index finger which was covered with a sharp silver slip into his cheek, trickling blood down his porcelain skin.

"You look so much like your father."

"The only difference is you couldn't kill me like you did him," Calder sneered back.

Sylvi hummed, gently brushing Calder's midnight locks from his forehead. She then slapped him hard across the face in one fluid motion, making me unable to desist my gasp any longer.

"That will change momentarily," she said.

Sylvi smiled as she turned to Gulbrand. "You have done well, my darling."

"I would do anything for you My Queen," Gulbrand beamed. "May I have the privilege to say now, all that is in my heart, to become your king?"

Sylvi leaned in and kissed him, placing her hands on his cheeks as she pulled away. "You shall have all that you deserve," she spoke softly.

For a split second Gulbrand smiled at her before his expression changed to shear horror. He began to choke as iron slowly slipped from under Sylvi's hands like liquid to cover his face. Calder and I watched in disbelief as first Gulbrand's head became like an iron statue, and then the rest of his body followed. Sylvi shoved him to the ground, making a hard thud in the snow.

"How the hell did you do that?" Calder questioned her in a deep voice while I still stared at Gulbrand's corpse.

"I've learned a few things while you were away, Calder. What we frost fey can do with ice to encase others in it I can do with iron now too. Just as I have learned to make my iron knights' components more potent so just their presence can weaken a faery and their powers. All it takes is practice. Practice. . .that my people could have learned if they were still alive."

Sylvi slowly turned to me as she said those words, my heart speeding up though I wasn't about to cower.

"Your family is the reason why," she said.

"And you're the reason they're dead," I bit back, struggling in the traitor's hold.

"Your grandfather caused your family's own demise," she corrected, "Just as you are damned by your father for conceiving you."

"Don't you dare speak about my father, you bitch."

Sylvi then bent down and grasped her hand around my neck, a wild anger in her eyes. Calder jerked against his traitor though Sylvi didn't seem to notice.

"Your father was a varlet swine," she spat. "Just as your grandfather murdered my kind with no remorse your father did the same to hundreds of fire fey. Neither man was honorable. Just as you are no honorable woman, planning to kill me."

She swiped her slip across my neck as she let go, turning her back to me and rubbing my blood between her fingers.

"You want to talk about honor?" my voice raised. "You kill anyone who's against you or crosses you the wrong way. You tried to kill your own son because he defied you by doing the right thing. We can point fingers all day, but the fact is that my father and grandfather did what they had to do to protect the realm. You're the murderer. And when I'm free I swear I will avenge everyone who's fallen because of you."

"You're a foolish girl," Sylvi said as she spun to face me once more. "I've waited long enough. Once your blood paints the snow the treaty will be broken and the throne of this entire realm is mine."

"You'll touch her over my dead body," Calder growled, making me turn my attention to him. I screamed in my mind hoping he wouldn't tell her the truth or he would suffer too.

Sylvi paused as she surveyed her son before smiling sinisterly. "Well isn't that a surprise. My son has grown attached to the thing I trained him for years to kill. You have always been weak just like your father, all because of love. It will be your downfall just as it was his."

"Maybe I am weak," Calder began, "And maybe one day I will die because of it. But there's one thing you taught me."

Suddenly there was a cry of pain from the traitor holding Calder, and he stumbled back while clutching his leg.

"I always keep a knife in my boot."

Sylvi was surprised at Calder's plan, watching him with wild eyes as he stabbed my traitor's jugular and set me free. We stood back to back as he tossed me the iron sword and he took the traitor's silver one, readying for an attack. Sylvi exclaimed in anger and sent her knights after us.

"Kill them now!"

Swords began to clang against each other, matching moves of all thirty men without any blood drawn. With the iron sword in my hand the traitors were careful getting too close, giving me a better advantage. It seemed like Calder and I were going to come out on top until the iron knight who had been inside the castle came onto the battlefield.

I glanced at Calder who shared a look back at me as if reading my mind. He nodded and as the knight charged forward we locked arms. Calder leaned forward, picking me up and allowing me to kick the knight back like a kangaroo despite my pain. As he fell into the snow Calder and I took our swords and both stabbed him in his center, the knight going limp.

"No!" Sylvi screamed in anger, causing a smirk to sneak onto my face. I could feel my powers tingle up my arms and inside my chest as they returned.

"That's more like it," Calder said, shooting a set of icicles through a traitor behind him.

I took a few steps towards Sylvi who gazed at me with absolute hatred and clenched fists.

"Gulbrand said you wanted to kill me? Well come and get me."

Sylvi snarled, screaming as she thrusted her hands up to shoot iron and icy spikes along the ground. I dodged them and did a backflip, not realizing I could do such a thing. Though a pain shot through my leg as I landed I kept myself focused. I thrusted ice shards towards her which she blocked like a super hero with the iron sleeves on her arms.

"I am surprised," she spoke in a devilish voice. "Your family didn't put up as much of a fight."

"Maybe I'm strong enough for all of them," I retorted, making Sylvi laugh.

"We'll see about that."

Each deflect we fought the closer I got towards her that would allow me to run the iron sword through her heart. Calder continued to fight off the traitors with no way of helping me, but I knew deep down I had to do this on my own just as the prophecy said.

When I had backed up Sylvi the most I could, all the way to the garden gate, I prepared to make the final blow. I shot a blast of ice out of my palm that sent Sylvi back, making a sheet of it under her feet so she couldn't run. Her eyes gazed wide at me as if she didn't expect it to turn out this way, and I let her firmly hear my last words before her death.

"This is for my family. My people. And my realm."

I raised the iron sword to triumphantly give the final blow-until Sylvi began to laugh.

"My dear, incompetent girl," she spoke with a smirk. Her hand quickly shot up and the iron sword was ripped from my grasp. I stood in shock as it floated in the air between us, before she fisted her hand and the sword broke into shards. She had been planning that moment all along.

"Did you really think an iron sword could kill me?"

The shards dropped to the ground and in her other hand Sylvi conjured a sword of translucent ice, thrusting it forward. I felt the flesh of my stomach around its blade before I realized she had stabbed me.

Calder's scream was a far off sound as I stood there gaping at Sylvi who stared at me deviously. I choked for air, gripping the sword lodged in me which gave her immense pleasure.

"Yeeeees," she purred, twisting the blade and making blood spurt from my mouth. "Yeeeees."

I stumbled back from her in a daze, feeling Calder's arms wrap around me and drag me away from the scene.

"No! Eerika. Eerika stay with me. Stay with me baby, please," he begged frantically as he lowered me to the ground. Cradling me in his lap I looked up at him, watching the tears rolling down his face. He took the hilt of the sword in his hand and retracted the ice from my body, leaving me to start bleeding out onto the snow.

It didn't work, I thought in my head as the realm swirled around me. Why didn't it work.

Calder pressed his hands to the wound to stop the blood the best he could as I coughed from the pressure.

Sylvi sauntered over with a laugh. "Love is the weakest of all, isn't it? To think if you had never disobeyed me all those years ago, you would not be in the heartache you are now. Just as with Runa you get to watch another girl you care for die in front of you. But do not worry. You will soon join her."

"I won't let it turn out like that," Calder sneered at her, "There's still time. I can fix this. And I'm not going to let you stop me."

Through my blurred vision I could see Calder slam his fist down on the ground and create an ice wall around us. Sylvi shouted and tried her iron on the ice to break it, but not she nor the knights left could get through.

"C-Calder," I mumbled, the darkness trying to take me away. The taste of the blood in my mouth started to fade and my wounds grew numb.

Calder clutched me to his chest, brushing the hair from face and choking back a sob as he spoke. "Just hold on, Eerika. Please. Hold on."

And with that his mouth pressed into mine, his hands gripping me as tightly as I could feel. A cold sensation hit my lips and quickly traveled past my face, sinking down my entire body. My nerves surged, every inch of me tingling. I felt my powers bubble all over me, and then Calder released. I didn't feel the hole in my stomach anymore. In fact I didn't feel any pain at all. He laid me down in the snow, sounding breathless as he kissed my forehead.

"Sleep now," he mumbled to me, and I only wished my fight with consciousness could let me respond. The wall around us shrunk away, and Calder struggled to stand in front of Sylvi.

"You can't kill her now," he declared. "She has my powers. Until they've fizzled out of her system you have no leverage."

I heard the sound of a punch across skin echo through the garden, and Calder fell to his knees in front of me. My mind screamed at me to help him, but I couldn't do or say anything. As he spit blood onto the snow she kicked him in the stomach that made him fall on his side. He was too weak to fight back with his power gone.

"No. But she'll come for you," Sylvi said. "Until then we can catch up on a lot of lost time. Take him, boys."

The traitors walked over and picked Calder up by his arms and legs without him fighting back. My mind urged me to move, to stop them, to rescue Calder but it was if I was paralyzed. Sylvi opened up a portal and I watched her men drag him in.

"This isn't over," Sylvi told me, stepping in after them.

The portal closed, and I was the only one left as the snow began flurrying around me.

Calder. . .

Then everything faded to black.

END OF BOOK 1

A/N: And that's it! Thank you all for reading! Book 2 is out now on my page! Xoxo -Kat

IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE CALDER ON THE COVER, BUT BELOW IS WHAT THE CHARACTER LOOKS LIKE.(You already knew that though). I wasn't going to put a ton of pressure on the cover maker to make it look exact. It's what's inside the book that counts more than the cover, and I think the cover is amazing regardless. Of course you can picture Calder and all the other characters however you want though ;) my pictures of the cast just give you an idea. xx