A roar from behind the cottage made Helen glance over her shoulder, and Eva crawl backwards, away from the cottage. Arden, the half-healed alphyn, called for his medicine once more. Helen shot ice from her fingertips at Eva’s feet, locking her to the ground. She took a small bowl of quicksilver liquid off a low table near the door. “I’ll be back, Eva. Don’t you go anywhere.”

She moved through the tiny cottage, stepping out the back door into a small, walled-in area. Well, it wasn’t small by her standards, but to an alphyn? A chained-down alphyn? Arden was not happy. “Oh, stop growling, I have your medicine.” She put the bowl on the ground and stepped back. “You’ll be better soon, my lord,” she said with a bow, “and then you will be able to roam the forest.” She stepped back into the cottage, unable to take her eyes away from the huge, sad ones of the alphyn.

Eva still lay on the ground, looking up at Helen’s flowered roof, struggling to get out of the ice. She stopped as Helen emerged, her face defiant.