Prince Kael had chased a rumor for three nights, and now the rumor had a tent. He wanted the shadow woman. He had never seen her face, only heard the whispers: a woman made of darkness, bound to a man who could unmake her with a word. Kael meant to find her and free her and win her hand. But no one could tell him where she hid. His wings dragged on the road behind him, ember flames guttering low along the feathers. A wingless prince could go anywhere. A burning one could not hide. The striped tent rose out of the field like a fat, painted beast. Yellow and purple canvas snapped in the wind. A wooden sign swung from chains above the entrance. See Rare Dangerous Creatures, it read. Alive Inside The Big Top. Kael had heard this circus caged things that magic touched. If anyone had crossed the shadow woman and lived, it would be the man who owned this place. Inside, cages lined the sawdust. A sleek cat paced behind iron bars, dragon wings folded tight, its tail a curl of live fire. The cat watched Kael with yellow eyes, as if it knew what he was. Kael pressed his own wings flat and moved deeper into the dark. A man stepped from between two cages. He wore a red and gold coat and gloves black as tar. His pale eyes went straight to Kael's feathers and stayed there. He smiled the way a butcher smiles at a heavy hog. "A firebird prince," the man said. "Silas Blackwood welcomes you. Have you come to buy a ticket, or to become one?" Kael did not reach for a weapon. He needed this man talking, not bleeding. "I came to ask a question. They say you've met a woman made of shadow. That you walked away." Silas Blackwood's smile thinned. He drew off one glove, slow, and showed his hand. The skin from wrist to knuckle was scarred white, as if frost had eaten it. "I touched her once," he said. "She left me this. Yes, I walked away. Few do." "Where does she dwell?" Kael said. The circus master pulled the glove back on. "North. Past the last village, where the pines drink no sun. There's a lake that stays frozen in summer. She lives in the house beneath it." He tilted his head. "But you won't reach her. A man owns her. He speaks, and she dies. He will not share." "Then he'll learn to," Kael said. Silas Blackwood laughed. He snapped his fingers at two large men near the flap. "You told me where she is. That was kind. Now you'll tell my patrons what wings like yours are worth." Kael had his answer. He also had four hands closing on his arms. He tore free, feathers flaring bright, and burst through the canvas into the cold. He knew the way north now. Behind him, Silas Blackwood was already shouting for the hunt.

Kael flew north until the fields turned to ice. The wind pushed him down. Each gust dragged at his wings, and the ember flames along his feathers shrank to weak red lines. Below him stretched a wall of frost-white pines with no road through them. He needed the frozen lake house beyond the trees. But the cold was winning. If his fire died, he would drop into the snow and stay there. He landed hard in a clearing and folded his wings tight. His breath came out in white clouds. He beat his wings once to spark them. Two flames guttered and went dark. Panic climbed his throat. A wingless prince could walk this wild. A frozen one could not. Something moved between the pines. Two yellow eyes caught his fading light. A cat stepped out, sleek and red, with dragon wings folded on its back and a tail that burned like a torch. Kael knew this beast. He had seen it caged in Silas Blackwood's tent, pacing behind iron bars. It had watched him then as if it understood him. Now it ran free, far ahead of its master. "You escaped him too," Kael said. The cat did not flee. It padded closer, and the heat off its flaming tail touched Kael's face. Warmth. Real warmth, in all this white. Kael understood. The beast carried its own fire, and the cold could not reach its blood. He reached out slow, the way he had learned to reach for the shadow woman. He pulled the last heat back into his palm so he would not burn it. The cat let him rest his hand on its warm flank. Its wings spread wide, catching the wind. It looked at the pines, then at him, and started walking into the trees. Kael followed. He kept one hand on the cat's burning side. Its fire fed his own. With each step his feathers grew brighter, the embers climbing back to life. The beast knew a path he could not see, weaving between trunks where the snow lay thin. It had crossed this wild before. It was leading him through. Hours later the trees broke open. A gray castle rose in the distance, its towers crowned with battlements, its stone dark against the white sky. Kael had heard no talk of a castle here. But that was not his road. Below the castle spread a flat sheet of ice, wide and pale and still. A lake frozen in the dead of summer. The house beneath it. Kael's wings burned full and hot again. He had crossed the frozen wilds. The cat stopped at the tree line, tail flicking, and would go no farther. Kael pressed his warm hand once to its head, then stepped onto the ice alone. The shadow woman waited below. So did the man who could kill her with a word.