Page 123 of Blood Beneath the Snow

I stared. “Are you talking…to me?”

He threw the glass he was polishing, and it shattered on the hard floor. I started. He pounded his fist on the counter. “Who else would I be talking to?” His eyes were wild. “Yes, you. Get out. And don’t come back. I don’t want to see you again.”

I threw my arms out. “What’s your problem? We won the Trials! This is what you’ve been waiting for all this time.”

“ ‘We.’ ” He spat the word, as if it were bitter on his tongue. “There is no ‘we.’ You forfeited that right when you lied to me—lied to everyone. Pretending to be godforsaken so you could get in our heads.”

I froze. “I wasn’t lying. I have always been godforsaken. I have no idea what happened during the Trials to change that.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” he seethed. “You’re one of them now. You say you want equality. Maybe today that’s true. But soon enough you’ll be addicted to your magic, like they all are. And then what?” He shook his head. “Then nothing changes. And we’re back at the beginning.”

Frustration throbbed in the back of my throat, brought hot tears to my eyes. I held them in, desperate not to show weakness. “You don’t know that. Give me a chance. I want to use my godtouch for good, to help the godforsaken become equal. That’s what I’ve always wanted.”

Halvar wouldn’t look at me. “I don’t believe you.”

“We’ve been closer than family foreleven years,” I protested. “You’re practically my own father. Where is this coming from? Why would you abandon me?” Tears welled in my eyes, and I begged them to stay back.

“Everyone saw how much your blood father meant to you. Am I next? Are you going to snap my neck like you did his?”

I wanted to hit something, stab someone, take the anger outanywhereas it built to a crushing pressure beneath my skull. “That’s different. You wanted him dead, too. You wanted me to be queen!”

He threw his rag down and slammed a fist on the counter, teeth bared in a scowl. “I wanted agodforsakenon the throne. Not one ofyou.”

“Afteryearsof knowing me, teaching me, helping me, this is all it took to ruin our friendship? Astupid”—there was a roaring crescendo in my ears now—“fucking”—nothing would shut it out—“godtouch?”

It exploded.

My vision went red at the edges and nothing would stay in focus, but the thread in my stomach attached to my magic was taut with unrestrained power. Everything inside me demanded I pull it tighter and tighter.

The sound of blood pumping through a heart reverberated in my skull, and there was something else, something high-pitched and inhuman.

Screaming. Someone was screaming.

Pull harder,the magic whispered.Harder.

With another swift tug on the thread, the world splintered.

My vision went black as the magic in me disconnected altogether, disappearing in an instant. I stumbled backward, tripping over something I couldn’t see. When I hit the ground, my vision began to clear.

Then I saw what I had done.

A thin trail of liquid seeped over the floorboards from behind the counter. I swallowed.

Blood.

My anger was replaced by fear. Overwhelming, all-encompassing fear.

“Halvar?” I called out, voice shaking. I pushed myself to my feet, brushing dust off my gown. I stepped toward the counter, wrapping my arms around myself. “Did I hurt you?”

My breath caught in my chest. The trickle of blood I had seen was a pool on the other side of the counter. And in the middle of the bloody mess, flat on his back, lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling, was Halvar.

I covered my mouth and dropped to my knees, crawling toward his body. Every part of me shook and my breath came in gasps. My trembling fingers fumbled at his neck, feeling for a pulse.

Nothing. His skin was already cold.

I screamed. The sound echoed through the silence around me.

Vomit rose in the back of my throat. I got to my feet and ran to the nearest trash can. The breakfast Freja had insisted I eat was gone in a matter of seconds.

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