Page 138 of A Tale of Ice and Ash
“No,” he said slowly, his voice quiet. “But that’s because I–”
A bolt fired over his head. Eirwen yanked him to the ground, crawling back into the ruins of the tent to take cover under the bunk. “My family,” she panted, “my family are still out there–”
“I’ll save them–”
“You’re my family too!”
Cole paused, her words gripping him. She didn’t wait to see his reaction. She plunged back into the fray, sword at the ready.
Someone was screaming nearby. Not a scream of pain, not a howl of frustration. A child’s scream, thick as cud. A scream of absolute terror.
“Ivy!” Eirwen yelled. “Juniper!”
She leapt towards the noise. In the middle of the field, the queen held Ivy by her hair, a dagger pointed at her throat. Juniper was writhing in the arms of a guard a few feet away, struggling towards his sister. Bianca was surrounded, defended. No one was getting through.
Where was Onyx? Where was Garnet? There was no way anyone would have wrenched their children from them. If they weren’t there, then…
No, they were just distracted, locked into fighting elsewhere. Or unconscious. Or captured. But alive. Definitely alive. Onyx was too stubborn to die. And Garnet was too nice.
Too nice like Niamh was too nice.
No. No. Not another parent, please.
“Princess!” Bianca screamed. “Give up now, or I will kill this child!”
Juniper slumped in the guard’s arms, and started to whimper. Ivy continued to struggle.
“I have no quarrel with her,” Bianca continued. “My soldiers will let her live. But you need to come with me.”
Eirwen inched forward. Cole grabbed her arm. “No,” he said. “No, you can’t give up–”
“I… I have to. You know I do.”
“I…” Cole looked to her, and back to Ivy. His voice fell away from him. He looked at his mother. “No,” he said. “Please, Mother. Let them go.”
“I will,” she said, “once she surrenders to me.”
He stood in Eirwen’s path. “I won’t let you hurt her.”
His mother sighed, a long, heavy sigh. “Very well,” she said. “Guards, wound the prince, but do not kill him.”
“No!” Eirwen screamed. “Stop– stop all of this! I’ll come with you. I will. Just don’t hurt anyone else.”
She paced into the circle of guards. Someone ran up to shackle her outstretched hands. Before her, just out of reach, she spied a carriage waiting for them.
Cole ran after her. “No,” he said, “No, Eirwen,no!”
Three guards slammed into him, pushing him to the floor. He strained against them, fighting them with all of his strength. Eirwen could almost feel his muscles grinding against her own, his every cry like a shard of glass against her heart. She could not look at him.
“Guards, be gentle with the prince,” the Queen called. “I will not have him hurt.”
Eirwen glared at her as a guard tugged her towards the carriage. “You and I have a very different definition of pain,” she said.
Bianca’s eyes were icy. “Do you really think I could hurt my own son?”
“I think you’re capable of just about anything,” Eirwen said coolly. “But now he knows it too.”
