Page 40 of A Bond of Ice and Glass
“Just shut the fuck up,” I hiss through clenched teeth, “and walk.”
I’m not angry at her. I’m angry at myself. Angry at how beautiful she looks right now. The witch whomurderedmy father should never be beautiful to me. My cock better start listening.
“Have I ever told you how romantic you are?” She turns to wink at me, walking backwards. “Mind your head.”
“What—”
I turn just as the ceiling above me caves in.
Nymala grabs me out of the way at the last moment, stopping me from being crushed under the rubble.
“Look at that,” she says, still smiling at me. Still fucking beautiful. “I saved your life again.”
I force myself to look away from her lips. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
Her smile only widens. “Of course I am. I’m free again.”
If this tunnel doesn’t kill me, I have a feeling this witch will.
We descend the last of the tunnels wordlessly. Soon we emerge outside through a crack in the hillside by the river. My castle blazes behind us, black and gold flames clawing upward, smoke turning the stars to ash.
I don’t speak. I just stand there, watching my home—my entire legacy—fall before my eyes. And there’s not a damn thing I can do to save it.
A winged shadow stretches across the ground around me. I raise my head and smile at the sight of my dragon eclipsing the moon. Sakaris swoops down to meet me, and our bond flares in my chest again, stronger than ever. She is going to fight for me. I breathe a sigh of relief.
My dragon was never his. She was mine all along, and now she’s going to help me win this war.
Chapter 13
We don’t stop moving through the dense—and too silent—forest for two days straight, and I don’t want to stop even if my body screams another story. There is something unnerving about this forest, about how there are no animals or birds to be seen or heard. How the air tastes like ice and dampness, like something old and not measured by time.
We only stop to take short sleeps around midday, but Erax doesn’t sleep once. I keep watching him like he might fall over at any point from exhaustion. He tells me he’s fine the few times I’ve asked if he wants to sleep, but he looks pale and he looks tired. I’m not sure why I care so much about him. I tell myself it’s because he is protecting me from this forest and what lies in it, but the logical side of my brain isn’t what makes me worry about him.
It’s my betraying heart that beats faster every time he looks my way.
I glance up at the cloudy, grey sky that hide the descending sun, only letting tiny rays of orange shine through for a second before they are smothered. The relentless rain hasn’t stopped. It’s soaked through Erax’s cloak and into my clothes, and I haven’t stopped shivering. The walking helps to keep my bloodmoving, to keep some warmth lingering in me, but not by much. At least I have his cloak. Erax looks almost half-naked with his shirt stuck to his chest and back, revealing every one of his muscles. My mouth feels dry, the only part of me that is, when I focus on him for too long. He hasn’t complained about the cold, wet clothes he is stuck with, but he must feel it. Between the clothes and the lack of sleep, he can’t be doing well.
Erax clears his throat and pauses. I move to his side, looking down at the path in front of us. It’s an old brick road, leading a straight line through the forest.
“This is good,” he says. “The path leads to the inn on the border. The one I told you about. We will stay there and get warm and have some food too before I call for Cyrsí in the morning. I’ve already made sure the inn’s protected. They shouldn’t be able to find us there. Cyrsí will let me know if they do.”
His dragon… I remember her now. She burnt and ate all the nuns.
“My riders are close to here—close enough that Noble won’t attack us because he’d be outnumbered. You’ll be safe in the inn.”
“You killed the nuns,” I whisper. “You said‘No one is ever going to hurt you and think they will get away with it. You’re my wife, Maelena. My queen.’and I was shocked.” He turns and looks back at me, almost like he is waiting for more memories to come back. But nothing else does. “I remember it. After our wedding, you killed them all for me and hung their bodies in the street. Why did you do that?”
“Because they touched what was mine.” He cocks his head to the side, his eyes darkening. “I trusted them with the most precious thing in existence. My wife. Myqueen. They hurt you in secret, for their own fucked up reasons.They hurt you, Maelena, and no one gets to live after laying a finger on you.” My heartraces. “I have kissed every one of those scars and wished to the gods that I knew so that I could’ve stopped them. I will take that guilt with me to my grave, but them? They deserved to burn for what they did.”
I don’t know what to say to that, and I keep quiet, pushing my mind to remember more. “Did I tell you I loved you?”
“Yes. Now come on. You’re cold, and so am I.”
He turns and walks down the path, his eyes darting around for anyone hiding nearby. I can barely make my legs move, but I force myself to follow him down the path, which is easier to walk on than the forest floor. Memories are coming back to me, like waves crashing onto the shore, but so far all of the waves are small and shatter easily. I remember more from when I arrived, when I got to the castle. I remember us arguing, I remember my wedding day in parts, my uncle being there too.
“My uncle, where is he?” I question Erax, catching up to his side.
“He’s in my dungeons, along with his niece. She’s pissing me off.” I can’t say I’m upset about her being in there. “But he’s unharmed. I know you care for him.”
