Page 106 of The Crown's Fate
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
One of the officers in charge of the artillery line hurried to Pasha. Fear shone in his eyes, but he adhered to his duty. “Your Imperial Highness, you should retreat to safety.”
Pasha shook his head. “I’m staying. This is my fight.” His knees trembled a little, but he pressed his legs tightly against his horse so no one would see his uncertainty.
“Your Imperial Highness—”
Pasha gave him a look so stern, even Yuliana would approve. “I’m staying.”
His sister waved the officer over. She bent from her horse to whisper something in his ear.
“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.” He darted a glance at Pasha, saluted to Yuliana, and ran back to his troops.
“What was that about?” Pasha asked.
“You’ll see,” she said. “Trust me.”
He considered pressing further. But Yuliana arched a brow, and he knew she would not relent. He looked up intothe sky and touched the basalt pendant at his throat instead. “Vika? What can you see up there?”
Her voice came through as crisply as if she were still on a horse beside him. “I’m sure you noticed the soldiers who’ve doubled the Decembrists’ forces.” She said it matter-of-factly, possibly because magic was, actually, a regular fact of life for her, but also possibly for Pasha’s benefit, to keep him calm. “They’re preparing for attack, which under normal circumstances, your men could take. But Nikolai will be able to fire those muskets faster than an ordinary soldier can reload.”
Pasha again wanted to cram his hands into his hair. But he was the commander of an army at the front lines, no longer a boy who stayed home at the palace while others fought his wars. He had to think clearly, despite facing a threat stranger than any his father must have faced. He took a deep breath. “So even though we’re nearly ten thousand and they are only ... five or six, we have to consider this an even fight.”
“Right,” Vika said.
Pasha swallowed the sour stomach acid that had crept up his throat. “All right. We’ll try to hold our own down here on the ground. And you ...” Pasha glanced at Yuliana and remembered her order to kill Nikolai. “Do what you need to do, Vika. However you can.”
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
Vika looked down at the square and focused on Nikolai. He glanced up at the same time, as if the string that connected them tugged on him at that moment, too. His gaze locked with hers.
Don’t forget,she mouthed.
His shroud flickered for a second, only long enough for her to glimpse the shadow beneath. She didn’t know if he’d done it on purpose, or if her message had pushed its way through to him for that brief moment.
Irrational hope fluttered inside her.
She collected herself a second later. Nikolai had had plenty of chances to back down. He hadn’t. And now they were here, in the thick of a battle.
Vika bent her head in one last gesture of mourning for the boy she’d known.
Then she threw her arms out in front of her, and the winter wind rushed in their wake, whipping through the air, through the Decembrists, and knocking Nikolai tothe ground. She struck her hands together and hurled ice crystals in his direction. The frost clung to him, and more and more layers piled on. Within seconds, Nikolai was frozen, completely suspended in a translucent block of ice.
The bracelet tightened around her wrist, but it didn’t burn. Because Vika wasn’t necessarily defying orders. In the rush of giving the command, Yuliana had forgotten she ought to specifywhenVika was to kill Nikolai. And Pasha had only told Vika to do what she needed to do.
Her entire body quivered.
For an infinitesimal moment, Peter’s Square was quiet.
But then Pasha’s own artillery began to fire. Vika watched as Pasha whirled around to Yuliana. “What’s happening?” he shouted, his voice coming through since he still clasped the necklace in his hand.
“I commanded them to fire on the rebels,” Yuliana said. She was within range of the necklace so Vika could hear. “It’s time to finish this nonsense.”
Vika gasped.
“Those weren’t my orders!” Pasha said.
“Your orders weren’t aggressive enough.”
