Page 74 of A Dance With Fire
26
Castle Aileach
They packed quickly and in silence. The whole camp’s mood was vastly different now from the way it had been hours ago. Even Shula felt drained.
They hadn’t yet tended to the wounded, because Valerio didn’t want to waste any more time where they were. If the humans had found them, then more might come after. They couldn’t go on foot, either. They’d have to portal.
Uric looked beyond exhausted, more so than the rest of them.
Valerio stared at his friend and whispered words that Shula caught in passing. “Are you sure you can do it?”
They discussed things silently for a few moments before Uric spread his arms wide and the air behind him shimmered as a portal was opened.
Where they wanted to go, Shula wasn’t sure, but she didn’t have a choice, and she felt like she’d lost the fight in her anyway. It wasn’t like she had anywhere else to go. It wasn’t like anyone was coming to save her.
So when the portal completely opened, she helped them usher everyone through. It was the least she could do. Grief rushed through her chest and clogged her throat, making it hard to breathe. It was made worse by the sad smiles Clay threw her way or Ryker’s glares.
She could read between the lines of the glares far easier than she could the smiles.
It was like Ryker blamed her and let it be known through the expression on his face. Like he thought her sorrow wasn’t genuine. Or maybe his anger stemmed from something—somewhere—else. Whatever it was, he didn’t stop frowning in her direction, but she ignored the feelings he twisted within her gut and focused on what needed to be done.
One by one, they walked through the portal. The longer it was held open, the more Uric gasped. She watched the transformation settle over him with the smallest bit of fascination. Smooth skin wrinkled, and it was like watching parchment crumble in a slow grip. His silver hair began falling in wisps over his shoulders. Liver spots appeared on his hands.
“Hurry along,” Valerio snapped impatiently, his worried eyes on his friend.
Once everyone had gone through, all that was left was Julius, who held tightly to the bound and gagged human prisoner, Ryker, Clay, Valerio, Uric, and Shula.
Clay settled a hand against her lower back, drawing her attention to his bright green eyes.
“Ready, Fire Dancer?” he asked in gentle tones.
She wasn’t. But she didn’t have a choice. She had nowhere else to go, and with the humans hot on their heels, she wouldn’t risk leaving.
Nodding once, he urged her towards the portal, passing by Ryker who glared between them, a sight that went ignored by both her and Clay.
With a deep breath, Shula and Clay stepped through the shimmering air and arrived on the other side.
She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but she was sure it hadn’t been to land on the top of a soft blanket of white. Her body sank into it, the sensation of cold assaulting her like the sharp ends of a thousand knives. The pervasive sense of cold had her shivering instantly. Shula wasn’t used to freezing climates since the circus always migrated away from cities before the snow could hit, especially in the north of Illyk.
Pushing herself up to her bare feet, she kept her footing only to realize she was still in the charred remnants of her outfit from before. In their haste to leave camp, she’d left her garments behind. Perhaps the last bits of Orna she’d ever come to possess, and she’d left them behind.
The thought settled worse than the cold somehow.
Brisk wind slapped against her skin, hauling her from treacherous thoughts. Eyes squinting, she looked through the blurry maelstrom of snow and ice. Footsteps scrunched around her, but she focused instead on the darkness of her surroundings and not the people.
They were in the mountains, at the very tip of them where the peaks touched the sky and the frost reigned like its own special hell. She felt the torture of it against her body, numbing her senses.
“Shit, Shula!”
Warm arms wrapped around her body, but she hardly felt them. The cold hit fast, and she was all but naked. Wind whistled like a constant horn, so Clay had to scream to be heard above the noise.
“Let’s get you out of this cold!”
He moved, and she twisted her head slowly to catch a glimpse of him shrugging out of his tunic and pulling it over her stiff arms. It brought little warmth, but it left him naked from the waist up.
He didn’t appear annoyed by this, though. The wind tousled his blond strands of hair against his forehead and cheeks. Her gaze skimmed over his bare body. It definitely wasn’t the time or place to ogle him, but seeing the rigid set of muscles that tapered down to a thin V line of his waist made her eyes almost bug out of her head.
She tore her gaze away to his face, only to catch him staring at her. He winked and her face heated, but he immediately threw his arm around her shoulders and tugged her close.
