Page 101 of A Sword of Ice
Prince Valerio scowled but didn’t reprimand the little lord. His body went taut and she swore he looked uncomfortable as his fingers closed into fists at his sides. “I do not know what you are talking about.”
Clay’s eyes rolled. “Far be it for me to reveal other’s secrets, but I might have to.” He angled his body towards Shula. “He likes you but doesn’t want to disrespect Ryker or you by liking you, so he acts like a dick to put distance between you.” He shot a smug grin towards the prince. “There, I told her for you. Can we move along?”
They stood in a brief moment of stunned silence that shattered when Ryker growled, the sound possessive.
“Of course, I like her, fool, as much as I like any of you here. Can we drop this subject now? Shula, will you help us or not?” The sharp angles of the prince’s cheekbones colored with a tinge of pink. His words were clipped, abrasive, and Iona found herself smirking at his deflection.
Given the confession earlier and the fact that the prince had believed she would be his mate when they went to save her, Iona assumed being a dick was his way of separating those confusing feelings.
“I—It’s too dangerous,” Shula argued, fingers gripping the hem of her jacket. “I am not saying it because I am afraid, though I am, and I’d be a fool not to be. I say it because if this camp is bigger, it will have more soldiers. We don’t know what we are up against.”
“That’s the thing about life, Fire Dancer,” Julius cut in, his voice rumbling with amusement. “We never know what we’re up against. But as long as we face it together, there’s nothing we can’t do.”
She took her bottom lip between her teeth, chewing furiously on it. Her eyes danced with indecision, doubt.
“What if it was your parents?” Valerio asked, not cruelly, but the way Shula jumped made it seem like she’d been slapped. “What if your parents were the ones there right now? Alive, suffering, wishing for death? Would you help them then?” His words were similar to the one’s Iona had given Julius before. They were carefully calculated, just the slightest bit manipulative, yet effective.
Shula’s eyes flickered and for a moment, it looked like streaks of fire slid down her cheeks in the shape of tears. Smoke billowed out of her nostrils as she took a breath. Her eyes flicked up to Iona, and the indecision was still there, though she caught fire crawling along the edges of her vision, burning away her inhibitions.
When she finally spoke, it was minutes later. Minutes that had felt like hours. “I’d burn the camp to the ground to find them.”
“Will you help us then?”
This time, Shula didn’t hesitate but spoke with conviction and vengeance, and Iona knew she was picturing her family. Her mother and her father, taken by the emperor’s soldiers to die.
Fire blazed behind her eyes until the golden-brown color was consumed entirely by an inferno of her rage and loyalty…
… and her burning thirst for death.
44
Consequences
Uric’s rage was a beast in chains, subdued without a fight.
Like always, he kept a tight lock against his emotions, for they served no purpose in the grand scheme of things. It was no hardship to let the mask fall into place. His life, after all, had always been a play, everyone around him pretending. And he was just another lie among many.
Feigning was easy. That hard mask he wore, even easier to slip into place. Though, there were things he could not control. Things he never thought would be factors in his life.
Like how weak Prince Valerio Ashera made him.
The Nova family were lords and silent assassins in equal measure. They believed in presenting the façade of nobles, while cutting through the courts with efficiency and precision. Giving their youngest son to the Ashera family to be the young prince’s companion had been a calculated move on their part. To learn the Seelie Court’s weaknesses. To learn theprince’sweaknesses.
What they never could have predicted was that Uric was to be the one to fall weak.
Weak for a kind smile, a comforting hug.
A friend.
Secrets had ceased to matter, and then their world had gone to shit and spying mattered even less. Yet old habits died hard, and Uric still found his mask slipping into place. But, these days, Uric found it harder and harder to keep the pretense up.
For years, he’d felt this breathlessness, the pounding beat of his heart, the smiles that twitched at his lips as the only evidence of what he felt. His loyalty had been an undying thing.
Ever since this endeavor, given to them by King Ashera, Uric felt his friend slipping away. He was becoming reckless. While he was a good prince, with a big heart, no good could ever come from this.
“You are angry.” Valerio didn’t seem amused, or upset. Just curious.
Uric wondered what had given it away.
