Page 22 of A Sword of Ice
“Are you ready?” The voice cut through the loud roaring of the wind. Commanding, imperious. Noble. The voice of Amos Ashera, King of Tir na Faie and the Seelie Courts.
A heavy cloak was set over his shoulders, his thick legs spread, and his muscled arms crossed against his chest. His dark, black beard was long and braided, held together with jeweled clips. His eyes held the hint of something dark within them. Dark and desperate and cunning.
It was a look that mirrored his son’s.
Prince Valerio walked to his father and bowed. When he stood, the cutting, sharp lines of his facial features were calm. Shula had always thought the prince looked sharp, but there was something infinitely softer about him than his father.
Softer, but no less ruthless.
“We are ready,” Valerio answered as he rose.
King Ashera nodded. “Go with Mana, and report back to me when you find the second Elemental.” His eyes strayed to Shula, a threat shining in the obsidian depths.
She’d all but declared her loyalty the night before when she’d burst from the woods to save six Fae males she’d grown to think of as friends, and afterwards when she allowed Ryker to heal her ears. She was on their side, ready to take back the Fae pride the humans had all but beaten to the ground.
Even so, he would never trust her.
She doubted royals had it in them to trust anyone, so she tried not to take it personally.
“We will, Your Majesty.” Valerio turned from his father, nodding once at Uric, a pale Fae with white-silver hair, covered head to toe in black.
Uric stepped forward silently and Shula watched as he waved a hand through the air, and the air behind him shimmered and glowed. A silver outline appeared, and darkness opened up like a doorway before making way to the image of a distorted mirror.
It was something Shula had become all too accustomed to in the past few weeks.
The portal shimmered and Julius stepped towards it first, unsheathing his sword and hefting his shield to his left arm. He’d go through first for protection, followed by Clay then Valerio. Shula, Ryker, Weylyn, and Uric would bring up the rear.
Shula’s bag weighed on her shoulders as she stepped towards the thing. The map of Illyk and six stones in her pocket seemed to burn with promise. The promise of what should happen if she failed to find the five remaining Elementals.
Destruction.
Death.
The eradication of the entire Fae race.
No pressure… right?
She took a breath and stepped into the portal. Pushing past the surface was like going through a pool of honey. Her ears popped and she made it to the other side, feet stepping on frozen earth devoid of snow. Air devoid of stinging ice.
It was chilly enough, but the lack of vicious winds that had surrounded Castle Aileach made her feel suffocated in her own fur coat and thick boots.
They’d landed just at the edge of the Arcana, a miles wide river that spread from the mountains of Vellm all the way down to Dana, cutting through the human lands of Illyk, in the kingdom of Teg.
As the others stepped out of the portal and it closed, Shula pulled the map from her pocket and opened the fraying slip of parchment.
The night before, she’d used it to track the other Elementals by tossing the stones in her pocket and watching them land on the spaces where each Fae was located. Now, it was like Mana itself burned on the page, showing her exactly where she needed to go.
A thin electric blue line slid from where Shula stood on the map towards the shores of Teg, in a small city named Porir that was just along the coast of the Western Waters.
Her Fae companions had argued right after the pieces fell onto the map. Each on different kingdoms.
Ielwyn.
Dana.
Vellm.
A line that bounced between kingdoms.
