Page 61 of A Sword of Ice
They worked side by side, using ice and fire to create a steam so thick, it clouded around the air like a dense fog, blocking their ship and the whole horizon from the enemy’s view.
Shula’s hair flapped against the wind, the curling edges sticking to her cheeks, the ends slapping against Iona’s own skin. Raw magic vibrated between them, Mana tethering them together as they worked. Iona felt a burst of strength and knew without having to look that Shula felt it, too.
They were stronger together, and their bonds would only grow.
The boat glided through the water, weaving around the Isles, past rocks that jutted out through the ocean.
They circled around the island. It was more dangerous here, where rocks congregated, piercing out like weapons of warning against boaters. But they pushed through, Iona freezing the rocks and Shula melting them until they disintegrated in the water. Once they were far enough away from port, their magic dissipated and the fog cleared enough to reveal caves.
They carved into the walls of black, high cliffs. A waterfall with dark water fell from the top, splashing against black shores below.
“This might have been a place where smugglers came,” Iona whispered, almost afraid to break through the eerily echoing sounds of the water. “Back when the things that are now legal were illegal.”
Prince Valerio steered the boat close to a cave and a moment later, they dropped anchor. The walls high up on this cliff weren’t made of iron, but of natural elements, and were unmanned. Iona didn’t know how long it would be that way; she knew they had to hurry.
She turned to look at Uric. “You. Make a portal now.”
His lip pulled back in a sneer and she felt a strange sense of gratification in the gesture. He looked like he wanted to argue, but Prince Valerio pressed a hand to his shoulder, silencing him immediately.
She almost cooed at him like a good little dog but bit her lips instead.
Everyone gathered around Valerio at the quick gesture of his fingers and convened in a circle.
“We do not know what we will face when we get there,” he said. “I want us to separate in three groups.”
Valerio, Uric, and Weylyn.
Shula, Ryker, and Clay.
Julius and Iona.
Those were the groups Prince Valerio chose just before Uric opened the portal. Their plan was simple. Search the island for her familiar and meet back within the hour by the top of the cliffs to come up with a plan.
Once Uric opened the portal, Iona was all too eager to step through it, but Julius gripped her upper arm before she could.
“Wait,” he leaned down to whisper, his beard grazing the sensitive skin on her cheek, making her tremble.
Ryker and Shula stepped through first, and then Clay followed.
“Trust me out there, Iona.” His fingers came up to brush aside a stray curl. “We work as a team.”
Before she could answer, Uric grunted, “Hurry up.”
She broke away from him, and his fingers slid down the length of her arm. His hold left a feeling of wakefulness behind. A sense of trust, of unity. The feeling settled even as she stepped through the reflective surface of the portal, pushing through it and landing on the other side.
Her feet sunk into black sand and rock. Her head tilted up to the sky, and when Julius emerged from the other side, she made a face. “The air smells like fish.”
His fingers were comforting against her lower back. He wasn’t pressing for affection, wasn’t forcing flirtations, but was offering stability that she desperately needed.
Iona’s whole body trembled with worry and anticipation that she tried to stave off by taking deep breaths. Her fingers tapped against her thighs as she swiveled her gaze around the island.
There wasn’t much to see, as they were perched on top of a cliff, but beyond, she could just make out the bustling noise of a small city and feel the restricting pressure of iron coating the air.
“Everyone split up,” Valerio ordered. “And make haste.” His already dark eyes seemed to darken even further. His nostrils flared, and there was a hint of premonition and warning in his voice. “The air is thick with blood.”
* * *
The Isles was like a metropolis.A city that burst at the confines with too many people, with too many tastes and textures and scents. It was a marketplace of illegalities, the stalls filled to the brim with things that had once been forbidden.
