Page 83 of A Sword of Ice
So Iona turned, and she walked away.
* * *
When they werea few miles from the shores of Teg, near the border where it met Orknie, they dropped anchor. It wasn’t smart to park ship near the shores where any human could see them and get the authorities involved. They had to make it close enough where Uric could portal them from the boat and to a secluded woods area in Orknie.
Everyone had packed their things and shouldered massive packs against their backs. Since Iona had left with nothing, all she had was her hand digging into her familiar’s fur, the other one clasped tightly against Julius’.
She could feel the tension reverberating through her mate, but she did nothing to soothe him. Iona was just as anxious, if not more than he was.
It was a new adventure, a new stage in her life, something she wasn’t used to. Traveling all of Illyk out in the open with other Fae, her mate, and her enormous familiar was a dangerous call for attention. But she knew this was the right thing to do. Mana had decreed it.
Little tendrils of magic let loose from her palm, sending cold all over her familiar in preparation for their journey through warmer weather than he was used to.
Once Uric opened the portal, they were ushered through and made it to the other side. Orknie’s grounds were frosted over, but not covered in snow like Teg further north. Iona took a deep breath and stared at the sky. She’d never been outside of Porir before. For years that had been her life. Now things were different.
The skies weren’t as dreary or as gray, though that may have been due to the fact they were surrounded by nature. The grass alone was a shock to her system. In Porir, there were nothing but crumbling streets and torn-apart structures. Tree roots didn’t touch the city; instead of branches, it was metal beams that twisted towards the sky; instead of grass and earth, the ground was littered with crumbled brick and trash.
It was like being in some new, surreal world that made her chest compress.
“Let’s make camp,” Valerio ordered once everyone was through the portal. “In the morning, you two will tell us where the next Elemental is, and we will journey that way.”
Iona cut a glare to the prince that he didn’t see.
“Where are we exactly?” she asked Shula, who had pulled a crumpled map from her pocket and was studying the lines with crumpled brows.
“Just outside of a town called Verdt.” Her finger pressed against the spot she’d indicated, and Iona cast a quick glance at the map, her mind whirling with thoughts.
Everyone busied themselves with setting up camp, and since Iona had nothing, no tent or blankets, she decided to go speak with the Seelie Prince. She needed to convince him that going to the iron camps were in their best interests.
She pulled away from her familiar and Julius and approached Prince Valerio.
He didn’t turn to greet her as he spoke. “The answer is still no.”
She grinded her teeth together at his utter dismissal. “Prince Valerio, if you’d only—”
He whirled around and she closed her mouth. “I distinctly remember giving an order. What makes it so hard for you to understand?”
His body seemed to quiver with deadly promise. It made her fearful for a single moment. She had to remember who she was talking to. Their world had become a shitty place and the courts were scattered, but he was still a prince and still commanded fear and respect.
“Please hear me out.”
He held up a hand. “I have heard you out, and yet my orders remain the same.” He looked at her with a glare, daring her to contradict him once more. Only she knew she wouldn’t like the repercussions. “And if you do not like my orders, then feel free to leave.”
It was a challenge, one he knew she wouldn’t face. Because as much as they needed her, she needed them, too. She doubted he would ever let her go anyway. Even if she tried—which Iona wouldn’t—he would stop her, keep her against her will just like they’d done with Shula.
“Can you tell me why you won’t consider it?”
“I do not have to explain my decisions to you.”
Her eyes narrowed on his stiff shoulders. “Your father is making you, isn’t he?” She didn’t need to be involved directly in his inner circle to know that he was following King Ashera’s orders. He’d as much as said so before, but she never imagined what the strict confines of royal life were like, even for a prince.
He cut her a glare.
“How much power do you really have?” she challenged. “As a prince of the Seelie Court and the king’s only child, I would imagine you had much more power than you do.” She didn’t like speaking to her prince this way. The words burned on her tongue, but she didn’t think he would listen otherwise. “You’re little more than the king’s bitch, aren’t you?”
He snarled, his rage showing in the snapping of his canines. A vicious gesture that he pulled back within a second, his eyes widening as if he were surprised he let himself do even that. He took a breath to calm his obviously fraying nerves.
He cracked his neck from side to side and glared at her. “You will not goad me into anything, Elemental. My father is king and his word is law. Only fools disregard it.”
