Page 224 of Grim and Oro
“Here,” Calder says. He lifts his arm, and the snow parts, making a door.
Someone is already standing there. A man wearing a saber-toothed leopard as a hide and wielding a sword made of sharpened ice.
He’s baring his teeth. “Didn’t kill enough of my men?” He’s looking at me.
I glare at him, remembering how they came from the trees. Remembering how they almosthurther.
“We didn’t kill anyone that didn’t try to kill us first.”
“Anyone that steps onto our territory is sentenced to death.” He looks us over, his eyes lingering on Calder, who towers over him. “Which makes you both fools for being here.”
I’m king of the island. This is Moonling land. None of that matters to this Vinderland, whose teeth have been sharpened into spikes.
“I’m hoping we can work together,” I say. “I’m looking for something. Help me find it, and we can discuss anything you want. Land. Resources. Nothing is off the table.”
The Vinderland shakes his head. He licks the points of his teeth.
“What makes you think we want any of that?”
I shrug. “I’m not sure what you want. But if you help me, whatever is in my power to give, I’ll give to you.”
It’s a foolish offer, but these are desperate times. The days are almost done.Iam close to death, my strength quickly dwindling.
“And what if it’s something evenyou, King, cannot give me?”
I frown. “What is it you want?”
“I want the Wildling.”
The snow beneath me begins to melt.
He takes a step toward me. “I want to drain her of every drop of blood in her body. I want to rip out every strand of hair. I want to peel her skin off, coil by coil. I want to drink her power straight from her skull. I—”
His throat is in my fist before I realize what I’m doing. My hand is so hot with fury that his skin burns right off, his bone cracks andsplinters, his eyes bulge and burst, before my fire burns through his throat and spinal cord completely.
His head falls to the snow. His body falls in the opposite direction.
Calder sighs. “That’s one way to start a war.”
I pant, rage coursing through my veins. I burn the rest of his body, unsatisfied until every trace of him is gone.
“They’re going to come for you. His sect. They’ll know you’re looking for something. They’ll know you killed him,” Calder says.
“Let them come,” I tell him, and then I turn my back to the ashes.
HOPE
Someone’s banging on my door.
None of my friends have enough manners to knock.
I open it, fire in my palm ready—
It’s her.
She was about to pound again, and I catch her fist in my palm. There’s a moment where we just look at each other, like we’re both considering the days we haven’t seen each other.
Then, she pushes past me, and I let her, stunned.
