Page 101 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
His hold on me tightened, hard enough to press against my airway this time. “Shut up.”
That was the thing about guilt–it always ate at you.
“You shook my father’s hand,” I went on, barely able to speak as his fingers squeezed and squeezed. As if shutting me up would change the truth. “I was there when your babies spoke their first words. I carried them in my arms and played with their little fingers.”
“Shut up!”
Just as my vision began to darken, a shadow swooped down on Orion.
His hand shook, long enough for me to catch another desperate breath, as he swung his other hand at a raven.
Not just any raven–the crazy one I’d screamed at my first day in the crater.
It clawed its sharp talons at Orion’s eyes, beak scraping his head.
No matter how fast he moved, the raven flew out of his reach and attacked him again.
Using the distraction, I kicked at Orion with all my remaining energy.
It only angered him more.
His grip on my neck tightened too hard, too fast.
My hands flew to his wrist, nails digging into miserable flesh, the last flail of survival. But he wouldn’t budge.
I couldn’t die like this.
Not before I took my revenge.
Out of nowhere, a dagger flashed through the air and embedded itself into the rock next to my head.
Orion’s howl seared into me.
His grasp loosened.
Drops of blood splattered on my face–just like the priest’s had.
I recoiled as if scalded, flinching away from the memory and Orion. He slumped to the ground, a writhing mess.
His arm still clung to my neck, but it was no longer attached to his body. It had been cut clean from his shoulder. Blood oozed out of his wound; it looked as red as mine, but smelled rotten. Like his entire insides were decomposing, even as he shuddered and roared.
In a blink, the Commander appeared in front of me, shining like a star descended from the sky. Thunder and vengeance flashed in his eyes.
I swayed from the relief and shock of him.
He clenched and unclenched his fists to the same furious rhythm of his tightening jaw, tense and coiled.
“You came after me,” I breathed–as a thank you, as a reproach, as every emotion swirling inside of me–as my body leaned into him, looking for comfort and support after this disgusting night.
The Commander's arm coiled around my waist, steading me against him with a gentleness so at odds with the fierceness contorting his face.
We stared at each other, unblinking, as if trapped in another world. His warmth soothed the coldness which had seeped into me. My knees wobbled, but he stood still against me.
Safe.
Sturdy.
Unbreakable.
