Page 102 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
Slowly, he disentangled Orion’s fingers from my neck, gaze never leaving my face. I nodded instead of a thank you. Words were beyond me.
He’d saved me.
My so-called enemy had come after me and saved me against my own allies.
“Can you stand?” His hot breath ghosted across my forehead. My body relaxed deeper into the safety of his arms.
Gods, it felt so good to have someone else hold me upright right now.
I nodded and braced my hand against the rock.
The Commander’s arm lingered around me, sliding away slowly. Reluctantly. We stared at each other for another breath.
Then he became a flash once more.
He yanked the dagger out of the rock before I could even look at it and seehowit had slashed through stone and crouched above Orion menacingly.
“I’m curious, Orion,” the Commander said calmly, like he was discussing the sudden gall of wind. But I heard the ice underneath it and shuddered. “What made you think that after I threatened Silas, a Clan leader, for simply speaking to my future wife in a way I didn’t like, I wouldn’t gut you where you stood for touching her?”
He slowly drew the tip of his dagger over Orion’s wound, who flailed out of his reach, backing against the rock.
Bile rose in my throat.
“Stop,” I said.
He did, retracting the dagger.
My mind and soul couldn’t wrap around the betrayal, even as Orion scowled at me and I held onto his severed hand.
But the rage…the rage burned hot.
“I trusted you,” I seethed. “I would have given my life to protect yours, you son of a bitch.”
I moved quicker than I thought I could in this state. I held onto the bleeding end of Orion’s hand and swung. The back of his palm slapped him straight across the cheek, leaving behind a red mark of shame as his entire head jerked.
“Never attack a Protectorate member again in your miserable life,” I hissed, dropping his arm next to his twitching body as I staggered back.
What had we both become?
The mark on his face did nothing to soothe the rampage inside me.
It wasn’t the unstoppable storm I was used to.
It was a simmering of something vile which was about to spill over.
“Don’t kill him,” I said, surprising all three of us.
They both turned to look at me, Orion still with hatred in his eyes. Hatred I did not deserve.
“He would have killed you,” the Commander said, the calm in his tone now barely leashed. “Would have done worse.”
“I know.” But I still couldn’t bring myself to bring death upon Orion. My powers had passed him while it had decimated the masked figures. “He deserves the worst. But I don’t deserve to carry the weight of his life on my shoulders and his children don’t need to grow up in a world where he doesn’t exist.”
The Commander sighed and rose, coming to stand in front of me. “We need whatever information he has. He won’t give it willingly.”
“That’s what truth serums are for.”
“You know someone who’s been trained can give only grains of truth while hiding the real secrets. He is inmyterritory and he attackedmyfuture wife. If you wish, I will not kill him. But he won’t go unpunished as–”
