Page 153 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
Mrs. Mallowmere smiled up at me. “Follow them and find out.”
Chapter
Thirty-One
THE COMMANDER
The Sky Summit was as eerie as I remembered in my nightmares.
As soon as we exited the passage, Nadya and Geryll stony-faced, trembling, and trying to hide it, I gave them both a reassuring squeeze, and lowered my hands from their shoulders.
The two of them made me proud as they shuffled to the side, sticking close to the exit and the plan. They crossed their hands in front of their chests, standing tall like any Solkar’s Reach warrior worth their blades.
I averted my gaze from them, lest anyone notice the warmth in my eyes. If the Northern Clans knew how much I cared about Nadya and Geryll, they’d be in danger.
Everything and everyone I loved was.
I rolled my neck to shake off the nausea from seeing the Warden again, my blood now warming his bowels.
I hadn’t taken his warning lightly.
If this was a trap, I wouldn’t walk into it like a frightened man.
Ignoring a Sky Summit meeting, even one I called for, would be cause for battle.
Leaving was impossible.
Staying might get me killed.
But I would be the only one to die.
So I took a determined step forward, whether to my grave or not, I didn’t yet know.
In theory, any gathering in the Sky Summit took place under the rules of parley. You said what you had to and nobody got maimed.
But the Northern Clans had always had a knack for bending the rules and then pretending they’d never been there in the first place; The Clan Council had probably taken some pointers from them.
For a moment, The Huntress’ green eyes flashed in my mind, as if beckoning me back to Solkar’s Reach.
But she’d never respect a coward. I wouldn’t, either.
I clenched my jaw and shielded that image deep in my mind. A righteous essence like hers didn’t deserve to be tarnished in such a place.
The vortex of clouds swirled above us, caging the entire space from Solkar’s honorable gaze.
There would be no honor here today.
A circular stone wall caged us on all sides, the only light allowed from the heavens flooding a circle in the center of the space, delineated from the edges by a ring of salt and blood which had petrified in the long years since its creation.
Three figures already waited inside it, each more fearsome than the last.
My biggest enemies in this world and the next.
My so-called relatives.
The three leaders of the Northern Clans stood side by side instead of dispersing within the ring, as was tradition. A common front against me, the one who’d turned his back ontraditionandblood.
The right side had been taken by Lioran Tideborne, who wore his Brinewall leathers stamped with grey fishscales. He wore a cloak with a train that ended in spikes, like the tails of the sea monsters that still lived in legends. His dark boots and gloves bore the marks of dried salt on them, a clear sign of his rule over the coast.
