Page 244 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
But I smiled.
I smiled for the sun and the stars to see, because I was alive.
No longer able to keep my head up, I leaned back onto the ground, running my fingers through the coarse dirt. In the distance, I heard the first bird chirps of the day.
This was the second time I’d managed to land on my back near the lip of the crater, facing the sky.
And just like then, despite the passage still trying to seep life out of me, I laughed.
Not as wildly or as loudly, too tired to even think straight, but I did.
We’d won.
“Now you can stop it,” Ryker’s voice called out. “Torches have been lit, they can see–why are you laughing?”
He stopped above me, watching me writhe on the ground in giggles.
“Why not?” I asked, tears falling down my temples. But they were happy, deranged tears. The ring of my laughter meant I’d survived once more. “You’re right, I’m very unlucky.”
Or maybe too lucky.
“You laugh in the strangest moments,” he said once more, like he had on that day when he’d stood up for me in front of Silas.
Only now, his voice was tender, filled with a longing he no longer hid, and it made my heart soar once more.
“Allie,” Ryker said gently, kneeling next to me. His palm cradled my head against the hard ground. “Your laughter truly is the sweetest music I have ever heard, but we need to hurry.”
The urgency in his voice sobered me up instantly.
I stopped moving and closed my eyes, though loathe to stop looking at him. I focused on the well of power inside of me. It felt…happy.
Joyous.
It still danced with the purple light.
But the connection had to end.
I called back my blue tendrils from the passage.
They refused.
My heart crashed against my ribs.
Come back.
I yanked on my powers with all my might, but something was pulling them back into the passage.
The purple light.
It truly was greedy.
This magic belongs to me.
For now, a hiss whispered in my mind.
All of a sudden, the link broke and my powers were set free.
I gasped and arched my back as the tendrils retreated back into me, burning my throat and chest as they came.
