Page 3 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
I rubbed my head against the velvet cocooning me. The sharp hairpin I kept as a secondary concealed weapon was also missing.
My heart stuttered.
If I wasn’t The Huntress–the one they whispered about with either reverence or fear–who was I?
No powers.
No weapons.
Just a girl in a bloodied silk dress, buried alive.
Just Allie.
And it would have to do.
All I could hope now was that my attackers had buried me in soil and hadn’t placed a great big rock on top of the coffin’s lid–and that said lid wasn’t as thick as I’d feared it to be.
I could wiggle myself into position and use the heel of my remaining shoe to bang and pierce the metal out of my way. Then I’d think of a way to fight the dirt which would inevitably cascade down on me.
It was a ridiculous plan, brought on by despair.
Most likely suicidal.
But it wasa plan.
I would not lay here and wait for my death.
I licked my dry lips and fisted my palms, desperate to tense away the tremors. The velvet draped above tickled my nose.
I needed to find out what lay beyond it.
This was going to hurt.
I gritted my teeth as I punched straight up. But instead of searing pain, my fist raised the velvet along with it and banged the lid open.
What in the–?
Fresh air–cold and unforgiving–hit my lungs like a punch.
This wasn’t the tangy scent of fresh dirt. Beyond the caking blood on my corset, I smelled embers and freshly charred meat.
This had to be a trap.
But it was stars above being buried.
Slowly, my hand stopped trembling.
I slid the velvet from my body and rose. I was in a room, with a massive fireplace heating up the stones, a plate of roast chicken and a bottle of wine waiting on a table a few feet away from me.
Moonlight shone through the windows. I could barely make out the tops of trees, but they were covered insnow, of all things.
Aquila, the Protectorate’s seat, had the kind of balmy weather most Clans envied us for.
In my twenty-one years on the continent of Malhaven, I’d only seen this much snow once, when Grandpa Constantine had taken me to a negotiation high up in the mountains.
Where was I now?
My gaze barely had time to trail over the stony walls when I heard footsteps echoing from outside the massive wooden door.
