Page 44 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
An idea my principles wouldn’t allow me to say no to.
“Godsdammit.” I rumbled between clenched teeth.
Zandyr and Soryn instantly relaxed.
They knew they’d won the fight.
“For how long?” I asked, voice cold.
How long was I supposed to hide and babysit a literal storm of a woman inside my sacred fortress?
“Until we make sense of this massacre,” Zandyr said. “Too many lives are at stake to let it escape Sanctua Sirena.”
I rolled my shoulders back, the rumble still vibrating in my throat.
I’d made my decision, but that didn’t mean I had to be happy for it.
My gaze slashed toward Zandyr. “You owe me for this,Brother.”
“The entire Blood Brotherhood owes its existence to you ever since you joined our Clan.” He nodded my way. “Your sacrifice will not be forgotten...Brother.”
“For the good of the Blood Brotherhood,” I recited, this time without any passion. Thisgoodhad gotten me in more danger than I would have ever imagined.
My two Brothers through battle, not blood, echoed our creed.
They sounded relieved.
Of course they did. They weren’t the ones who had to spend gods-knew how many days guarding The Huntress.
No more words were exchanged as I closed my eyes and tightened my muscles, feeling my bones snap underneath the well-trained strain.
Even after so many years of forging myself in the cold, the rush still cracked me open from the inside.
The echoes of pain from the torment of the ritual which had rearranged my very essence coursed through me.
The ache was worse than any wound, any dagger, any fire. More painful than The Calling itself, when I’d bled on the sacred stones to get access to my Blood Brotherhood powers.
But it made me soar.
One second I was standing next to Zandyr and Soryn.
In the next, I was rushing up the stone stairs from the jagged Sanctua Sirena beach back toward the maze. The world blurred as my body defied nature and I became nothing but a haze.
Faster than sound, lighter than sight, I retraced my steps back to where I’d last seen her.
The world rocked back into view, threatening my equilibrium, as I halted.
No sign of her or the ivy bow.
Who had flowers on a deadly bow, anyway?
The Huntress, that’s who.
I crouched low to the ground, gaze sweeping over the scorched grass.
Through the reek of smoke and poison, I could still smell her. A fresh scent that beckoned me further into the maze.
It was silent.
