Page 94 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
He was another problem I needed to deal with, but couldn’t right now, when not even I could understand my turmoil. If the Clan Council had decreed we had to marry, we couldn’t risk the magistrates’ wrath.
But I couldn’t think about that now. First, I would reclaim my Clan. Then I’d deal with that messy future.
Even so, I couldn’t stop the guilt eating away at me. We’d both been flung into this arranged marriage plot, but while the Commander had taken that future responsibility by standing by my side and defending me to my own family, I chose to leave him.
I clenched my jaw to keep a growl from escaping.
I wasn’t running away. Not forever.
My Clan came first.
It had to.
To protect is to endure.
The sun slipped on the sky as these thoughts whirled in my mind, along with plans of infiltrating Aquila. By the time I’d settled on penetrating the stronghold through the flood drainways on the east side of the city, a strange darkness enveloped us suddenly.
The horse neighed something awful.
“Shhh, it’s okay, girl,” the courier murmured, but even his voice sounded off. It had lost that relaxed lilt, replaced with a concerning edge. “We’ll get through it in no time.”
Get throughwhat?
No sooner had the question sprung in my mind that the darkness engulfed us fully.
I couldn’t see my own hand in front of my eyes.
Fear gripped me and I struggled to dig my paltry knife out, gripping it like it could protect me from whateverthiswas.
Dark.
Cold.
Hums.
A million different voices, none of them human, all of them terrifying, blasted through me all at once, rattling in my mind.
This wasn’t the hum of the city, which scratched my brain and cackled at how easily it could.
These hums–these bloodcurdling, haunting murmurs and pulses–demanded attention.
They clung to my thoughts.
They scratched at my body.
Unbearable.
I covered my ears, but I couldn’t stop the voices.
Crying.
Pleading.
Screeching at me.
Worthless.
Powerless.
