“What is she—Eira, get back here!” Levit called.
Eira ignored them both. She sprinted toward the open doors of the Archives, squeezing out before the two Swords shut them tight. Others were shouting—at her? Around her? Eira didn’t know. Her heart was racing and it drowned out every word of the people in the square along with every shred of her better sense.
Ferro was here. She’d seen him. Her brother’s murderer was close.
He vaulted over a low wall at the edge of the square, one that promptly exploded with a hail of dust and rock as a Lightspinning glyph constricted on it with a flash. Eira began running after him. Two Swords tried to stop her, but she dodged out of their grasps.
The mere sight of Ferro had frozen every last drop of blood in her. The dark waters within her churned, tunneling her vision and making him her only focus. This was the man who tried to kill her—who killed her brother. She would hunt him down, no matter what the cost, and make himpay.
Eira leapt over the rubble of the wall. Her stomach shot into her head as she fell. Sticking out her heels, she pushed her magic under her feet, making a ramp of ice that she slid down, scrambling and pushing off against the walls of the buildings that made up the alleyway she was now in. Her eyes caught his heel as he rounded the corner.
“You won’t escape that easily,” Eira growled, sprinting after him.
When she turned the corner, a flash of light caught her off guard. Eira dodged on instinct, and the glyph exploded right where her neck had been a moment ago. Pinwheeling her arms, Eira struggled to right herself but fell hard.
He was ahead of her in the alleyway, about to make another turn.
“No!” she part snarled, part shouted. Eira slammed her fist into the ground and ice shot forth, covering the buildings and street. It was faster than he could run and closed off the exit.
He stumbled, trying to stop himself, nearly smashing into her wall. Eira wished darkly he’d broken his nose on it.
“Juth calt,” he snarled. A glyph appeared in her ice, exploding. But as soon as the ice was damaged, it repaired itself. “Juth calt!” He tried again, but to no avail.
“You’re not going anywhere.” Eira stood. Frost was thickening in the air. Rain turned into snow as water was beginning to rush out from around her feet.
How will you do it?a wicked and cold voice whispered from the most sinister recesses of her mind.Freeze him? Drown him like he did Marcus? Whatever you do…don’t make it too fast. Make him panic like Marcus did. Make him suffer as you have.
The man turned and the dark thoughts evaporated, Eira’s frost nearly vanishing with them. She should have noticed when he spoke—this was not Ferro. The man had amber eyes and a crooked nose. He snarled at her, readying another attack.
Eira waved her hand numbly and a gag of ice covered his lips, as she’d done to Ferro in the forest. But unlike with Ferro, this gag continued to spread across his face. Eira could feel it as her frost sank into him, under his flesh. She could feel his heart slowing and his body going numb.
Soon, he was a statue of ice—not quite alive, not quite dead. Eira held him in stasis just like the journal she’d read months ago had said was possible. Slowly, she approached, staring into his unseeing eyes.
“Do you know I’m here? Or will this all be a dream when I let you thaw?” Eira held the magic in place with an iron fist. He wore plain, cream-colored robes. Her eyes dropped to the satchel he was carrying. Three vertical scars had been etched onto the back of his hand. “What do you have here?”
As Eira reached for his hip, the frost retreated just enough for her to open the bag. Inside was a scroll case and a small pouch with strange markings. She took both, beginning to inspect them when barked orders could be heard on the other side of her ice walls.
Eira quickly turned away from the man—not risking him being conscious still—and unbuttoned her shirt, shoving both scroll case and pouch under her belt next to the box Taavin had given her. By the time she was decent, a Lightspinning glyph attacked her barrier from the other side.
Careful not to release her prisoner, Eira relaxed her magic and watched as the ice evaporated into the air. The snow in the alley quickly warmed, turning into rain.
A line of Swords of Light stood waiting on the other side of the wall, weapons and magic at the ready.
“Here.” Eira motioned to the man she still held in stasis. “I believe this is the one you’re looking for.”
8
“What were you thinking?” Mister Levit stopped mid-pace the moment the door to the Solaris common area opened, revealing Eira. “How dare you run off like that. How dare you ignore my orders. How dare—” He paused, looking back at the Swords of Light who delivered her back to the manor following their initial questioning. “Thank you for returning her. I’ll take it from here,” Levit said, jarringly sweet compared to his previous rage.
The Swords exchanged a look and gave a nod, clearly more than happy to escape the reprimanding she was already getting from Levit. As soon as the doors shut behind her, he started up again. He didn’t care that Alyss, Noelle, and Cullen were in the common room as well. Her punishment might as well be an example for them.
“I’m sorry,” Eira muttered. She had every intention of retreating to her room.
Levit stepped in front of her, blocking her way. “‘Sorry’ isn’t going to cut it. You risked not only your place in the tournament, but your fellow competitors’ places as well. You could’ve hadthemdisqualified with your actions.”
“They weren’t—”
“What you do reflects onallof Solaris.” He wasn’t going to let her get a word in. “When you step out of line, it reflects poorly on all of us. We are here on Queen Lumeria’s blessing. We have this house because of Queen Lumeria’s blessing. What do you think she might do if you interfere with her knight’s investigations? Do you really want to find out at what point her kindness expires?”
