Hypnos sighed. “The longer I stare at this, the only liquid I want is wine.”
Enrique snapped his fingers. “What if that’s it?”
“Can’t be,” said Zofia. “There’s no wine in ice.”
“Thereisice wine, though,” said Hypnos. “Very sweet. In fact, they make an excellent vintage in Russia.”
“You said he was a god of celebration—”
“And blood,” said Enrique. “Or wine.”
“Blood… or wine.”
As far as she knew, there were no metallic properties in wine that someone could manipulate with an affinity.
“It’s blood orice,” said Eva.
All of them turned to face her. Eva flexed her hand, and for the first time Zofia noticed a strange ring she wore on her pinky. It was curved like a talon.
“All blood Forging artisans are well versed in matter and mind, but we particularly excel at ice because of its metallic content.”
“There’s iron in both ice and blood,” said Zofia slowly.
“Naturallyoccurring ice, at least,” said Eva. “Boiled water left out in freezing temperatures isn’t nearly as receptive to my affinity, but ice from lakes and oceans? Very rich in metal.”
Enrique inched away from the shield. “So you think the door wants… blood?”
“Only experiment confirms hypothesis,” said Zofia.
“It’syourhypothesis. Might as well commit to it,” said Eva. She uncurled her hand, her metal talon glinting. “I can make it painless.”
Zofia swallowed, then held out her hand only for Hypnos to step between her and Eva. He gently pushed down her arm.
“I cannot see you hurt,ma chère,” he said softly. “Allow me.”
“Allow” was a strange word. Zofia had never considered that she might grant someone permission to protect her, and a feeling of warmth—like gulping down not-too-hot soup—settled into her chest. She stepped back wordlessly.
“You look like you have practice in such recreation, Patriarch,” said Eva.
Hypnos merely held out his hand. Eva slashed her taloned ring across it, leaving his palm bloody. Grimacing, Hypnos pressed his hand to the metal. A moment passed, then two…
“I hope I did not ruin myself for nothing,” muttered Hypnos. “That was my favorite palm, you know.”
But a moment later, a change took place in the metal shield. The edges of the metal lit up, making a small puffing sound of release as it broke away from the ice wall. Enrique moved closer, and the three of them formed a tight knot as the metal door swung open like a lid covering a tunnel to reveal—
“A boarded-up brick wall?” demanded Hypnos. “I wasted my blood onthat?”
Enrique got close to the wall, scratching at it with his nail.
“It smells awful,” said Eva, recoiling.
“It’s been boarded up for a long time,” said Enrique, pointing to the fine trellis of moss that had broken up the brick.
“Let’s try the other doors,” said Zofia.
Clutching his hand, Hypnos walked to the second door. Again, he placed his palm against it. Again, the portal opened.
“Oh good, more brick,” said Hypnos.
