“She’s there.” Raum hovered over my shoulder, his silver eyes bright with his mesmer. “Caught sight of her dress in the dark. She’s around a bend. Not sure she can hear you with all this.” The Kryv waved his palms about, gesturing at the storm.
I cursed and started to leverage my legs over the sides.
“Jonas,” My father snapped. “These tunnels are prone to cave-ins.”
“Then be ready to pull us out,” I shot back. “I’m not leaving her down there, and nor would you if this was Maj.”
He could not argue the truth of it. With a rough wave of his hand, the king called for ropes and spades we carried in saddle packs, he called for everyone to be ready to dig us out if the Norns chose to bury us inside.
I slipped into the tunnel. Raum guided me with my hand and foot placements until swampy earth touched my boots.
Heavy falls of soil and rain already coated my face and shoulders. Another breath and a wrapped torch fell into the hole. I caught hold of the handle, then a thick leather satchel with the flint inside.
Elixirs always coated our torches, keeping them flammable even in storms. It wasn’t long before a spark caught hold and ignited the wide tunnel in a golden beam.
Long, claw marks marred the thick walls from the trolls. Based on the roots and narrowing corners, this burrow hadn’t been claimed in a turn or two.
“Skadi!”
A sharp draw of breath drew me to a rounded alcove in the tunnel.
“Gods.” I rammed the handle of the torch into soft soil and knelt in the alcove.
Skadi was there, soaked through her gown. Her silver hair was crusted over her brow and the blue of her eyes was dim. She hugged her knees to her chest, shivering in the cold.
“Fire.” I reached out a hand. “Come on. Let me get you home.”
A gleam of brighter blue flashed in her eyes. She furrowed her brow. “Jonas?”
Her affinity. Good hells, she’d been trying to fade into the numbness of her mist. It was no wonder Daj couldn’t sense her fear until we drew so close; she was concealing it.
I rested a hand on her knee.
Skadi jolted and in another moment flung her arms around my neck. “Jonas. I tried to pull the walls apart, I tried to get out, but it started crumbling. I . . . thought it might bury me. I couldn’t get out.”
I held her close against my chest, stroking the back of her hair. “It’s all right, Fire. We found you.”
Skadi’s shoulders shook, from the cold or emotion, I didn’t know. She didn’t release my neck when I scooped her up and made our way back to the opening. Raum caught sight of us before we were beneath the hole and summoned the ropes.
Violent shudders rolled through Skadi’s frigid limbs when I secured a loop under her legs and placed her palms around the rope.
“Can you hold it?”
She lifted her weary eyes, water from the surface still spilled around us, but she nodded.
I pressed a kiss to the center of her brow, knowing she’d left the palace in distress, knowing it would have broken me if she had never returned. With a tug on the rope, the others lifted her from the tunnel.
Skadi was already draped in a thick woolen cloak by the time I was pulled out. I leveraged her onto my horse between my arms, and made certain her face was shielded. She nestled against me.
“A little longer, Fire,” I whispered.
“I . . . hate . . . that I’ve caused . . . more trouble,” she said through the chatter of her teeth.
“Hells, woman, I hope you never stop.” I tightened one arm around her waist, holding her closer. “Life would officially be dull without you.”
I thought she might’ve chuckled—or perhaps another shiver—but she went quiet, keeping her cheek against my heart the entire journey back to the palace.
Chapter 30
