“Stay,” was all Var could manage before he flashed away, then reappeared, dropping an equally soaking-wet Ryland in the mud beside me.
A horrendous crack split the air, like the world was shattering apart.
“Look.” Ryland’s awed voice was a tether, and I turned my head to watch the pack of hounds disappear beneath the surface of the ice, silence swallowing up their howls in a slosh of foamy water and drifting mist.
“That was fucking close.” Varian sounded so matter-of-fact I gaped at him.
“What? Itwasclose.”
“We almost ended up just like them, drowning in the darkness.” I couldn’t stop shaking, the idea sending slivers of horror through me as the last of my adrenaline faded, leaving me completely drained.
Dying in that frozen darkness…no.
In the light on a battlefield, fine—at the end of a sword…fine.
But swallowed up by those depths, smothering under water and ice, unable to take a single breath…that was the worst fate I could imagine.
“Lyrae. Look at me.”
I blinked Ryland into focus, crouched in front of me, fingers gripping my chin. “You’re safe, little fox, but you’re soaking wet and the water was freezing. We have to get you inside. Can you walk? Or I can carry you.”
Little fox. That’s what he used to call me when…
For one weak moment, I swayed toward him, toward the worry in his eyes, toward his open arms, and all they represented.
Then I shook my head. “Gods, no. I’m walking.”
15
LYRAE
Walking might have been an overstatement.
More like shuffling along on stiff legs, trying not to faceplant.
At some point, Var had taken my pack, and I was still barely moving under my own power.
I couldn’t stop my teeth from chattering, couldn’t stop the shudders contracting my already sore muscles into hard, clenched knots of pain.
The pale stone walls of Frostveil Castle rose even higher than they’d looked from the opposite shore, high enough to keep those hounds out if more dared cross the treacherous ice. The twin gates were two enormous slabs of wood hung from rusted iron hinges as big as horse carts, held on by fist-sized bolts.
Locked tight.
“There’s a side door. Over here.”
Varian led the way and Ryland’s arms tightened around my waist, the only thing holding me up. Even though he hadn’t let me go, I couldn’t remember ever being this cold—not in the muddy trenches, not even in the High Barrens, where the snow never melted.
This was the sort of cold that soaked into the marrow of my bones and crystallized my blood,settling in so deep I doubted I’d ever get warm again. I kept replaying going under that water, the memory infecting me to the point it was all I could think of.
“Faster, Var, she’s going into shock.”
I barely felt Ryland’s hand rubbing up and down my back as he held me up, my numb feet stumbling over themselves as I tried to match his steps.
“Hang on, Lyrae. A few more minutes and you’ll be in front of a roaring fire. Once we get you warmed up, you can yell at me, scold me for putting you in danger—as long as you saysomething, godsdamn it.”
I must be truly fucked because that was actual panic in Ryland’s voice, raw fear shining in his eyes, as Varian dragged open the side door, the bottom grinding against stone with a hideous scrape.
The atmosphere inside the castle smelled strange.
