Then everything became muddy. I banked in a circle, wondering if she was somehow directly below me and I had gone past her. But the call, that unseen cord pulling me toward her, had vanished into thin air.
Confused, I rose higher into the sky above Hollow Earth, charting the landscape. In my haste to get to Anna, I hadn’t been paying as close attention to where I was within the kingdom. After getting my bearings, I noticed I had swung hard east at some point. We were along the northeastern border of the kingdom.
And I knew exactly where Anna had to be, and thus, where I had to go.
Turning slightly more north, I took off again.
Forty-Three
Casimir
But howis this possible?Anna was in the wilds. It should have been impossible for Bryna to find her there.
The how didn’t matter. The simple fact was she had found Anna, and now she was keeping her from me. Given how close I was to her mountain retreat before the call cut off, nowhere else nearby made sense.
One thing I didn’t have to ask was how Bryna knew to look for Anna. That one was easy to explain, now that I knew where Anna was.
Apparently, Uncle Mirko isn’t as estranged from his mate as he’s led us to believe.
I crested the last mountain ridge between me and my mate and dove hard into the valley beyond. I tried not to let fear for Anna’s safety and what I would do if I lost her gain any hold over me. It wasn’t easy. She was counting on me. I needed to prove to her that I could be trusted to do what a mate was for.
Protect.
Bryna’s estate was on the far side of the valley,nestled between the two forks of a glacier-fed mountain river and surrounded by hardy trees and bushes, what little greenery had gained a foothold this high.
My approach was noted, and two silvery dragons appeared where men had been and took to the sky to challenge me. They angled wide, giving me an attack vector on only one of them at any given time.
If I challenged one, the other would dive in and strike my open flank as I slowed to fight. So I didn’t slow. I dove right down the middle, blowing past both of them as I went for my true target, the estate itself. Icy blasts shot from their mouths, but I was past them before they could reach me.
Bellowing alarms and anger, the two dragons whirled to pursue. More would be inside the house, but I hit the front steps like a falling stalactite, crunching a hole through the cut stone and into the ground below. It hurt, but it meant that when the next set of guards came rushing out the door, they weren’t ready to see me.
Ice ran down my right arm and sheathed my flattened hand. I whirled as the doors opened, and the first guard to emerge fell away, screaming and holding what remained of his face with both hands.
The other guard had a second longer to reactand threw both hands up to save his eyes. Thus, when I pivoted on my right leg, the blade protruding from the toes of myleftplunged deep into the guard’s chest.
He gurgled and vomited blood as he slid free, clutching at the gaping wound. Recovering my balance, I drove the icy hand blade into his open mouth and out the back of his skull, killing him instantly.
“Where is she?”I thundered, my voice echoing off the hallways as I tore the doors from their hinges, using one of them to flatten the faceless shifter and stop his screaming.
I stalked down the hallway. Ice flowed out from me as I advanced, coating the floors, the walls, the ceiling and every door as I sought out my mate. My Anna.
“Bryna. Show yourself, you coward!”
The two guards from earlier charged in after me, their feet covered in makeshift ice-shoes of their own creation, giving them perfect grip. They came on with mindless abandon, forgetting that it wasmyice they were walking on.
I cocked my head, watching. Waiting. When they reached the thickest concentration, I called to the ice and swiftly clenched my right hand.
A dozen scale-sharp tendrils of ice impaled each of them, shooting from every wall simultaneously. The dragons were dead beforethey knew it, their blood flowing rapidly to the floor as they slumped forward.
My dragon roared its displeasure. We hated killing our own. It was a waste of life that didn’t need to happen. But Bryna would not care. She would use up everyone around her if it meant she survived another day.
I strived to eradicate that sort of thinking from my kingdom.
“Anna!” I bellowed. “I am here!”
I stalked deeper into the building, flooding every room with my ice as I searched for signs of life. For signs of my mate. She was here. I could sense it. Mysoulcould sense it. We were close to being reunited once more.
Room after room was cleared. I advanced down into the lower levels, moving more warily now. Four guards were not enough. Bryna would have more. If enough of them jumped me at once, I could be in trouble.
