“The needle!” Father yells.
Mother struggles to grab it from the floor as her body stiffens with ice. The man uses her hesitation to vault off the wall and over my head, barely avoiding Father’s strike.
For a single moment, he’s airborne. Our eyes connect as he passes over me, those strange blue eyes making me want to dive in. I physically force myself to take a step backward as he completes the arch, landing somewhere behind me. He’s just far enough that I don’t bump into him.
Father panics, throwing out a wide burst of ice that shoots across the small space. Mother follows with an attack of her own, launching heavy snow in our direction.
I tense, surprised, as my arms fly up, that they are so certain I can defend myself against their attacks. I’ve never stood between either of them and a target like this before, and there’s no hesitation as the volley of snow and ice launches in my direction. I create a block of ice myself, dragging it out of the frozen ground, and press my hands to the cuboid as their attacks strike it.
A gasp escapes me when I hear Mother’s panicked cry from the other side, her words cutthroat and cold. “Whatever it takes, Andor!”
I can almost see through my barrier, and there are cracks in the ice where their strikes found their mark. “Mother! Father! This isn’t working!”
Without tearing down the ice, I know they don’t listen to me. My heart goes cold, like my hands, when I realize they will try and strike again, and my ice is in the way of their target. I can still feel the heat of the stranger behind me. If I drop my shield, they could have a clear view, but as their bodies move, time slows around me, and I see it all playing out in my head.
I can drop the ice block, and their strikes might miss, but more likely, they’ll go through me to attack him.
I can hold my ground and maybe fight off the brunt of the attack.
I could turn on the stranger, who may dispatch me as I turn to face him. There’s no real reason he hasn’t struck me yet.
How did things take this turn?
“Don’t let him leave, Andor!” Mother screams, her voice carrying above the rest of the noise in my head. I feel the next attack breaking through my block of ice, but my mind is slow to react.
The shock is delayed. They would harm me to get to him? What is so damn important about this stranger that we can’t figure it out together?
As the ice breaks, I press my palms forward and shoot out icicles, hoping to deter the attack. My parents have drastically different versions of winter magic, and I’m not certain which one broke through my weak barrier.
I know it’s not enough, but I can’t stand here and accept that they’ll attack me to reach him.
A hand, larger than my own, grasps my palm and straightens my arm. The heat of the stranger, his intimidating height, and mostly naked body presses against my back. I’m too distracted by everything else to try and appreciate him like I was before.
His breath is in my ear, guiding me. “Push.”
I’m pretty sure he means my magic, and I almost tell him that I’m doing just that. But with our hands connected, on top of the icicles shooting away from me, a flurry of snow and frosty wind blasts from our palms, shattering what’s left of my ice barricade.
It's a strength I’ve never felt before when using my magic, sending a wave of power at both my parents and turning their attack into nothing. I watch as they are forced backward, crashing into the wall opposite us.
As quickly as he appeared behind me, his presence vanishes. After releasing my hand, he throws me slightly off balance with the whirlwind of tonight, and I slide onto the ice coating the floor. The powdery barrier is long gone, the dungeon so much colder now that it’s coated in our magic.
I spin around, off balance but ready to stand with my parents again. The man is gone, unsurprisingly, nothing but Mother’s pained wails filling the space around me.
Taking a few deep breaths, my eyes snag on the wall behind me where the stranger stood. My first instinct is to give chase but my heart keeps me here. I need to see what’s happened.
My parents wouldn’t turn against me for the chance to take down an adversary. They had to be certain I could handle this.
Before I turn back to assess the damage, something etched into the wall, a decorative layer of frost surrounding the word, catches my attention. It’s like he signed his death certificate.
Ban.
Part 1: Meanwhile
Chapter 1 Ban
Present day, five weeks before Tressa falls
It’s been a long time since I felt the need to go somewhere south of the Frostlands, and never alone. I only leave the icy north if one of my fellow Reapers needs me, or for one of my stop-ins with Legs to the Butterfly Garden. I have a better time visiting my old friend when her lover Margo isn’t around. For all the years we’ve known each other, Margo has never once liked me.
