I move to follow Leilani inside, but Blayze is already shadowing her heels. I fall back, allowing the others to pass ahead of me, then slope into the furthest corner of the cabin, out of the path of the brisk mountain wind. Leilani is sorting through the packs when I get inside, drawing out climbing axes, passing them to Blayze to mete out. Am I imagining it, or do their fingers brush, do their eyes meet, for longer than strictly necessary? I fold my arms, thinking back to when I interrupted them in the first cabin. I assumed they’d been arguing – I could have sliced the atmosphere between them with my sword. But now… something’s changed between them. A new tension that never existed before. My stomach sinks. I don’t like it one bit.
‘We find ourselves with a common foe, I think.’ I turn to see Delphine skulking at my elbow. She’s also staring across the cabin at the Clanschief, an acid expression crimping her lips. Her slanted eyes dart between Blayze and Maris, who stands just behind the Clanschief.
‘What are you—’
She gestures with her eyes towards Blayze. ‘I shouldn’t be helping you; it’s against my best interests. But take my advice, do something before things go any further. She’s your betrothed, after all.’
My mouth gapes. I force it shut.
‘Perhaps we should both fight a little harder for what’s ours. That’s all I’m saying.’
With that, Delphine flits to Maris’ side, accepts an axe from her.
I take a slow breath. I don’t want to believe it. Surely Leilani wouldn’t pursue this? Not with him. Perhaps there’s a surface attraction, but it won’t be more than that. What was it Blayze said? Emotions run high on a journey like this. It doesn’t follow it means anything. A fleeting infatuation. Nothing more. But then I catch sight of her Shadow Mark. Is she still in her right mind? We’re in uncharted stars, who knows what she might do in this new, precarious state…
I flex my hand, the twinge in my arm flaring sharp.
The towering height of Spindle Pass once more looms large in my mind. With a sigh, I put Delphine’s warning to one side and step into the centre of the cabin to receive my axe. Leilani is right, we’ll need to start our climb straight away if we hope to reach the Ice Steps before dark. I’ve got greater challenges ahead of me than trying to win back my betrothed’s hand from an imaginary rival.
This will all be over soon. Blayze will return to the East.
Making things right with Leilani can wait till after we’ve found the lost sceptre.
*
ICYFLURRIESSPITdown my face as I carve my axe into the wall of rime-shrouded rock. Spindle Pass as gruelling a climb as I feared. Each blow sends fresh lances of pain shivering up my bad arm, but I grit my teeth, refuse to cry out. I don’t want either of them to hear: not the Clanschief above me, not the Princess below.
I twist over my shoulder to check she’s still there, chest sagging in relief when I glimpse the grey of her fur. Steeling myself, I strike again, setting my jaw against the ensuing smart, digging the claws of the ice-shoes into the mountain as I strain upwards, gaining another precious few inches. Something stabs the arch of my foot. A pebble must have worked its way inside my boot. A drop in the ocean of pain my body is experiencing, but I can’t stop to remove it. I exhale, low and heavy, my lungs straining for air and finding only something cobweb-thin and bitter as pyresmoke.
I focus on the positives. It bodes well Leilani’s still insisting on climbing behind us. She won’t admit it, not to me, but she does it to make sure we don’t fall off this mountain, to assuage her guilt for forcing us to climb it before we were back to full health.
I’m glad she feels guilty.
I’d prefer Blayze wasn’t a consideration, but the act of caring is what’s important.
Fixating on her Shadow Mark in the cabin earlier has reignited all my worries over Orthriel’s final warning. I keep checking over my shoulder, searching Leilani’s too-knowing eyes, fearing what change I’ll find there – an incessant niggle like the Sister-blooded pebble presently cutting at my foot.
Am I fighting a losing battle?
Shaking myself, I stare upwards. The Clanschief’s boots are still only a handspan overhead. Waiting for him to move is almost worse than the climbing itself, muscles bunching, cramping, in the lulls.
‘We must reach the last ledge by nightfall,’ I shout, the cutting wind stealing half my words. Grimacing at the lengthening shadows creeping over the mountain, I plunge my axe into the ice again. If I drive the pace, close in on his heels, maybe I can speed Blayze on.
He gives a loud huff, digs his own axe into the mountain. The heft of his body winches upwards. A few feet of empty space now stretches above my head.
It’s working. I move to strike again.
‘Astrophel.’ Leilani’s cry splits the silence of the mountain. ‘Not so fast. Your arm…’
Ignoring the searing pain, I strike again, dislodging clouds of powdered ice which gust into my already straining lungs. Coughing, I try to expel it.
‘Astrophel,’ she warns again.
Sputtering, eyes watering, the pebble cuts again at my foot. I strike at the ice, this time with my bad arm. But I’m aiming blind. Something dense meets my axe; the blade jumps, my arm’s knocked back. I must have struck solid rock. I pivot wildly from the mountain, my injured arm hanging useless at my side. I scream. The sound echoes back at me, mingling with a higher-pitched wail. Leilani.No– Orthriel said to keep her from distress, from the darker depths of emotion. I tighten my grip on my one still-engaged axe. I know I can’t support my weight on it for long. Worse, if I fall, my bulk will likely rip Leilani off the mountain too. She’s only a few handspans beneath me.
I swore to protect her. I swore it twice. Cursing, I flail with my bad arm, try to swivel myself back to the mountain, to drive the second axe back into the ice and stabilise myself. Once. Twice. Clamping my teeth, I brace for a third attempt. Even buttressed by Nimbi’s Aether-infused waters, I’ve not the strength. My grip’s loosening on the first axe. A slick of sweat building inside my fur-lined gloves.
After everything, this is how I’ll end.
