I bite the inside of my cheek. Perhaps, but I still felt rotten about it. “The reason I went there, aside from seeing Glace, is because Behati saw my mate dying.”
“What?” Shoshair gasps.
“IfI didn’t attend the Jubilee, that is. Sorry, I should’ve led with that.” I shoot her a rueful smile. “Do you think I’ve alreadysaved him, or do you think I’m going to, at some point, now that I’m living in Glace?” My throat clenches around a sharp inhale. “Holy Cauldron, Shoshair! That must be the reasonIkill Mestyla! Because she goes after my mate! He must be one of her enemies. Which means that if I can figure out who she hates, then chances are, I can figure out who my mate is.”
Silence drags in the furrow of my outburst.
“What does Mestyla want, Isla?” Shoshair prompts me.
I’ve no doubt she’s asking in order to steer my mind toward resolving the conundrum on its own. “We’re not certain but we imagine vengeance for her mother’s death.”
“Vengeance against whom?”
I sit up so fast my brain whirls. “Konstantin!”
If I hadn’t come to Glace, he might not have found out that his niece existed.
Couldhebe the Glacin I’ve inadvertently saved?
Is he…is he my mate?
34
ISLA
After a sleepless night and a whirlwind farewell breakfast with my family, I take off for Glace with Aodhan, Lachlano, Izolda, and Elio. My mind remains so consumed by my conversation with Shoshair that the trip seems to wink by in a single wingbeat.
When land appears on the horizon, steeped in inky blueness, I think it’s Nebba, until Aodhan says through the pack link:Ahh…polar twilight. Or as I like to call it: limbo-indigo.
Polar…?
I must think the word into the pack link, because Aodhan says,Welcome home, Princess.
But it’s early fall,I gasp.I thought it would be at least another month until winter arrived and night fell.
So, it’s nottruewinter. It’s, like, half winter. True winter will hit in about a fortnight in the north and a little after that in the south.
The realization that the prophecy is nearing makes me forget to beat my wings.
Isla!Lachlano shrieks, diving after me, causing Elio to pale from the harsh slant of their descent.
I snap my wings and veer back up.Sorry.
You should inform Konstantin that we’re arriving,Aodhan says.He wanted to be part of our welcoming committee.
The moisture flees from my mouth as Aodhan’s dark eyes roll over me, quickening the already mad pulses of my heart. Does he suspect something? Was his remark meant as a challenge, or did he speak with no ulterior motive?
I prefer surprising him,I finally answer.
Lachlano must sense my distress because he engages Aodhan in a conversation about polar twilights that I cannot, for the life of me, focus on.
Agitated, excited, exhausted, energized, I speed up and away from the others. My blood courses dizzyingly fast through my veins, and although it numbs my skin to the ambient nippiness, it also causes me to swerve and dip like a drunkard.
A shadow darkens the sapphire sea beneath me. I think I must’ve dropped too close to it again, until I make out a black-haired rider atop the Crow and realize it isn’t my shadow; it’s Lachlano and Elio. My friends must fear my erratic flight pattern will launch me inside the orca-infested ocean. Though not inherently scared of orcas, I prefer not to get my feathers wet all the same.
In what feels like the next minute, we surf past the beach, past the fringe of conifers, past the capital’s ramparts. The glass ceiling of the vestibule gleams like a faceted gem against the blue-tinted snow. And then a man with moonlit hair and star-pale skin emerges, black boots devouring the white.
I touch down with such haste that my knees buckle and my belly smacks into the ground, gathering cold flakes that melt the instant they connect with my overheated skin. Konstantinlurches forward. When I straighten, and abruptly at that, he freezes. Could I have made a more chastening arrival?
