“Does it look like I’m afraid of a little cold?” He snorted. “I grew up in the Westfjords. Your little parlour tricks barely qualify as weather. Winter tries to kill you before breakfast there.”
My gaze went to the gates again.
“He’s fine.” Dillon rolled his eyes. “His room might look like an overdone steak, but nothing else has caught fire, which means he’s controlling himself. Just like I want you to do. So go on. Do it.”
I glowered at him, a cold misty ribbon playing around my wrists. “I told you. I don’t know how. The ice responds to Lucien. I can’t wield it. I—”
A small dagger soared straight toward my face—
A blast of hoarfrost detonated from my chest in a violent shockwave, turning everything into frozen glass. The dagger never landed—it hung suspended in midair, trapped inside a casing of ice, inches from my nose.
“There. Finally. That’s what fear can do.” Dillon leapt to his feet, smacking at his frozen trousers, brushing frost off his eyebrows and eyelashes. “It’s emotionally triggered like you said. Good. Again.”
“Are youtryingto kill me?” My breath fogged with white plumes even as the courtyard thawed as quickly as I’d frozen it. “Throwing knives at me now?”
“It was a gamble, I agree. See? I ran the risk of being murdered by that psycho you call a boyfriend just to prove you can wield it.”
“He doesn’t like that word. Makes him feel like he’s ten.”
“Certainly acts like it sometimes,” he muttered under his breath.
“I heard that. And if he does, you’re in trouble.”
“His little pyro tendencies don’t scare me. Just like your impression of a fridge doesn’t.” His grin fell as his gaze landed on my balled hands. “Eh, you’re glowing.”
Swallowing hard, I spread my fingers and glowered at the white-blue etchings that looked like snowflakes stamped my skin. “It’s a hazard.”
“Alrighty...well.” He clapped his hands. “Doesn’t matter. I won’t judge and no one is here to see you. Again.”
My gaze flicked to the gates as the bond tugged hard.
Lucien.
What was taking him so long? What was he doing?
“I need to go to him,” I argued. “He’s burning up.”
“Then learn how to use the gifts you’ve been given so you can help him.”
“How are you so rational about all of this? Don’t you find everything crazy?”
“Fuck yes, I do.” He chuckled. “It’s the craziest thing I’ve seen in my life, and I’ve worked at Snowflake Corp for years.”
“Not even going to try to assure me I’m not a freak, huh?”
“It would be a waste of breath.” He shrugged. “You’re the daughter of two of the most renowned scientists of this generation. It’s almost a given that you would turn out...odd.”
Slipping his hand into one of his many vest pockets, he pulled out a small glass vial holding large silver pills. “You’re like these Cryolyt pills. Something that never existed before yet is now mainstream in warfare. They’ve helped countless injured soldiers, just like you’ll—”
“Wait.” Cutting across the courtyard, I snatched the vial out of his fingers. I gasped as the same silver pills that Lucien had used while escaping Cinderkeep rattled behind the glass.
“I was right,” I murmured. “Ihadseen them before.”
“Your mother was the one who came up with the final recipe for those, I think.” Dillon snatched the pills back, shoving them into his pocket. “All I’m saying is, if they were willing to create and manipulate things in a jar, why would they stop at creating and manipulating you in her womb? You were their greatest experiment.”
A blanket of ice covered the ground with a giant spiral, killing yet more of the shrubbery.
“What emotion was that?” Dillon frowned. “Pain? Betrayal? You should be writing your reactions down, so you know what each feeling does.”
