Rilk started up the ladder as I reached the midpoint. I doubted he would show me the same mercy that Nimra had the young girl.
I assessed my options. The girl was about twenty feet above me but several yards to the left. Her path of hand and footholds had taken her off course and prolonged the dangerous climb. I could not make the same mistake. I needed to go straight up.
I allowed myself one glance down at Rilk. He was closer than I’d have liked, but I had to risk it. If I attempted the icy expanse on my quivering muscles alone, I would fall to my death.
I did not waste time looking for a handhold. I summoned my power, and when my hand touched the wall of ice, I created one of my own. It was still slow, and I still had to drag my body upward foot by agonizing foot. But at least I did not have to worry about slipping. I was far enough away that none of the supplicants waiting below could see what I was doing. The girl to my left was too worried about herself. The only danger was Rilk, and he was gaining on me.
I rallied my power, but it could do nothing for my tired muscles or the breath scissoring in and out of my chest. My lungs burned, but I forced myself up another foot. I was almost even with the girl, who’d stopped climbing completely.
I swung another arm up, channeling my power to form another handhold?—
Something caught on my foot, ripping it loose of the foothold and tugging my entire body down. I kicked wildly, my other foot coming free so I was dangling all of my weight by one hand. My body slammed into the wall of ice, knocking all of the air out of my already searing lungs.
Ice scraped across my face as my body twisted, pain shooting through my wrist as I tried to see what had caught me up.
Not what. Who.
Rilk.
He’d used a dagger to anchor himself into the wall of ice. The other hand clung to my booted foot, wrapped around my ankle with strength that belied his thin frame. Strength born of desperation.
I will not be felled by a man.
Both of my feet were dislodged. Instead of trying to find another foothold, I used the one he wasn’t holding to kick him directly in the face. The scent of blood filled the air in time with the crunch of his nose breaking. He released my foot, and that was all I needed. I kept climbing.
“I will kill you, fucking bitch!” he roared below me.
Bitch. Why were men all so disappointingly unoriginal?
I kept climbing. My cloak snagged. I didn’t stop to see if it was the ice or Rilk that had gotten ahold of it. I ripped open the clasp and let it fall away. I could not die of the cold, but if he got that dagger into an artery, I’d bleed out as uselessly as a human.
Ten more feet to the top of the wall. Nine. Eight. Tears of relief threatened to overwhelm me, but I froze them before theycould fall. I did not know what—or who—waited on the top of the wall. Four feet. Three.
A scream.
I forced myself up another foot before allowing myself to look.
Rilk had given up on me, but he had not given up altogether. He’d set his sights on the young woman who’d preceded Nimra.
Two feet.
With the next swing of my arm, I grabbed the top of the wall. My power froze my palm to the perpendicular surface, making it impossible for me to lose my grip.
I looked again.
Just in time to see her fall.
CHAPTER 16
I did not look down.
I could assume that Garrick was already climbing and that the fae female, Alize, was behind him or soon would be.
I could not look down at the girl’s shattered body. I could not risk losing my nerve. People died attempting the Seven Gates. No one had ever passed through all seven. Which meant that every single person who had attempted them in the four hundred years since the curse had died. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, had fallen to their deaths just like that doe-eyed girl.
But I would not be one of them. I could not.
I forced myself to turn and face what remained of the gate.
