Luc lies on his stomach and leans over the mouth of the pit. He stretches an arm down as far as he can. “Can you reach?”
I already know I can’t, but I try anyway. I strain my arm, stretching as far up as I can. Stand on my tiptoes, even jump a bit—nothing helps. The pit is too deep.
He lowers his sjaal to me. I grab hold of one end while he pulls the other. I try to brace my feet against the sheer sides of the pit, but they’re too smooth, too icy. All my feet do is slide, and after a few seconds of pulling, there’s a horrifying ripping sound. The sjaal can’t support me.
Hopelessness claws at me. I’m not getting out of here. “Luc . . .” My voice quivers. I swallow and try again. “You’re going to have to leave.” Now I sound as if I’m being strangled.
“Never.” Luc sounds as close to tears as I feel.
I’m going to die out here. Sef warned me, but I never actually let myself believe it would happen.
“There’s an obvious solution,” Luc says slowly.
My teary eyes snap to him with a glower. “Don’t you dare.”
“They gave us a flare for a reason. If I set it off, someone will come and get you out.”
“They’ll lock me up. You’ll be disqualified from the Tournament for using outside help. We’lllose.”
“There are worse things than losing.”
A stubborn tear drips down my cheek. Well, it tries. It freezes too quickly to finish falling. I might be completelypowerless right now, but I refuse to forfeit this Tournament. “If you set off that flare, I’ll never forgive you.”
Luc looks as if he means to scream at me. “Mira—”
“‘Mira’?” This is a different voice.
My pulse hums with rising dread.
The rest of the world fades away. I hear nothing but approaching footsteps. See nothing but his head joining Luc’s leaning over the edge of the pit.
Kaidren and I stare at each other. There’s a tear frozen to my cheek, my heartbeat is a whir of helplessness, and all he does is stare at me. A myriad of emotions dance across his face, too quick for me to pick out any one of them.
Finally, his expression settles into its usual smug mask. “I didn’t realize this event extended to family members, Remira.”
Kaidren Vale has me exactly where he wants me. He’s been seeking proof that I’m a cheat, and here it is. Irrefutable and conveniently trapped in a pit of ice.
My eyes sting, eager to give into hopelessness and release the floodgates, but I jut out my chin. I refuse to let him see me sob. I’ll save that for later, when there’s no one around to watch. Probably in a jail cell, judging by how things are going.
“What?” Kaidren lifts an eyebrow. “Nothing to say?”
I smile sweetly. “Burn in hell.”
“Only if you come with me.” He thrusts his pickax into Luc’s hands.
I’m a tangled mess of startled and confused. So much so, I hardly register his next move: leaping into the pit to join me.
I’m frozen as he lands practically on top of me, before I realize what’s just happened—Kaidren gave his only tool for survival to Luc and followed me into my ice prison. Willingly.
He lands less than a shiver away, smirking as my eyes widenat his sudden nearness. “You know,” he says, tone conversational, “the polite thing to do would’ve been to move out of the way.”
“Why did you do that?” Belatedly, I stumble away from him. My back slams into the wall, shaking snow flurries loose from the mouth of the pit.
Kaidren turns his back to me. I don’t move. Just watch him, trying to figure out what the hell is going through his head. He bends at the knees and looks at me over his shoulder. “Well?”
“What are you—” I’m so confused, I forget to be wary.
“I’ve never seen you at a loss for words before.” He sounds amused. “Climb onto my back.”
