His gaze burned against me. “You don’t have to be the strong one when you’re with me. Nothing about you diminishes because of vulnerability.”
I met his earnest, amber eyes. “Weakness can be weaponized.”
“Then you have used it to slay me. And I would willingly subject myself to more of your blades. I might be the enemy in many people’s stories, but never in yours.”
Emotion threatened to overflow—for daring to believe him left me frayed, unsure. To open myself up to the possibility of… anything really, felt terrifying. I diverted. “Thank you for letting me sleep. We do need to get out of here though. We’ll freeze to death if we don’t make it to the surface.”
He merely nodded and didn’t push further.
I didn’t think I could put my full weight on my injured leg, but I no longer wanted to be carried. “I believe I can limp wellenough. I don’t know how much further this tunnel goes before we’re out. You should probably conserve your energy. Let me try to walk as far as I’m able.”
He stood first, extending his hand to me. His large palm gently enclosed my own. The warmth where our hands joined comforted despite my misgivings. I straightened, unable to conceal my pain.
“I might need a little help,” I muttered. Dom silently waited. Tentatively, I reached around his torso, using his body as leverage for each biting step.
He wrapped his arm across my upper back and beneath my far arm. “Is this okay?” he asked.
I should probably just let him carry me, but I rebelled against weakness. I hated that I couldn’t do this on my own. Anger smoldered with all my grief and regret. Our tentative alliance went beyond our duty and common enemy. The connections from our past had been incrementally reforged over these last few weeks. And now the truth of his curse stripped every quiet hope away.
I was angry he’d kept this secret from me. I needed space. I didn’t want to rely on him any more than I already had, but I required physical assistance with every smarting step. “It’s fine.” He tightened his grip on me and I reluctantly leaned into his embrace. I couldn’t deny how my magic seemed to calm with his nearness.
We hobbled onward. Eventually, the floor became more and more slippery as the trickling water underfoot shifted to solid ice. I used my magic to suck out the water from our clothes and hair, which nominally reduced the shivers wracking through me. My awkward gait left me slipping far more than I preferred.
Dom finally turned to me. “You’re stubborn.”
I noted his skin seemed paler.
“The rest of the way might go faster if you let me carry you.”
I knew he was right, the concession bitter on my tongue. My wound had stopped bleeding but my thigh throbbed with a deep, sharp pain. Despite my misgivings, time was of the essence.
“Fine.” I surrendered. He seamlessly lifted me to his hard chest. What was this, the third time he’s had to carry me? Gods, I needed to stop getting injured.
The exit from the ancient lava tubes finally appeared in the distance. We emerged in blinding sunshine surrounded by magnificent glaciers. They stretched before us in an array of blues—crystal clear, bright cerulean, and creamy teals. It was a wild, arresting beauty. Dom followed the direction of my swiveling head, both of us stalling.
To the west of us, a line of demarcation separated beauty from desolation. The landscape blackened as though a fire had swept through. Nothing but darkness remained. Ash hovered like a fog above the ground.
“Char,” Dom stated, more to himself than for my benefit.
“From death magic?” I asked incredulously. He nodded in affirmation. The land withered, as though actively dying or already dead. I glanced up at him, startling again. His skin had nearly lost all its color. His veins contrasted sharply with his pallor. “Are you okay?” I whispered, withholding the urge to touch him.
He peered down at me, shutting his eyes, exhausted. “It’s the poison in my blood. My tonic keeps it under control, but—” He gasped a breath. “—I couldn’t take it underwater. Bowen lost the supply that he had in our fight with the Nokt.”
A screech cut through the howling wind. In the distance, several Nokts circled. Dom grabbed my hand. I searched wildly around. Glacial caves surrounded us in almost every direction.
With my leg and his waning energy, we would not make it to Vorkut without being spotted. Dom subtly swayed. Both of uswere far too drained to take on more than one Nokt, and maybe not even that.
“We need a cave. I can use my magic to help us stay warm so we can recover enough to make the trek to Vorkut.” Dom lacked the strength to protest, spiking my worry further.
We ran toward a nearby cave with an entrance large enough to accommodate Dom’s height. My leg protested, but panic and survival masked the pain. Somehow, the Nokts had not seen us.
Dom’s consciousness held on as tight as the last brown leaf on a winter-barren tree. He pushed through, using all of his strength to hold himself upright. His glazed eyes slowly blinked, tears accumulating at the corners in the frigid air.
We slowed to a hobble inside the cave, grateful to be out of the wind’s assault on our unprotected faces. Dom slumped deeply into me, his surrender revealing the precipice he teetered on. I tensed in an effort to hold both of us up, my thigh demanding reprieve.
We limped toward the back, past water-carved walls. The path sloped sharply downward, threatening both our balance. The majesty of our shelter glossed over us in our haste toward safety.
A loud crack had us jolting to the side as a chunk of sharpened ice narrowly missed spearing my shoulder. It shattered in a plume of powder and crystalline shards. Above us, countless icicles, some needle-like, others as large and honed as my longsword, threatened to dislodge from the glacial ceiling.
