Ione stepped back, faltering at the bite of flames behind her.“We’ll leave in peace – ” She cursed as one guard pinned her hands roughly behind her; two more caught River’s arms, seized his cloak, his rapier.Ione lurched, her shoulders straining, but froze at the sting of metal against her throat.“Lina,” she shouted, and her guard, River’s, all stilled.Ione straightened, her heart beating wildly, her arms sore.“I came here for Lina.”
All went quiet.Even Rigel, although he let out a short, mirthless little laugh.“Oh,” he said finally, amused.“You’re a mite late.”
The blood drained from her face.Ione’s knees buckled, that one word,late, late, late, clanging through her skull.“Where is she?”
“Occupied,” Rigel answered.He pivoted, waving for the guards to follow; Ione’s guard yanked her back to her feet, but her legs wouldn’t cooperate, wouldn’t move.Grumbling, another guard pitched in, wrenching her clear off the ground.
How could she be late?Kai said he felt Lina, just last night.Alive, in Soliz.
“What did you do to her?”she demanded when no one answered.She struggled, kicked, a spray of ice instantly evaporated by fireless heat.“Whereisshe?!”
Bile rose in her throat when no one replied, but she swallowed it back, refusing to cry here.But in her mind’s eye she saw Lina, her shy smile, her sun-bright eyes.Remembered how treasured she felt, the desperate, dizzy happiness after they first kissed.How Lina held her when Ione had tried to summon Menon, how Ione had thought, dazed and aching, that it might not be so bad to die in Lina’s arms.
Too late.
Had the gods not taken enough from her already?
The guards hauled them down a shadowed flight of stairs, through endless hallways and passages.At the end of one cramped hall stood a single wooden door with a small, barred window.
They heaved it open and thrust Ione and River through, both of them nearly toppling over one another down a short flight of stone steps.They’d be dealt with tomorrow, Rigel said; there was something else about sending a message to Ione’s family, seeing what price Soliz could get for her.Ione wasn’t Menon anymore, but as it turned out, she wasn’t nobody, either: the daughter of House Artem was still worth enough to Rigel to keep her alive.
She could’ve laughed.Saros would sooner pay to never see her again.
Their entourage left them to their dank, oppressive little cell.Ione pressed herself into a corner, the stone wall shimmering with condensation.One guard remained posted on the other side of the door, his head blocking what little light the barred window allowed in.River paced like a wounded animal, his mood teetering between rage and hopelessness, half-baked plans forming and dissipating between.
“Can’t you – ” He motioned up at the door, like that meant anything.He huffed and lowered his voice.“Break the lock?With ice?”
Even thinking of it exhausted her.Another failure.Ione buried her face in her hands, her mind spiralling through every little thing she should’ve done differently.
River cursed and knelt before her.“Wakeup, Ione.Do you really want to wait here until they figure out Saros isn’t going to pay for us?”He raked his wet curls back.“Just – just summon me an ice blade.”
Not having the strength to argue, Ione held up a hand; she frowned, an unpleasant heat droning through her limbs, her bones.She breathed, concentrating hard – was this fatigue, was she sick?– until a sharp pain cracked through her skull.Ione cursed, her hand flying to her forehead.
River reached for her, and she tried again, indignant, only for the pain to strike once more.What little water she’d summoned dripped uselessly to the ground.
When she’d blinked the stars from her eyes, River had run up to the guard, was trying, failing, to convince him that Soliz’s extremely lucrative hostage was in need of help.
It was pointless.The heaviness in this cell, the lethargy, it wasn’t just fatigue and grief blanketing her: it was a ward, silencing her magic.And the longer they were in here, the less she’d be able to do.
Just one blade.Just one.
River stalked up to her, the vibration of each of his footsteps setting Ione’s blood aflame.Then his hands were on her shoulders, his voice, far-away, in her ear, “Stop, Ione – ”
Ward work is dangerous, Kai had taught her.The most intricate can kill.
Just one blade.She imagined driving it into Rigel’s neck.
A hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled.Ice sparked and air flooded into Ione’s lungs; her back hit the wall and she shook so violently she thought she might vomit.A flash of pink caught her eye and she gazed, bewildered, at her own blistered, frostnipped hands.
River circled an arm around her shoulders, drawing her to him, safe, warm.“It’s all right,” he whispered.“Kai will be here soon.”A pause, darkening.“Any fucking time now.”Sighing, he guided her head to rest on his shoulder, his arm like a blanket around her.“Get some sleep.”
Kai would destroy this place, she thought, letting her eyelids close.A hint of vindictive delight warmed her.
For what they’d done to Lina, it was what Soliz deserved.
Singing.
Some deep, lilting melody reverberating through the stone.Shivering and sore, Ione sat up from River’s lap and flexed her swollen fingers.
