Nor was there any mistaking the figure on the mare’s back.
Ahnna’s heart skipped, then sped. This was the first time she’d seen James since he’d chased her through Verwyrd, and her head filled with the words he’d screamed at her as she swam across the river.You can’t run from this, Ahnna. There is nowhere you can go that I won’t find you!
It felt like prophecy becoming reality, and even from here, she could feel his anger. Could see it in the way he rode, pushing Maven harder than she’d ever seen him do. If the civilians she’d encountered had relayed her message, it had done nothing to aid her cause. James wasn’t chasing her through the Blackreaches to capture her.
He was here for blood.
Though it had been stupid to do so, part of her had hoped he’d have seen through Alexandra’s schemes by now. The expression on his face burned that hope to ash, so Ahnna reached for her own anger. “Fuck you, James,” she snarled. “If you think I’m going to let a backstabbing piece of shit such as yourself be the end of me, you have another thing coming!”
Ignoring the thunder of her heart, Ahnna assessed the roots of the fallen tree. Beneath a layer of snow were boulders, chunks of ice, and broken branches, all primed to continue their path of destruction down the steep slope. All she had to do was remove the barrier without getting herself killed in the process.
And she needed to do it quickly.
Sloshing lamp oil on the parts of the tree she needed to break, she cast aside the bottle and then drew her flint from her pocket.
The snow fell in heavy flakes around her, the wind bitter as it howled through the peaks. Her frozen fingers protested as she closed them around her knife hilt, but Ahnna only gritted her teeth and knocked the blade against the stone. A spark flew but fizzled in the air.
“Come on,” she growled, refusing to look to see how much closer James had traveled.
She cracked steel to stone again, fear clawing at her because not a single spark flew. She’d lit a thousand fires in her life, using the dampest wood, but her frozen fingers were clumsy.
Of their own volition, her eyes turned to James. Her stomach plummeted at how close he was.
“Come on!” Her pulse roared, and she cursed herself for not bringing her saddlebags: This was going to fail, and she’d have to run with nothing but the clothes on her back. “You’re an idiot! A failure! A fool!”
With each word, she struck the knife against the stone. On the last, a spark flew and landed on the oil.
Blue flame raced along the wood, but there was no time to admire the growing inferno. It would work. Or it wouldn’t.
And with the way things were going, she had to plan for failure.
With reckless speed, Ahnna hurled herself down the slope. Slipping and sliding and setting off tiny avalanches as she moved at an angle toward Dippy. She risked a backward glance, certain that the fire would have been put out by the heavy snow, but the tree and its roots were a veritable bonfire.
Except that was only one piece of the plan. All of this was for nothing if there was no avalanche.
Ahnna slid onto the path and rolled, nearly falling over the cliff on the opposite side. Clawing the snow, she scrambled upright and then broke into a sprint down the trail. Her side cramped and sweat rolled in rivulets down her back, but she had to get out of the avalanche’s path.
Dippy shifted restlessly as Ahnna untethered him, forcing her to vault onto his back, stirrups be damned.
Sensing her urgency, Dippy broke into a gallop. They careened down the trail at breakneck speed, Ahnna pressed low over his neck, trusting him to keep his footing as she glanced back.
To see James and Maven come galloping into view. Their eyes locked over the distance, and James leaned over his mare’s neck, urging her for speed.
“Run!” she shouted at her horse even as she prayed for the thunder of falling snow to deliver her from a fight she was as afraid to win as she was to lose.
But the only sound was the pounding of galloping hooves.
14
James
How she’d kept ahead ofthem for so long, James didn’t know. Strength. Endurance. Speed.
Sheer fucking willpower.
He’d put his money on the latter.
But willpower only went so far, and as he heeled Maven around a bend into an open stretch of path, James’s eyes locked with Ahnna’s.
