Just as Aeliana Vividari can beat back the darkness, I can burn iron.
What’s more, if I stay, I can be true to mypromise to Antony. I can hunt the traveler named Stanimir. I can help keep Thyra alive from afar.
As I make my decision, I seek the giant eagle Azul, who has been quietly following me, staying far enough behind me that he could escape my flames.
He’s gone. I’m not sure when he left or where he will have flown to. Certainly, he would not be welcomed into the Ember Kingdom and now that Hadrian has taken control of the Iron Kingdom, the bird will be in danger if he’s seen there, too.
Well, he is not my concern.
My focus must be on my people.
Gritting my teeth, I tell myself to wait.Wait for Thyra.
Denying the pull to the north and battling my every instinct to go after her, I say to Kaiba, “I won’t leave you. But I can’t endanger you, either. I’m still a threat?—”
“Not with the dragon’s hide, you aren’t.”
Damn.
But to use the dragon’s hide openly, I’ll have to break my promise to Ortansia.
If I’m not careful, fighting one war could mean starting another.
Chapter Forty
Thyra
Dread consumes my thoughts as Lilis, Stellen, and I approach the city surrounding the Frost Palace.
An icy-blue wall rises up around the city’s outskirts, concealing the buildings that lie behind it. Men and women whose silver armor gleams in the midday sun patrol the ramparts, their clear vigilance and neat formations telling me they’re well-trained and disciplined.
My stomach stopped growling hours ago, becoming a quiet hollow instead. I suspect we could have arrived much faster if the wolves had broken into a run, but not once did Stellen command Lilis to pick up the pace.
She’s straight-backed where she rides ahead of us, but the random moments when her figure sways betray how lightheaded she still is.
As we descend the final gentle incline, Stellen breaks his silence. “The city is divided into three concentric circles, each one separated by a wall. Within the outer circle—the largest one—is the city where citizens live. Within the second circle are the soldier’s barracks and training grounds.
“The palace is within the inner circle. The original Frost General had it built this way to ensure that anyone who wanted to come after him had to get past an entire city of people and through an army, as well as over three walls.”
Ahead of us, Lilis lifts her arms into the air.
Stellen continues. “The guards on the wall are more highly ranked even than other soldiers, so they have the authority to deny access to anyone who shouldn’t pass through one of the gates. Lilis will signal the guards now. My signal will follow. Don’t be alarmed.”
His left arm tightens around me.
Lilis raises herself off her wolf’s back, her icy power gathering visibly around her hands, a shimmering display before she pushes both arms forward and releases her frost into the sky.
A spear of ice shoots from each of her palms, soaring high into the air, but the spears don’t fly straight; instead, they rotate rapidly, catching the sunlight like mirrors and reflecting it.
Spinning across the sky like they’re caught in some beautiful dance, the spears arc outward and then inward, casting the light wide and then more narrowly.
The impact on the soldiers guarding the wall is unmissable. Every head snaps up, every figure standing to attention.
Stellen lifts his right arm from around me, and I catch the dangerous swirl of frost gathering in his palm. An orb takes shape, building from a thin flow of glistening snowflakes until a ball spins above his palm.
Up in the air, Lilis’s spears arc toward each other, revolving as if they would collide.
Stellen waits another heartbeat.
