“Riyan, are you…calmed down now?”I asked.
“Oh yeah, that last line did the trick,”he responded.
I turned around. Riyan was reclining on his side as he watched me get dressed. His balled-up crimson cape was at his elbow along with the House of Bloodstone pin and Endre’s Revenge was lying in frontof him.
“Riyan, when I was asleep, I hearda voice.”
He smiled. “Mine? The talking andsinging worked?”
My heart fluttered. “Yes, but…I also went somewhere else. Somewhere between worlds. TherealWest of the Moon and East ofthe Sun.”
Riyan furrowedhis brow.
“I met the Man of the Mountain.” I folded my hands over my heart. “He forced me to see all the terrible things I had done…and I am so sorry that I—”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. What about that voice you heard?”
“It was a woman’s voice. Shewarned me.”
He raised an eyebrow and pressed his palms into the dirt, ready to rise and crawl out of the cave. “What did thevoice say?”
I swallowed. “She said Ganora was hunting us. She told me to take youand run.”
Riyan’s brow hardened. He turned his head toward the dark depths of the cave and hissed out a breath. “I don’t trust it. That voice could have been Ganora herself, wanting us to flee like cowards because we’re seekingout magic.”
“And if it was areal warning?”
“Do you want to go back?” He looked back at me with softer eyes. “We can go back to the fortress. You can stay safe there while I finishthe journey—”
“No.” My hands curled into loose fists over my pounding heart. Even though a chill crept through the crystal cave, my blood was luminescent with warmth. Maybe the gift the Man of the Mountain had given me was pure bravery, because I did not want to leave Riyan’s side for a moment, even if it meant facing the dangers of themountain’s peak.
Riyan nodded. “As you wish.” His eyes turned icy and his jaw set tight. “We’re going to find Daigen, I won’t let Ganora scare us away. If she dares to send her remaining giants after us or even so much as showsher face…”
He gripped the hilt of Endre’s Revenge. “…I’m going tokill her.”
My thumb ran over the embroidered flowers in my pocket as Riyan prepared to leave the safety of the crystal cave to searchfor Daigen.
Fat snowflakes slowly fluttered to the ground outside the mouth of the cave. Each crystal of snow sparkled in the cerulean glow of the magical hot spring before melting into the steam rising abovethe water.
I hooded my cape over my head to try to keep warm, careful to not crush Riyan’s sweet wreath of blue flowers around my head. I had tied my onyx choker around my neck to keep the skin under the satin ribbon protected from thefrigid air.
I let go of the scrap of fabric in my pocket and wrung my hands together to increase blood flow. My comb, mirror, needle, and spool of thread were lost to the mountain when I had tumbled through the snow, so all my worldly possessions were tied to myshivering body.
Riyan pulled himself into a sitting position near the mouth of the cave. The top of his poor head scraped the roof of the cave even as he hunched over. Endre’s Revenge was sheathed and secured at his hip. I had helped him fasten his cape around his shoulders, but his hide tunic on his lower half was his only other cover againstthe cold.
Even though he was cramped, Riyan’s eyes still danced with wonder at the glowing crystals allaround him.
“When I moved all those boulders to uncover the cave, I was surprised to find all these crystals in here,” Riyan said with a hint of wistfulness in his voice. “Theseare illegal.”
“Illegal? Why?”I asked.
Riyan looked back at me with a glimmer in his eye. The blue-green glow highlighted the contours of his handsome face. “People thought they could use themfor sorcery.”
He glanced up at the roof of the cave, scanning the glowing stones instead of admiring. He set his eyes on one and grabbed the crystal embedded in the rock. With a strong tug, he plucked it out of the rock wall and handed it to me with a smile. “A magical stone for mymagical bride.”
My cheeks flushed as I took the crystal in my hands. The stone was the size of my palm and vaguely heart-shaped. The glow of the crystal soon faded, but it was still a beautiful deep blue stone. I stashed it in my pocket along with theembroidered flowers.
I looked out of the cave and into the glowing water of the hot spring and then out onto the bright, clean snow. Only…not all of it looked so clean. I noticed some indents in the powder that looked like footprints near the mouth of the cave.
