“Do you always ask so many questions?” I grit out.
“Maybe.” She smirks, and it’s an effort to keep my eyes from dropping to her full lips. She’s scrubbed away the rouge, and I can’t help but notice that her natural pink suits her more.
“Why do you want to marry my brother?” It’s a thinly veiled reminder to myself of who she is. I’ve avoided looking at her for the past hour because she’s incredibly beautiful—that, combined with her snark and the fact that she doesn’t seem to fear me, has me all kinds of intrigued.
And I can’t feelintriguedabout my future sister-in-law.
“I don’t,” she says. “But I’ll do anything to protect my people.”
I study her face, waiting for my neck to prickle. It never does. I’m surprised she answered honestly. I must stare too long because her mouth parts and—
A massive explosion rocks the carriage, throwing us sideways. Mayah lands hard against the wall, and I slam into her. The swell of her chest flattens against mine, her head banging against the window.
I want to ask if she’s all right, but the sounds of chaos snag my attention. A muttered “shit” is all I can manage.
“Stay here.” I can only hope she’ll heed my command. Without another glance, I punch the carriage door open and climb out.
Mayhem. Utter mayhem.
Swarms of leather-clad assailants—rebels—fill the clearing, swords glinting in the sunlight. Whinnying horses bolt through the tundra, trampling over fallen soldiers, leaving a trail of bloody hoofprints. Energy signatures pulse wildly, each one bleeding indiscernibly into the next.
I raise my hand. The sky darkens, thunder rumbling ominously. My knees buckle as I leap off the side of the carriage, boots sinking into ankle-deep snow.
Beside me, one of my soldiers sends roots tunneling through a rebel’s abdomen.
Another impales a man on his sword.
The only other stormwielder calls lightning.
We fight. We stand. We bleed.
“HOLD!” I shout over the chaos.
But the rebels keep coming. There are too many. Skies, how did they know we’d be here?
I charge into the fray, sword flashing. A man falls dead at my feet, quickly followed by another. Lightning cracks through the sky. The stench of burnt flesh mingles with smoke and blood and death. I summon lightning and incinerate three more rebels, yanking my sword free from the dead body of a fourth.
The harshclangof metal.
The brittlesnapof sundered bone.
The gruesomesquelchof flesh.
Intimately, sickeningly familiar sounds that haunt my dreams.
A sudden explosion rattles my skull, and I snap toward the sound. My blood turns to ice—the carriage.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Lightning strike me, I forgot about Mayah. Where is she? I shouldn’t have left her in there alone. Fuck, is she—
My gaze snags on a blue speck crawling away from the burning remains of the carriage. Cool relief surges through my veins.
The relief is short-lived, though, because a rebel heads straight toward her, sword aimed at her back.
