“You may use any form. Dragon. Human. The choice is yours. The only other tool you may use is the very ice upon which youstand. You may not conjure any ice, may not use your dragon’s breath weapon. Only the Field of Ice itself may be your weapon, or armor, if you so choose.”
The crowd still murmured in the background as the spectators discussed what they thought were the best strategies for a win.
“Defeat is by yield or by death. First blood means nothing. Due to the circumstances under which this Challenge was issued and accepted …” Florian paused, and the crowd was silent. “The winner shall become the new Ice Tyrant.”
Chatter erupted everywhere at the confirmation that this was, indeed, a fight for the throne itself. Everyone seemed certain that Caz would fight to a yield, but Mirko would aim for death. He wanted no further threats to his rule.
I didn’t care. I only had eyes for Dirk, who spoke words to his brother. Caz nodded slowly, glancing over at Mirko more than once. Mirko, meanwhile, had already stalked to his end of the oval and was waiting impatiently.
What are you two planning?I could feel Dirk’s emotions. They were complicated but also eager. Ready. He didn’t expect Caz to lose, but there was more to it than that.
“They’re up to something,” Anna hissed from beside me. “I can feel it.”
“Me too,” I said. “Dirk’s antsy. Not tense or nervous. Like he can’t wait.”
“Caz is similar but also sad.”
“Sad?”
“I think he expects to have to kill Mirko, but I don’t know,” Anna said, leaning over to her left to whisper.
On her other side, Durion’s eyes flickered to us and then back to the field as his jaw tightened. Perhaps we shouldn’t be talking out loud. I didn’t want to alarm them.
“He’ll be okay,” I said to my friend, grabbing Anna’s hand as she shifted nervously on her feet. “This is Caz we’re talking about.”
“I know,” Anna said, trying to sound confident.
A trumpet sounded. The challenge began.
My eyes never left Dirk.
Fifty-Two
Dirk
Mirko walked forward, the ice around him rippling with each step as if it were liquid underfoot. Caz waited until Mirko was halfway to center, and then he started moving.
I watched through narrowed eyes, trying to focus on the fight in front of me and not the emotions of my mate somewhere behind me. My dragon was just as torn. Our enemy in front of us. The best thing in the world behind us.
The desire to turn, run up the stairs, and snatch her in my arms to fly away had never been stronger. Ella was my mate, the only person in the world I longed to be around, even if she didn’t want me anywhere close, despite the softening of emotions I could sense through our bond.
It was better for all of us if I stayed at the side of the field. Where duty required me to be. My dragon and I both understood duty and what it meant.
Mirko stomped a foot, and Caz leapt into the air a second before spikes of ice thrust up from the ground in a circle under him. He floated down on wings of white protruding from his shoulders. The razor-sharp tips of the spikes melted into flattened disks as he walked from one to the next.
As he reached the edge of the circle, the final spike melted back into the ground, bringing Caz down to field level once more.
Before Mirko could attack again, Caz gestured with his right hand. The ice rippled like a wave, rushing forward, only to stop at Mirko’s command. He looked at Caz with a sneer, twisting his birthmark with disdain.
Which is when the second wave struck him from the rear, knocking him on his face. Mirko was no slouch. He hit the surface and shot away with a push as Caz landed nearby, driving a thick blade of ice through the spot Mirko had just occupied. The suddenly slippery surface turned one of Caz’s ankles, and he stumbled sideways on impact.
Mirko stuck a hand into the ice, pulled it up, and whipped a trio of razor-sharp ice-disks at his nephew.
Ella’s emotions spiked with fear, and I twitched, turning slightly before catching myself. She was fine. Kolar and Durion were up there, not to mention Anna. Mirko was on the field, Andrik was across from me. She didn’t need me.
Loneliness clobbered me in the head, courtesy of Ella. I did look up at her now, at long last, to find her staring right back.
Did she … miss me?
