Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Dahlia
The weather did not get better.
Dahlia held her compass up, squinting at the letters. She swiped her mittened hand over the glass surface and lifted the device closer to her face. They were still going in the right direction.
The snow and wind battered them, plastering her cloak to her side, the edges whipping through the air like a sail.
They should have been there by now.
A thread of worry wrapped around her chest as she tried to see anything ahead. The Sapphire Mountains should have loomed in front of them, but all she could see was white. Loshika grasped Lia’s cape and tugged. She stopped waiting for the giantess.
Her friend pressed in close to her side and shouted, “We should turn back.”
“No,” Dahlia yelled. “We’re close. It’s safer to move forward than to backtrack.”
At least, she hoped it was.
“You haven’t stopped shaking for the last hour. You’re too cold.”
Lia gritted her teeth. She hardly felt the cold any longer. It was as if the snow was in her bones. “We need to move.”
Step by step, she continued onward, hunched over to keep the stinging ice from her face. Time seemed to stop as they trudged through the storm. Dahlia blinked repeatedly as a shadow formed ahead in the snow. She narrowed her eyes and blinked her frozen lashes.
No, the shadow was still there.
It grew larger, and a wave of relief rolled through her.
A home.
They’d reached the village.
Her steps picked up as she powered through the snow to the stone building. Lia led them around the side and out of the wind. She leaned against the home, catching her breath as Loshika shook off the snow that had collected on her shoulders.
Serenity hooted from above, barely visible in the storm, ever their protector. Dahlia still wasn’t sure why the beastie had chosen her, but she had to admit she was thankful.
Lia pointed to the west. “We’re close. My mother lives near the river with her caretaker.”
Carefully, they snuck through the small village, although no one was out in the storm, and most homes didn’t have windows. They were easy to break and far too expensive for the farming and mining community.
She frowned at how quiet it was.
The storm had been horrible, but that didn’t keep most frost giants from going about their daily business.
Something was wrong.
That’s just your anxiety talking. Keep moving.
Snow swirled around the empty fountain in the center of the village square. Old memories threatened to rise, but she blocked them out. Now was not the time to revisit the past.
Even though it had been years since she’d stepped foot in the tiny village, she remembered running through the buildings as a child. Each alleyway and hiding place was ingrained in her mind. It was smaller than she remembered and less scary.
They rounded the miller’s home, and her breath froze in her lungs.
A lone house stood just apart from the village, only a smidge past the now snow-covered field.
She began trudging through the thin tree line and toward the little house.
Its herb boxes were buried under snow, the skeletons of tomatoes shivering in the wind.
The Roan River flowed swiftly west toward the Sapphire Mountains, chunks of ice bobbing on the top like little bath toys.
Her heart began racing as something shifted in front of the modest home. Dahlia squinted, making out a horse. Not one of the shaggy plow horses but a fine-looking horse with an embroidered blanket.
Her stomach dropped.
No . . . someone had beaten them there . . .
Dahlia sprinted toward her mum’s home, the snow slowing her down, only to be yanked back by the hood of her cloak. She gagged and spun, glaring at Loshika through the falling snowflakes.
“We need to be smart about this,” the healer hissed, her voice barely louder than the wind. “Calm yourself.”
Lia nodded, attempting to slow her heart as they approached the stone cottage. The wind had calmed, almost as if it was holding its breath. She peered up at the sky, trying to locate Serenity. The bird of prey was nowhere to be found. Where the devil was her feathered companion?
They were on their own it seemed.
They paused next to the horse, and Dahlia pulled her blade from the sheath on her hip.
She placed her hand on the muzzle of the mount, calming the beast as she looked for any identifying mark.
It wasn’t Loriian, but the horse was too big to be from Astera.
She ran her fingers over the finely made blanket tossed over its back.
Too nice to be anyone from the village or surrounding area. Lia leaned close and inhaled.
Rose.
A dull ringing filled her ears.
No.
Rose soap only meant one person.
“What is it?” Loshika asked.
“The devil,” Dahlia replied, her stomach churning. There was no use in an ambush. The home had no windows. There was only one way inside, and the monster already knew she was coming. “Wait outside.”
“No,” her friend hissed, her black eyes narrowing.
Lia reached out and squeezed Loshika’s arm. “I need you out here where you’re not boxed in. He only wants me. We can surprise him. The blackguard doesn’t expect me to be traveling with someone, especially a giantess.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I. Trust me.”
The healer nodded. “I do.”
Dahlia squeezed Lo’s forearm once more and then turned for the weathered door. With wooden legs, she trudged up the two porch steps, reached for the handle of the door, and pushed, stepping inside. Heat washed over her, and her eyes adjusted quickly to the low light.
Her mother sat on the floor, rocking next to Alden—her caregiver. The half giant was lying on the floor, silver blood dripping from his slack mouth.
Dead.
Lia’s stomach bottomed out as a familiar face turned her way and grinned, flashing a bit of fang.
“Hello, my sweet flower. We’ve been waiting for you,” the Giver drawled.