Chapter 22 #4
About ten Nyrvendir stood at the tree line like sentinels of death, mist curling from their flanks, silver eyes locked on Sylvi, marking her as prey, though none charged.
The largest of them—a massive beast with matted fur, its fangs dripping venom like obsidian acid—slowly paced forward, muscles rolling like boulders beneath its hide.
But it didn’t lunge. Snarling, it waited, studying her, the way an alpha would size up a challenger before deciding whether to fight…or kneel.
In preparation for running across the lake, Sylvi had already shed her cloak and the extra weapons she’d been carrying, except for her long seax. She raised it with both hands, shoulders tense, feet planted hard on the ground, refusing to back down from the threat.
I slowly rose to my feet, trying not to make any sudden movements that might trigger the wolves to attack. Every muscle in my body was primed to bolt toward her despite the fatigue still clinging to my limbs.
Sylvi must’ve sensed my intentions because she looked back over her shoulder and put her palm out, silently ordering me to stand down.
A growl rumbled in my chest.
Sylvi stood tall, squaring her shoulders, raising her chin. The wind lifted loose strands of her hair from her face, and in the storm of my magic-starved senses, even from this distance, I felt her heartbeat, like a phantom echo inside my chest.
Gods, she was braver than anyone I’d ever known. More beautiful and reckless and…
And…in that instant, I fell vastly more in love with her—madly, irrevocably deeper in love with her.
I wanted to call her back. To beg her to forget the plan. To let me be the one standing on that shore instead, but she gently shook her head, her eyes pleading with me not to move. I’ve got this. Trust me. Please.
Breath ragged, reluctantly, I dipped my chin. I trust you.
But every muscle in my body tensed. One misstep. One lunge from those wolves…
Behind me, Ravin and Astrid called from the lake’s edge.
Good. At least they were safe.
Then, something shifted in the air, like charged particles. The hairs on my arms stood on end, a rush of heat flooding my veins. Magic stirred in the atmosphere.
Dark magic.
Fuck.
I jerked my head toward the trees behind the hounds, to where the wraiths spilled from the shadows. Whispering. Hissing.
Gods. Screw the fucking hounds. She needed to get out of there now.
“Sylvi—run!” My voice cracked like thunder.
Sylvi’s body tensed as she heard my voice, and she hesitated a moment, her boot hovering over the lake as if unsure if the ice would hold.
“Fucking. Run!” I roared, breaking my promise yet again and reaching for my unseelie powers, praying for even one tendril—
There was no hesitation this time. She ran, boots pounding against groaning ice.
Atta girl.
Cracks bloomed beneath her steps like veins of lightning, and my heart plummeted.
The ice would not hold unless I could call on my magic and reinforce the surface.
The Nyrvendir gave chase, howling as they burst across the lake like shadows unchained from a breathing darkness, their added weight further weakening the ice.
Shit.
Astrid and Ravin screamed from the shore, shouting for me to run back toward them as ice spider-webbed around me as well.
Like Hel I would run and leave Sylvi behind. I could survive a plunge into these frigid waters; Sylvi wouldn’t.
I dropped to my knees and slammed my palms to the ice. “Come on…come on…” I growled, calling to my magic. “Wake. Up! Wake. The fuck. Up!”
Finally rising from slumber like a leviathan beneath a churning sea, the beast inside me stirred, uncoiling, rumbling. My veins burned. Light flared in my eyes, illuminating the frozen lake in a grim, bluish glow.
Still, it wasn’t enough. My power wasn’t enough. I needed more. More.
The lake groaned in protest as jagged shards buckled and splintered. Sylvi skidded, arms flailing to balance. A wolf crashed through the ice behind her, its yelp swallowed by black water, but the rest kept coming, the alpha at her heels.
I screamed to the heavens with every ounce of my soul, calling to the gods, demanding their help.
The answer came as a violent pulse of frostfire rocked through my body, almost cleaving me in half in a euphoric surge of power.
Yes.
Yes…
My hands lit up with blue plumes of magic, my rage simmering to a calculated calm. I pressed my palms back to the ice, and at last, the frost obeyed. A radiant path unfurled beneath Sylvi’s feet, sealing the cracks with a trail of glowing light.
“Don’t you fucking stop running!” I urged her, feeding the ice every ounce of energy in my blood.
She was close now, close enough to touch. My arms outstretched, ready to catch her.
CRACK.
From the abyss below, something lashed out.
A claw—no, a hand. Bone-thin fingers, like branches cloaked in smoke and frost, gripped her ankle with inhuman speed.
Terror struck me like an arrow through my spine, and I bellowed loud enough to shatter the sky, “Sylvi!”
But she didn’t get the chance to scream.
The ice exploded beneath her with a roar.
And she was gone.