Chapter 39
Thirty-Nine
Dirk
The doors led to an internal courtyard, the ceiling of Hollow Earth obscured far overhead by the clouds slowly rolling in. I followed the path of footprints to the far side, through another set of doors, and down a staircase.
Underground. They were always underground. The tunnels that ran beneath Kylma were numerous and unmapped. They went levels deep, dug out over the millennia that the city had served as the capital of the Ice Kingdom and the seat of one of the ice clans before the Unification Wars.
Multiple attempts had been made to catalogue them, but it was pointless.
I followed the sounds of noise and smells of dragon and other beings until I emerged in the market itself, a large cavern that might have once been multiple parallel tunnels.
Keeping my head and my hood down, I wandered the market swiftly, looking for my quarry, well aware that the search was likely fruitless by this point.
Simply too many little rooms and tunnels branched off for me to search everywhere. I’d lost him and with him the chance for proof of Mirko’s treachery.
I held back a snarl of frustration as my hands balled into fists, my nails digging into my palm.
Finally, with the sight of Grounded caged up and mistreated starting to erode my restraint, I headed for the exit. Ella was up there waiting for me. I would get her and return her to the citadel safely.
Then Florian and as many guards as I could gather would descend with me on this place and everyone in it to shut it down.
I wouldn’t be merciful then.
Breathing slowly to keep my fury and my alpha power contained, I retraced my steps back to the courtyard and the exit.
Maybe if we were lucky, Florian and I would sweep up Andrik or whoever it had been when we returned, if he was dumb enough to linger in the market. It was the only shot I had left of catching him, so I had to keep that hope.
Pushing open the door, I came to a halt, my nose twitching. Ella’s scent was right out front, but it wasn’t rich and inviting. It was sour. Acrid.
Fearful.
The alleyway brightened as I welcomed my dragon to the fore, pairing our senses.
Why had she come to the alley entrance? And why did her scent lead deeper, not back to the rug shop where I had left her?
“What are you doing, mate?” I rumbled to the open air, setting off after her and turning left down a very tight alley.
My eyes immediately spied the signs of a scuffle at the next intersection—marks on the stone, a wet spot where ice had been used for one reason or another, and some blood. Not Ella’s. Over there, someone’s spit. Also not hers.
She had fought back. A flicker of pride was immediately doused by worry. Ella should have had no need to fight.
I should have done it for her.
The jasmine and amber that belonged to Ella was threaded through all the scents mixing at the intersection.
Fear stitched itself to the darkness lurking in my mind, dragging it forward like a sheet unfurling behind it and coating me in its emotions. Adrenaline churned in time with my blood, reaching every corner of my body as I hurried down alley after alley, following Ella’s scent.
I hoped I wasn’t too late.
Had she been in the market? Had whoever it was realized she was a Grounded and tossed her in there? If I had to go back inside to rescue Ella, I would not be doing so peacefully.
Not this time.
Although I was fairly familiar with the streets of Kylma, the maze I followed my nose through left me fully confused as to exactly where I ended up. The only thing I knew was Ella was here, behind the reinforced door.
I was out front of a building that looked like it might be someone’s estate. I fully expected there to be an open area, another courtyard, on the far side of the solid wood door. The only question was, what else was in there?
Standing out front of the door, I listened, waiting impatiently. There was every chance it was a trap for me.
And every chance I didn’t give a fuck.
My mate was in there. When I was done, she would be out here. It was as simple as that.
Time to let go.
My dragon slithered forward as the darkness came forth, and this time I let its hooks sink in deep. I let the cold lizard-brain ride shotgun instead of be under my control.
There would be no holding back the dark, because the people on the other side of the gate had taken my light.
The air in the alleyway rapidly cooled, ice in the air reflecting the little orblight that made it this far. The temperature dropped further and the droplets fell as snow.
Around the corners of the gate, ice took hold, finding its way in through the grains of wood and pushing deeper and deeper, like roots seeking water. Heat fled the area as cold poured from my body, turning my skin blue.
My face was blank. No emotion. Only the mission.
The door froze solid with ice, the stone walls it was attached to groaning from the added weight. The ground cracked under my feet.
It was time.
Leaning back I slammed my booted foot into the door with every ounce of strength I possessed. Hinges gave way, and the heavy block of wood and ice slammed down flat. Blood came pouring out the sides only to freeze solid as I stepped onto the fallen block and inside.
“Where is she?” I snarled as two more dragons charged me, their eyes only briefly darting to the door and whoever was under it.
I stepped left, ducked under the blow, and drove my shoulder up into the nearest shifter. As I rose, ice spikes six inches long burst from my shoulder. I drove them deep into the attacker, punching holes through his skin.
Blood poured down the ice, but I snapped them free with a violent twist, using the moment to kick out. The second attacker leapt aside and then came back in, driving a fist into my back.
I turned my topple into a dive roll, pushing off for added distance and coming to my feet twenty feet away.
A pair of Weres sporting red heart scales came charging out of a side room while the ice dragon still standing gathered himself to attack again.
I thrust out my hands as the heart-scale wearing wolves attacked. Fire and ice collided, filling the room with steam. I kept an eye on the ice dragon, twisting sideways to get him right at the angle I wanted. Right on the opposite side of me from the Weres.
The second he hauled back and hurled a six-foot-long lance of ice at me, I ducked. The spear pierced the fire, shrinking rapidly, but several inches of it still embedded itself in the shoulder of the Were on the right.
The wolf shifter howled, and the fire from him and his partner vanished in shock. I leapt forward, dropping a ball of pure ice down his throat as I passed by, not slowing. The iceball exploded, attacking itself to his airway, and the shifter doubled over, unable to breathe.
I caught a wash of flame for my efforts but doused it with a burst of icy cold that flooded out from me in a circle.
Then I was on the second heart dragon. The Were stood no chance.
My hand shifted as I swung, and the arm he raised to block what had been a punch fell away, sliced off at the elbow by my claws.
Spinning, I raked upward with my other hand, opening him from groin to sternum, four lines shredding his skin and ripping the heart scale free from his chest as I went. It clattered to the floor nearby.
That only left the remaining ice shifter, who now understood just how badly outclassed he was, fiddling with something in his pocket.
“Who are you?” he hissed, as another four shifters came rushing out from the main building belatedly.
“What matters is where she is. So tell me!” I barked. “And I’ll make it quick. If not …”
I gestured at the Were bleeding to death, the wounds I’d inflicted too great as his insides became his outsides.
“There are five of us,” the ice dragon said as they spread out.
“I’ve already put down at least four of you. Do I look hurt? Tired? You should know better.”
I tossed my hood back so they could see who I was.
“The Ice Prince?” one of them gaped, his eyes wide.
And that’s when I attacked, taking advantage of their surprise. There was no more speaking. Only claw and fist and ice. Two of the newcomers went down.
Claws ripped apart my shirt, shredding my left side, though not fatally.
At least one rib was broken when a fist slipped through my defenses, and each breath was painful.
These were not unskilled thugs. They knew how to fight, and two of them had clearly trained to attack together.
Their movements were too precise to be otherwise.
I tossed one of them bodily against the other, and we all split. I was breathing heavier now. All of us were bleeding. Snow and ice were everywhere.
For a moment, silence reigned, and light glittered. If it wasn’t for the bodies, it could have been beautiful.
“Just tell me where she is,” I said, gathering myself. It was time to end it.
“You aren’t leaving here.” It was the only survivor from the first round, still speaking.
“What a coincidence. Neither are you.”
They came on again, and I retreated back into the darkness, letting it consume me and take me back to the time I had lived in it. Lived in the cold, empty thing inside me. And I used it.
Ice cracked. Someone screamed and whirled away, fingers missing from their hand. Bone broke. I heard a sigh as the final breath left a body.
And then, with a punch to an ice statue that shattered it into giant chunks of limbs and torso, it was over.
Grunting in pain, I pulled the pair of six-inch-long ice blades from my leg and tossed them aside. The blood poured forth for a moment but then rapidly clotted. I shrugged it off. I’d been hurt worse, much worse, and recently. This was nothing compared to that.
I paused at the corpse of the apparent leader, the ice shifter that had survived round one. Curious as to what he’d been fiddling with, I reached into his pocket. The contents were frozen but not destroyed as I’m sure he’d hoped. Very carefully I removed the ice with the focus of my will.
Frowning at what was left, I shoved it in a pocket. I would deal with it later, but for now my mate needed me.
“Ella!” I roared, kicking open the door to the estate. “Ella, we’re leaving. Where are you?”
There was no response, but her scent was fresh and easy to follow. The interior door was no obstacle, coming free after I hooked the claws of one shifted hand through it and pulled.
I came up still at the sight on the other side.
“Ella.”
She was there. In a cage. Her skin pale and her eyes distant.
“Ella!” I roared, rushing to her side. The bars were thick brellwood, but the mighty wood gave way when frozen, and I shattered the bars, reaching for my ashen mate.
“It’s okay. I’m here now,” I said, hauling her up into my arms when she didn’t get to her feet. “Ella? Can you hear me?”
She continued to stare into nothing, not moving.
Shock. It had to be.
“We’re leaving, Ella,” I said, holding her to my chest so she didn’t see the corpses as I walked back out the front door. “Just hold on for me, Ella. Please.”
Wings sprouted from my back, and I leapt into the sky, heading for the citadel as fast as I could.
I didn’t know what to do. I only knew I couldn’t lose her. Not now, when we were so close to finally having our forever.