Chapter 43
Forty-Three
Casimir
But how is this possible? Anna was in the wilds. It should have been impossible for Bryna to find her there.
The how didn’t matter. The simple fact was she had found Anna, and now she was keeping her from me. Given how close I was to her mountain retreat before the call cut off, nowhere else nearby made sense.
One thing I didn’t have to ask was how Bryna knew to look for Anna. That one was easy to explain, now that I knew where Anna was.
Apparently, Uncle Mirko isn’t as estranged from his mate as he’s led us to believe.
I crested the last mountain ridge between me and my mate and dove hard into the valley beyond.
I tried not to let fear for Anna’s safety and what I would do if I lost her gain any hold over me.
It wasn’t easy. She was counting on me. I needed to prove to her that I could be trusted to do what a mate was for.
Protect.
Bryna’s estate was on the far side of the valley, nestled between the two forks of a glacier-fed mountain river and surrounded by hardy trees and bushes, what little greenery had gained a foothold this high.
My approach was noted, and two silvery dragons appeared where men had been and took to the sky to challenge me. They angled wide, giving me an attack vector on only one of them at any given time.
If I challenged one, the other would dive in and strike my open flank as I slowed to fight. So I didn’t slow. I dove right down the middle, blowing past both of them as I went for my true target, the estate itself. Icy blasts shot from their mouths, but I was past them before they could reach me.
Bellowing alarms and anger, the two dragons whirled to pursue.
More would be inside the house, but I hit the front steps like a falling stalactite, crunching a hole through the cut stone and into the ground below.
It hurt, but it meant that when the next set of guards came rushing out the door, they weren’t ready to see me.
Ice ran down my right arm and sheathed my flattened hand. I whirled as the doors opened, and the first guard to emerge fell away, screaming and holding what remained of his face with both hands.
The other guard had a second longer to react and threw both hands up to save his eyes. Thus, when I pivoted on my right leg, the blade protruding from the toes of my left plunged deep into the guard’s chest.
He gurgled and vomited blood as he slid free, clutching at the gaping wound. Recovering my balance, I drove the icy hand blade into his open mouth and out the back of his skull, killing him instantly.
“Where is she?” I thundered, my voice echoing off the hallways as I tore the doors from their hinges, using one of them to flatten the faceless shifter and stop his screaming.
I stalked down the hallway. Ice flowed out from me as I advanced, coating the floors, the walls, the ceiling and every door as I sought out my mate. My Anna.
“Bryna. Show yourself, you coward!”
The two guards from earlier charged in after me, their feet covered in makeshift ice-shoes of their own creation, giving them perfect grip. They came on with mindless abandon, forgetting that it was my ice they were walking on.
I cocked my head, watching. Waiting. When they reached the thickest concentration, I called to the ice and swiftly clenched my right hand.
A dozen scale-sharp tendrils of ice impaled each of them, shooting from every wall simultaneously. The dragons were dead before they knew it, their blood flowing rapidly to the floor as they slumped forward.
My dragon roared its displeasure. We hated killing our own. It was a waste of life that didn’t need to happen. But Bryna would not care. She would use up everyone around her if it meant she survived another day.
I strived to eradicate that sort of thinking from my kingdom.
“Anna!” I bellowed. “I am here!”
I stalked deeper into the building, flooding every room with my ice as I searched for signs of life. For signs of my mate. She was here. I could sense it. My soul could sense it. We were close to being reunited once more.
Room after room was cleared. I advanced down into the lower levels, moving more warily now. Four guards were not enough. Bryna would have more. If enough of them jumped me at once, I could be in trouble.
“Bryna. It’s over. Give it up now, and I will make this painless for you,” I growled, blasting open yet another door only to be greeted with emptiness. “The longer you delay, the worse it’s going to get.”
I’d never been to this particular property of Bryna’s before, so the layout was unfamiliar to me. But as I neared another set of stairs leading into a basement, I knew my search was coming to an end.
Ice flowed down the stairs ahead of me. I walked down each step, my bare feet having no trouble finding grip on ice of my own making. The cold didn’t bother me either, despite my nudity.
It was like a comfortable blanket. Or would be, if I could share it with my love.
Corridors spread out in three directions from me as I reached the bottom of the stairs. Three options. One correct. Two wrong.
“I’m done playing games,” I said to the empty air as I sucked in a breath and all the power that made me who I was.
The ice tyrant was here.
With Anna at the front of my mind, I let forth a tremendous bellow. Ice and alpha power rolled out from me in a visible wave, slamming down doors and coating every surface in an inches-thick layer of ice.
Two feet short of the double doors at the end of the hallway to my right, the ice simply stopped. The leading edge vibrated rapidly, trying to push on, but it could go no further. Something was holding it back.
Someone else’s power.
“Bryna. Let her go before this gets ugly!” I shouted, crafting a spear of pure ice in my hands as I slowly walked toward that barrier. I infused it with my power, creating something more than just the physical weapon.
If she had harmed a single hair on Anna’s head, I was going to kill her. Crucify her to the walls of her own house.
Hauling back, I flung the powerful ice spear straight down the hallway. It hit the barrier and drove it back a good foot.
Someone behind the doors cried out. Hopefully in pain. I doubted that sort of impact could have felt good.
Reaching the barrier, I clenched a fist, coating it with ice, and slammed it into the frosty edge. Again, the barrier retreated, and my ice surged forward once more, creeping up the corners of the doors themselves now, though the center remained clear.
Not that it mattered. A silent thought, and the ice under my command found the hinges to the doors, freezing them solid. A simple command then shattered everything.
The doors groaned and fell inward with a tremendous clash to reveal a tallish woman standing in the middle of the room. Half a dozen humanoid shapes were buried in ice, three on either side of her.
I panicked, thinking she had frozen Anna, but movement behind Bryna showed me the truth instead.
Anna was curled up on the floor next to another very frail woman, whom she was sheltering with her body.
Both women had ice over their mouths and more pinning their hands to the ground.
Anna’s eyes were wide with fright, and she kept looking all around, everywhere but at me.
Fury surged through me when I saw the silver collar around her neck, but I fought it back.
Composure was key. I had to get Anna free first. If Bryna was alive, she could release the women without harming them.
I would not wish Ella’s struggle on anyone.
Especially my mate. It was my job to shield her from such things.
If that meant holding on to my own anger … so be it.
For now.
“It’s over,” I said as Bryna wiped away a trickle blood from her nose, courtesy of my blows to her shield, I was certain. “Stand down.”
“Over?” Bryna chuckled, standing up tall and shaking the short brown hair free from her face. “How ironic of you to say that, Casimir. Because it is over. For you.”
“You cannot defeat me,” I rumbled. “You cannot be that insane to think so, Bryna. Give it up. Release them and come peacefully.”
A wild light entered Bryna’s eyes. “You’re right. I cannot defeat you alone.”
Alarm bells went off in my head at the tone of her voice. It was not the tone of a defeated woman.
“But then, I’m not alone,” she hissed, gesturing at the walls.
The ice fell away, and the six shapes frozen beneath stirred, moving to encircle me.
I sniffed the air. “Weres? Come now, Bryna. You’re just murdering them.”
In response, six balls of fire simultaneously appeared in front of the men.
“No. The only one getting murdered is you,” she spat angrily.
And the six scale dragons advanced, the fires in front of them reflecting wildly off the red scale affixed to each of their chests.