Chapter 12 #3
His way of telling me not to get off the chairlift, even though it’s a rule to get off and re-join the queue.
But the Snakes never do care much for rules that don’t serve them.
I can’t look at the expectant faces aimed at us as the chairlift stops at the station—and we don’t budge. I keep my crimson cheek to the stares, the scoffs, the grumbles, until we’re moving again.
There’s no more talk of James as the chairlift takes us up to the podium—and as we slip off, and land on the concrete slab, my heart slingshots into my throat.
Just off the podium, there’s a bulking silhouette looming against the white sheet of mountains.
Mildred is rooted in the snow, waiting for us.
Her expression thunderous.
“I told you.” My whisper comes out serrated. “I’ll be paying for that later.”
“I’ve got your back,” Landon’s voice is low. “Just stick with me.”
Mildred’s breaths fog at her face in furious bursts. The look of it, of her, has tingles spreading through me.
My legs turn to lead, boots and skis heavy on the platform. The next chairlift is already ascending, advancing on us.
I don’t have much of a choice.
I need to go down the slope.
I need to ski past Mildred.
Landon cuts in front of me with a sudden push from the podium. The base of his snowboard screeches over the concrete before it slips down onto the snow—and like that, he’s a shield in front of me.
Mildred’s jaw rolls.
I kick off right behind him, and there’s no hanging around, no slowing down for me to get my legs. It’s a sudden whir of icy winds lashing at us.
We whizz by her—but not before I see her twist around, the edge of her snowboard kicking up snow, and eyes fixed on me.
The target.
I knew it.
I should’ve avoided the slopes.
I should’ve told Landon to go fuck himself or at least faked a headache.
‘Be careful out there.’
Dray’s warning lurches through me.
I propel myself faster down the slopes.
The world whips by me in a blur, the hiss of snow, the cold tearing at my face.
She’s gaining on me, her shadow stretching over the snow, and I can feel it, the heat from her churning rage scorching my back the closer she gets.
I flinch as something crashes behind me.
I throw a panicked look over my shoulder, but my balance wobbles, and I can only look for a second before I throw my head back into place.
But I saw it.
I saw Landon slashed into her path, Mildred spinning out behind him.
He floored her.
His own balance wobbles as he regains control of his board and, with a jut towards me, we are leaving the shouts and curses of Mildred behind, shrouded in a mist of snow.
By the time she even gets up, we’ll be too far ahead. Landon bought me time. Enough of it to speed down the slope, all the way to the plateau and the chairlift station.
I don’t waste a moment.
I don’t give Mildred a second to spare.
I’m ripping back my goggles and wrestling off my skis on my staggered way to the chairlift.
Landon moves just as quickly, and that lights a fire under my ass, because if he’s rushing, then I have good reason to.
Mildred might catch up.
I hug the skis to my chest before the bar comes down on our laps. As the wires start to whir above, and the lift takes us up the slopes again, I search the white mist for a glimpse of Mildred.
I spot her, not far from the bottom, speeding through her descent.
The breath I loosen is curt.
I turn a look on Landon, one filled with blame.
But the moment my gaze touches his crisp cheek, he peels back his goggles and sighs. “I had to.” His tone is steady, but his eyes are far away. Not nearly as panicked as my own. “I saw the opportunity to make the statement—and I told you I would have your back.”
The frown is slow to settle into my red face.
But once it does, it settles with the understanding—that Landon schemed that whole thing.
He knew that if he said those things to Mildred, in front of a queue of students, he would be declaring his loyalty to me.
He knew she would come find us, ambush me on the slopes, and that would be his moment to prove his loyalty to me.
But he threw me into her warpath to make his statement, so my jaw tightens on vicious words, and my mind flashes with Eric’s face.
Fucking schemers everywhere.
Everyone is a viper.
Within the walls of the academy looming ahead, within the gardens of my home estate, in this damn chairlift, everywhere I go, every face is a mask.
I watch the fumes rise from the chimneys spotted around the academy. Whispers of smoke blend into the greying skies, and I wonder if the rain is coming in to turn the snow to slush, then maybe I can drown Landon in it.
The bitterness sticks with me as I clammer off the chairlift, then carry the skis and poles to the storeroom.
I prop them against the wall for Landon to deal with on his own.
He just huffs, then mutters something about, “It’s not like you got hurt,” but I make a point of ignoring him as I storm through the corridors.
The dorms call to me.
The promise of my bed, a flaming hearth, pyjamas, it all lures me. My only safe place in this hell.
I shove through the door to the grand parlour—
Into another dimension of hell.