Chapter 38 #3
‘Right. Exactly. And that’s what I want.
But we’re running out of time. Any day now, Rose, you’re going to complete the Veil, and even if it takes you to the end of the moon, I can’t stay any longer than that, even if I want to.
When your time’s up, I’ve got to leave too.
’ His voice drops as he shakes his head.
‘But I … I can’t lose him, Rose. Please, talk to him.
Help him pull his head out of that delicious arse. ’
I open my mouth to reply, but it’s Kyor who gets there first.
‘It’s not Rose he needs to hear this from,’ he says. ‘It’s you. Say this to him. All of it. And if he won’t listen, make him. Tie him to the bed if that’s what it takes.’
A grin glimmers in Benny’s eyes. ‘Well, at least I know what your idea of a good night is now.’
Kyor groans, but I can see the thought resonating in Benny.
Quietly, he speaks again. ‘I guess you’re right. I just have to show him how serious I am.’ He thinks for a moment, then brightens. ‘I’ll propose. I know we’ve only been together for a few weeks, but he’s my everything, and I know it. I don’t need more time to know it.’
My eyebrows shoot up towards my hairline. We went from talking things through to Benny suggesting a proposal to a man he’s been with just over half a moon. But as he said, when you know, you know.
‘Thank you, guys.’ Benny stands and turns towards the door, only to hesitate. ‘Oh, yeah, I wasn’t entirely lying about having found some dagger stuff. That story my granddad told me, turns out there’s actually this glass case in—’
‘Too late, buddy,’ Kyor cuts in, waving a hand. ‘Way too late. Dagger in Galreck. Already figured that bit out myself.’
‘You did?’ Benny looks genuinely impressed.
‘I’m not just a pretty face, you know.’
‘But you are also a very pretty face,’ I say, cupping Kyor’s cheek in my hand.
‘Right back at you,’ he replies, leaning in and kissing me.
‘And with that,’ Benny says, opening the door, ‘I’m going to leave you to it. Time to make the love of my life see sense.’
Two days later, I still feel no closer to knowing which particular dagger I’ve got or what I’m supposed to learn from the fucking last door in the Veil.
Frustration is leaching away, to be replaced by a very real fear.
Time is running out, but there’s nothing more I can do.
With only one try of the Veil per day, I can’t do any more than I’m doing, and now I can count my remaining chances on my two poisoned hands.
After a particularly shocking blizzard, practice sessions are now so far from the city that we can see the jotnar warning systems. I don’t know whether to be proud that Stefan thinks my magic is strong enough to reach the city or embarrassed that he thinks I have so little control that he’d rather risk our lives with giants than train me any closer to the Issen.
Kyor is with Elska and Fen, practising fighting drills a short distance away, and he’s worked up such a sweat that even in the cold he’s topless.
While I know I should be paying attention to what Stefan’s trying to teach me, my eyes can’t help but wander over the prince’s body.
The last couple of nights, I’ve been so tired I’ve fallen asleep on his chest before I’ve even kissed him properly.
I am due some much-needed Kyor time. Especially if that time is limited.
‘You need to focus,’ Stefan says sharply. The Issen clicks his tongue in frustration. ‘You can do better than this, Princess. You know how to breathe and how to close off your mind.’
‘Knowing it and doing it under pressure are different things,’ I remind him.
A heavy sigh billows from his lungs. ‘Look, that light method of yours obviously works, but it’s slow. Maybe if I feel the way you’re breathing, we can see where it’s going wrong. Nothing dodgy, I promise.’
Do I trust him? No, but I also need help. I’m doing everything right. I’m practising my breathing and doing meditations, but I can’t help but feel that something is still missing. And if I can just nail down what that is, I’ll be able to master my ice magic rather than having it master me.
I nod. A silent agreement to allow him to place his hands on me.
‘This is where you should be feeling your breath.’ He places his palm flat on my abdomen.
‘Too often your breathing is too quick and too shallow. I want you to focus, to feel your breath pass into my hand.’ He shifts his body a little closer and his hand a fraction lower.
‘All your breath needs to be down here, okay? All the air you take in needs to go through your lower belly and into my hand. Can you—’
‘Get your fucking hands off her. Now!’
The words crack across the space like breaking ice, accompanied by a rolling rumble of thunder.
‘Kyor, don’t be—’
‘You need to stay out of this, Rose.’ He doesn’t even look at me, his gaze locked on Stefan as he strides towards us, body gleaming with reflected light from the snow, something cold and lethal in the set of his shoulders.
Like a God himself. Suddenly, that ice wolf I made doesn’t feel half as beautiful.
‘I am trying to help her,’ Stefan growls, jaw tight, forcing each word out. ‘How many fucking times do we have to have this conversation?’
‘I don’t know,’ Kyor spits back. ‘How many times do I have to tell you to keep your fucking hands off Rose?’
Stefan lets out a sharp, humourless laugh. ‘Oh, for—’ He steps forward instead of back, closing the distance between them. ‘She’s not made of glass. Or do you just like to pretend she is so you’ve got an excuse to hover? To control? Just like a Morathkian.’
Kyor’s expression darkens. ‘Careful.’
‘No, you be careful,’ Stefan snaps, something hot flashing through his composure. ‘Unless you missed it, she has a strong well of magic she needs to master. You’re not her keeper, and she doesn’t need one either. I’m merely trying to stop her magic from tearing itself loose and destroying Isthyr!’
‘Are you though? We’re a long way from the city here, Stefan. From where I’m standing, it would be the perfect place for you to stage a little accident. Make sure you’ve got a clear line back to that throne you see as yours.’
‘I don’t need a clear line. Either she’ll fail the Veil and it’s mine anyway, or she’ll complete the Rite and we’ll be wed for the good of the kingdom.’
The sky darkens above us as the rumble of thunder draws closer.
‘Now I know you’re just trying to get me to attack you,’ Kyor growls. ‘You have zero subtlety.’
‘Maybe. If you kill me, that’s the incentive our people need to rise up against Magnus, our pacifist king.
I’ll be a hero, a martyr, and you’ll be dead before you even reach the city.
But I think I prefer the idea of me and your little Thorn on the throne together.
That’s what you call her, right? Thorn. Well, I guess I’ll get to test those sharp edges for myself.
I hear you’ve got really soft beds in the palace. ’
The lightning bolt streaks down from the sky, accompanied by an immediate crack of thunder, at the exact moment power blasts from my hands, a flurry of snow and hail pelting from every angle, pushing the men apart.
It’s not quite as efficient as the cages, but it does the job, knocking Stefan out of the way of the blast.
‘Now that’s some good control, Rose,’ the Issen says calmly to me, as if his goading of Kyor was just another teaching method. And maybe it was for him. But it wasn’t for Kyor.
‘Let it go,’ I say to the prince as I move towards him.
‘You need to stay out of this, Thorn,’ Kyor growls as he marches past me.
‘No, you need to,’ Stefan bites back. ‘I’m trying to help her, but you’re making it impossible.’
‘Stop it!’ I shout. ‘Both of you!’ I stretch out my arms as I place myself between them, but neither man even seems to notice.
‘This has gone on long enough,’ Kyor hisses.
‘I quite agree,’ Stefan replies.
‘I said, stop it!’
This time, it’s not just a single blast that flies from me.
It’s an eruption, a tidal wave of magic, as power like I’ve never felt before blazes through me with such force I feel as though I’m being lifted from the ground.
All sounds are swallowed by the howling mass of white that mushrooms out from me, ploughing through everything at ground level.