Fireblood (Frostblood Saga #2)(91)
You are here, you are here, come closer, come to me.
It took vigilant effort not to obey. I put my head against the bumpy rock wall and closed my eyes. I counted to one hundred in Sudesian—anything to keep my mind busy, to drown out the compulsion to move closer to the voice.
“We have very little time,” Prince Eiko reminded me sharply.
I struggled to regain focus. By now, the Fireblood masters would have realized I was late for the initiation ceremony. They might be searching. If they found us, not only would we lose our chance of destroying the throne, but Arcus would face recapture. If the queen had decided to execute him, I didn’t know if I could stop her.
We had to work fast and get him back to his ship. I might even be able to leave with him. If we could melt the throne. If the book was right that a shard would contain the Minax.
A shiver ripped through me as I finally realized the odds against us.
“Ruby, are you ready?” Arcus asked, leaning close. I nodded. We moved toward the throne in tandem.
I knew the exact moment the fire Minax noticed Arcus’s presence.
Frostblood! The bloodthirsty cry echoed in my mind. I clapped my hands over my ears.
Even Arcus seemed to sense it. He recoiled, the sudden jolt and catch of his muscles making him tremble slightly, as if he were an arrow shot into the ground.
I spoke softly, because the throne was on edge, its consciousness straining toward Arcus the way a dog tugs at the end of its leash when it sees a nice fat rabbit nearby. Everything in me wanted to soften the Minax’s craving, to appease it. With my voice, if not my actions.
Kill him, kill him, the throne chanted.
“Stop it,” I whispered to the throne. “You don’t need his death. You have the blood of all the Frostblood servants who made these tunnels.”
Not enough, never enough, the throne chanted. Powerful beyond measure. His frost vastly strong. His death would be a feast. Yours for the killing, Daughter of Darkness. To make you strong beyond measure, your fire and your dark. Unmatched power. Incendiary power. Bliss.
I turned my back on it angrily, my whole body shaking with the effort of separating its desires from my own.
“Arcus,” I said, trying to reclaim myself, to reassert my identity. “Remember the shard must be no smaller than a coin.”
The Minax screamed, a howling excoriation of the quiet places in my mind, like a gale-force wind that scrapes mountains bare. I covered my ears, but the sound was inside me, shearing my nerve endings and stabbing through my veins. My shoulder bashed the rough wall as I tried to escape. Then arms came around me.
“Ruby, I’m here. You’re not alone. We have to do this.” The low rumble of Arcus’s voice soothed me. I grabbed his collar and held on as the scream faded.
“It wants…” I shook my head, eyes wide but unseeing, as if the sound had stolen all other senses.
“Don’t listen to it,” he said, pulling my attention back with his commanding tone. “Listen to me. You can do this. We can.” He held me tight for a few seconds, his cold lips pressing firm kisses to the top of my head, brushing the pulse at my temple, gliding across my cheek.
Everything else faded as the mindless pleasure of feeling his cool lips took every ounce of my attention. It had been so long since we’d touched like this. I realized in that moment how scared I’d been that he would never hold me again. Layers of distance between us fell away, melted by his hands curved tenderly over my shoulders, the gentle brush of lips on my forehead. I wanted to burrow into the comfort he offered and live there for a while, cherished and protected.
The reassuring scent of his skin calmed me, and I drew strength from his size, from his natural self-assurance, from his steadfast belief in me. When I felt ready, I nodded and pushed him away, straightening.
“Let’s get it done,” I said, all calm resolution on the outside, while my insides quaked with nerves.
“If you melt the rock completely, you will free it,” Prince Eiko warned. “You must leave a portion intact.”
Do not trust him. Do not trust him, said the Minax. This throne is yours for the taking. Our union will bring you extraordinary power. Embrace me.
“I know,” I replied to Prince Eiko, shoving the voice away. “Arcus, I’m not… myself right now. I may… I may lose track of the size of the shard.”
His eyes were shadowed, but I felt their intensity. “I’ll tell you when to stop.”
We moved forward until we stood about two arm lengths from the throne. Close enough to attack, but far enough that I couldn’t touch it. I knew instinctively that physical contact with the throne was dangerous for me. The frost Minax had been an invasion, an insidious voice in my head. The fire Minax felt like an extension of self. A universe where I could happily dwell forever.
I shuddered.
It was my enemy. My enemy.
I began with a stream of fire, a simple blast of pure orange flame directed at the line where the seat and back met—what I thought of as its heart. Arcus welded a ribbon of ice to my fire. The fire and frost curled together, two separate strands that merged into one writhing cataract, flowing like a torrent of glistening blue-white water, sinuous and elegant. Blue sparks flared from the column like shooting stars before winking out. I shut my eyes against the blinding light—so bright, it filtered through my eyelids. The room suddenly felt cooler. Like a summer day when a cloud moves over the sun.