Sacrifice (The Snow Queen #2)(28)
Pain clawed its way up Farrin’s body. His heart fought to beat, but it was like a hand gripped the organ and squeezed. His magic flooded his body in an angry rush, but he held it back. If I deflect this, he might kill me. Farrin was able to stand for a few seconds before his knees buckled and he choked, unable to breathe. He fell to the ground, incapable of even lifting his head up, but he didn’t utter a sound.
“You are smitten with that wretched princess—enough that you would defy me to keep her alive.” Tenebris stepped over Farrin’s prone body. “When I saved you from those stinking pits, you told me you would be my defender, and now I discover you long for my enemy?” Tenebris tisked and crouched down next to him.
Everything in Farrin screamed for relief. His lungs burned, and his heart was stabbed through. He clenched his jaw and refused to let a sound escape even as his vision blurred. The pain was unimaginable. In all his life, he had never encountered a pain so terrible and all-consuming.
“At least your senseless feelings can amuse me,” Tenebris sighed. “Did you really think she would fall for you—a creature of slaughter and death? You are the same gladiator savage I pulled out of slavery, covered in the blood of others, Farrin Graydim. If she knew what you were, she would be filled with disgust and hatred. You have fallen too far, and her light will never reach you.”
Farrin’s ears rang, and everything grew dim. Just when he thought he was about to pass out or die, Tenebris wiggled a finger, and the curse retreated, sinking back under Tenebris’s skin.
Farrin gasped for air. His body ached all over, and his muscles shook. Even with the pain gone, he still couldn’t move. He was numb, and what bits he could feel screamed with pain.
Tenebris stood and dusted off his knees. “I advise that you recenter yourself, Colonel Graydim. I will not accept another disappointment due to your affection for the Verglas Princess. If you fail me again, your entire regiment will suffer with you.”
Tenebris left without a backward glance, and a cold sweat broke out on Farrin’s forehead as he coped with the brokenness left in his body from Tenebris’s curse. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe.
He’s right. The small, hopeless thought burned in his mind in spite of his physical pain. Rakel, loyal to her country and to her people—though they treated her with contempt—could never look past the blood I’ve shed and the innocents I have killed. If she knew…
The flickering hope he had carried deep in his chest, the one that flared whenever he was near her, snuffed out.
CHAPTER 7
AN UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT
“Grandma said she has syrup snaps packed, so if you want some, Princess, we can ask her!” Gerta’s enthusiasm was infectious as she waved her red-mittened hands in the air.
“Perhaps after we arrive at Tana.” Rakel tucked a blanket tighter around the little girl. “What do you think, Kai?”
Kai shrugged, but he stayed huddled close between her and Gerta. He hadn’t said much since discovering his magic, although he had brightened when Rakel asked him to come with her to Tana. He—and his mother—were coming, along with little Gerta and Hilda. Privately, Rakel knew it was necessary for Kai to come with for the sake of his magic, but she didn’t know if it was wise for Gerta to come with them as well.
Now, witnessing Kai’s ashen little face, she was glad. Gerta was bright and bubbly and would cheer up her friend.
They were in the second wave of civilians and soldiers traveling to the newly established outpost. General Halvor and a number of the magic users and soldiers were already there, finishing set-up. Rakel had chosen to travel with the second wave, mostly because Steinar insisted on leaving when she did, and he had agreed to wait for the second wave if she did.
“Where is Frigid?” Gerta strained her neck to look around. Most of the soldiers walked or rode mountain ponies, but many of the civilians rode in sleighs pulled by reindeer or plump ponies—like Rakel and the children. Behind them, a pair of ponies pulled a sleigh that contained the frosted chunk of ice that encased Farrin Graydim’s broadsword.
“Oskar has him.” Phile shielded her eyes as she scanned the party. She rode her horse but didn’t stray far from Rakel’s sleigh. “He’s pulling a load of goods.”
“This is so much fun!” Gerta declared. “The sun is out, and the snow is melting. Soon the flowers will perk up!”
Rakel winced at the observation. “Yes, spring is coming,” she agreed and exchanged glances with Phile. Their road was still frozen over, and the hills that smoothed around them like mushroom caps were covered with snow, but the trees in the forest that meandered around the hills dripped water from melting icicles fused to their branches.
“You’re worrying needlessly,” Phile said. “You’re not alone anymore.”
Gerta looked back and forth between them. “Pardon?”
“Nothing,” Rakel said, smiling down at the girl. “Gerta, Kai—”
Rakel was cut out by the sound of a horn. She stilled. “That’s not one of ours.”
Phile popped Foedus out of a sheath on her belt. “Nope.”
A line of soldiers dressed in black and crimson uniforms drifted out of the trees and stood on top of a hill to the west.
We’re under attack. “Children, stay here,” Rakel urged as she slipped from the sleigh.