Page 132

“Is that what they were?” Tash huffs, looking thoroughly rattled. “Looked like a family of savages setting Glacians on fire.”

“Vasteel,” Rivdan says suddenly. It seems his body has ceased its retching. “They… they had Vasteel. All this time?”

“I’d wondered where he’d fled to,” Ryon comments casually, though his jaw ticks at the mention of his name. “Seems he hardly fled at all. Managed to find himself ensnared in mage traps instead.”

The conversation is interrupted by the chaotic approach of Esra, Salem, Hector and Abertha, who send snow spraying in every direction as they run downhill.

“Dawsyn?” Hector says, reaching them first. He grabs her shoulders and peruses her, then looks to Tasheem and Rivdan. “What happened to you?” he demands.

Abertha joins them next. But Salem has fallen halfway down the decline and Esra tries unsuccessfully to drag him out of the drift by his foot. “Getup,old man!”

Ryon curses beneath his breath and goes to their aid.

“You found them,” Abertha says incredulously. “How?”

“It’s a long story,” Dawsyn sighs happily. “It’s telling can wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“Until we’ve eaten. I fear Tash might entertain cannibalism soon.”

Tasheem grunts. “There’s no ‘might’ about it.”

Abertha takes a careful step away.

Dawsyn and Ryon are the only ones that remain awake.

The others lie asleep around the fire, in the same cave where Dawsyn and Hector cut Abertha’s toes away.

It isn’t a coincidence that neither have fallen asleep. It is as though Ryon’s presence has awakened that same ringing thrum she had felt within the mage wards. She feels unsettled in her own skin. Sitting across from him as they ate was almost intolerable. And she sensed it was no better for him. He stared at her unerringly, his expression not always content. There was too much heat in his gaze to feel comfortable. Her heart was beating too quickly to relax. When had they last stood beside one another without the barrier of impending doom firmly between them? There had been so few hours like these, where no guillotine hung from above.

She did not want to sleep.

As soon as Esra’s eyes close, half-way through one of his many tales, Ryon rises.

He is before Dawsyn in the next moment, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet. Then, they are back in the moonlight, finally escaping to the surrounding forest. Before Dawsyn can lead ahead, Ryon wraps her in his arms and leaps into the air, his wings unfurling in the same moment. Suddenly, they are skyborne.

He flies her into the treetops, and they glide a short way down the slope until craggy rockface appears below. Ryon descends upon it immediately, setting them both down at the base of a slow-trickling waterfall. Here, the slope flattens and water cuts through the snow in a staggered line before falling over the next cliff edge. The black rock face is smoother here, made even by the near constant persuasion of water. But tonight, the water runs thin, and the rockface is merely a shield to the icy wind.

Dawsyn barely feels the cold. She is made of fire.

If Ryon boils too, he does not act upon it. After setting her down, he steps back from her, lets his hands fall from her waist and turns away. He runs his hands over his head and looks out over the sheer drop before them. “Dawsyn,” he says, and the word is riddled with accusation.

No,Dawsyn thinks.Not yet.

“Did you mean what you said to Roznier?” he asks. He knows that answer already, surely. He knows her.

Dawsyn doesn’t respond immediately. She watches the muscle along the back of his neck contract. She wishes he would come closer.

“Dawsyn,”he says, firmer this time. “Answer me. Did you mean it?”

“Mean what?”

“That you wouldmartyryourself?” Ryon snarls, turning to face her, and Dawsyn finally sees the heat in his eyes for what it is. Not lust. But anger. Betrayal.

Dawsyn swallows. She knows he won’t let the conversation be avoided. He will not allow her this one night to pretend.

She considers refusal. Distraction. Denial. Anything to trace the edges of the truth and not touch it. The dawn will see their next reckoning. For tonight, she wants only reward.