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LET’S PLAY A GAME

A sper…

Kneeling in the snow, trying to hide from searching eyes, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard steps behind me. Before I could turn, someone grabbed my shoulders.

"Asper! What are you doing?"

Tearloch picked me up and with my legs dangling, he carried me the rest of the distance to the wall where our other friends were clustered to stay warm. I wanted to explain, but I was too cold. My cheeks and lips were frozen. All I could manage was to tug at the shoulder of my robes.

"You little fool. You could have hidden behind the others." He turned my back against the wall and covered me, wrapping his arms around my arms and pinning me to him. "You’re frozen.”

"I th…thought two layers would be enough.” The truth was that no one else had complained of the cold and I hadn't wanted to look weak.

I breathed against him, letting the steam of my breath warm my face. My legs were frozen from the knees down, but at least my boots were doing their job.

"You'll be all right. We're almost through it. Kivi's coming. Just think warm thoughts." He pressed his heated lips to my forehead. I glanced up and he pressed them against my mouth.

Sweetie chuckled quietly. "Like that, is it?" The big man had his own arms full of Minkin, doing his best to keep her warm as well. The rest of the men huddled in tight circles pretending the cold didn't bother them. But every now and then, one would shiver and rub his arms. All of us watched the sky, watched the east end of the wall, searching for hope...where there was little.

Dower grumbled. "They should have been here by now." He was worried for his brother. We all were. It just wasn't possible for our luck to hold out.

Sweetie checked the east wall again and cursed.

We all looked and silently did the same. Three familiar figures marched our way, followed by a fourth in long robes. No dragon in sight.

It was selfish of me to think it, but I was devastated we would have to escape on foot. My first thought should have been for Kivi and why she'd been left behind, but I was so cold I couldn’t think of anything but getting far away from all that snow and getting warm again.

As they came closer, I realized the fourth figure was one of the Ard Draoi , one of the servants who had delivered food to our apartments. His eyes darted back and forth, scanning the courtyard, either freezing or terrified, maybe both.

Griffon and Lennon clung to each other as they came. Bain followed behind them, and the servant brought up the rear. Twenty yards away, the latter stopped short and waited. Our friends took their time closing the distance—as if they were in no hurry.

Tearloch gestured over Lennon's shoulder at the servant. "What's going on?"

She shook her head. "They've drugged Kivi. She can't fly, can't even wake up. I didn't want to leave her?—"

"We weren't given a choice." Griffon indicated the druid. “Can't get a word out of him, obviously, but he insisted we all had to come. Seemed to know just where we’d planned to meet."

Lennon shook her head. "I'm not leaving my dragon. And we can handle one lone druid. The rest of you need to go, now, get out while you can. We'll find you as soon as Kivi can fly." She turned to her husband. "Maybe you should go with them."

He laughed. "And leave you here with that madman? That's precisely what he wants. In fact, he could have set this all up, hoping we'd do just that."

"We all go, or we all stay," Tearloch said. "They can't beat us if we remain united."

Minkin shivered in Sweetie's arms. "What do we do now? Go back to our rooms?"

The servant issued a shrill whistle that cut through the cold air and filled the courtyard. The shuffle and murmur of dozens of voices suddenly surrounded us. Glow stones came to life. Embedded in the heartstone that wove through the blocks, the lights were so intense they lit up the entire field of snow.

Atop the north and west walls, fifty dragon riders stood beside their animals, calmly nodding and commenting, as if they’d been watching us the whole time.

“They must have used that camouflage,” Griffon said, “like the spell that kept us from seeing the city.”

Wind buffeted us as a single dragon came to land on the snow fifty feet out from the wall. A familiar black beast with blue stripes. Though my stomach burned with disappointment, I forced myself not to look away when Ciro hopped to the ground. A smaller man came to stand beside him with papers in hand.

"So, you've given up,” he said. “I must say I'm a little disappointed you didn't get any further."

The men around me may as well have been a herd of bulls for all the fuming and stomping going on. With their weapons drawn, they moved into a circle with Minkin, Lennon, and I in the center. They were ready for the fight no matter which direction it came from, though I didn’t like our chances.

If we were to die by dragon fire, I wanted to be prepared. And considering all the beasts standing high above us, it looked like that was the plan.

At least I would die warm...

Ciro raised his hands and signaled for silence. "Resist, my friends, and the women will die first.”

He raised his brow and waited until all weapons lowered and were reluctantly tossed aside. Then he took a paper from the man beside him and began to read.

“As you have conspired together, these charges will apply to you all. The attempted escape. Stealing the horns, along with the destruction to do so. Attempting to leave without express permission. Leaving your rooms at night. The usual. But stealing the horns is rarely done. Some try to take the Ard Draoi along, but they’re wise enough to resist.

“Not everyone finds the cook.” He shook his head with feigned pity. “Thought you’d found an ally, did you? Thought she was trying to help, not trying to nudge you along?” He and his minions laughed for a long time. Then he gestured to Morrow, Tearloch and Nogel. “But you three touched the horns. That’s deserving of a special punishment.”

We were forgotten while the DeNoy chatted amongst themselves and Ciro called out odd details of the night. “Brute force? Anyone?”

Some raised their hands.

“The Recovery? Pressing the healers for help?”

More hand-raising.

“Niv, it looks like you’ll have to replace the bust in the foyer once again.”

Laughter rippled along the wall.

“That leaves the cook, the horns?—”

“I wagered fifty on the horns!” someone shouted.

Ciro continued. “First night, north wall.” He looked over his paper at Griffon. “No one wagered you’d kill your mute messenger,” he told Griffon. “Pity. That was worth twenty points.” He suddenly pretended surprise. “Why, you’re cold! How thoughtless of me. Allow us to show you to your new quarters…”

While most of the DeNoy continued to settle the scores for this game they obviously played often, guards dressed in blue and black filed down steps in the side of the wall to escort us back the way Griffon, Lennon, and Bain had come—toward the arena.

None of us asked what they intended to do with us. We already knew.

* * *

When trudging through the snow got to be too strenuous, Tearloch swept me off my feet and carried me. I wrapped my outer arm up over his shoulder and pressed my face under his neck.

Knowing these might be our last moments together, I thought I should say something reflective and memorable. But I was too cold to think profound thoughts. Instead, I said, “You’re not wearing your gloves.” I leaned back to look at his face and noticed the glint in his eyes and a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“I am not.”

“Did you get sick of them?”

“No.”

“You got sick of the smell?”

He snorted. “No.”

“But you were wearing them to protect yourself…”

“To protect myself…from myself.”

“Oh. I thought they had something to do with that Yora woman.”

“They did.”

I made an impatient noise. “No use keeping secrets if we’re about to die, you know.”

“It’s no secret. Yora and I were…supposedly…heartbound.”

I swallowed a big gulp of hope, but it stuck in my throat, like an odd bubble of air.

“She insisted we were heartbound. I never thought to question it. But then…then she was gone. I donned the gloves so I would never go through that pain again. But now I wonder…”

I fought to keep a straight face. “Go on. You wonder…”

“I wonder if I wasn’t shielding myself from the truth. If I never found myself heartbound to another woman, then I could pretend…that she hadn’t deceived me.”

I took a careful breath. “And now?”

“And now I know. No more hiding from it.” He sighed. “I don’t condemn her. I think she wanted that connection so badly, she convinced herself it was true. And then convinced me. I have sorted out my memories into those emotions that were real and those that were only suggestion. And I’m at peace with them all.”

“Then, did you love her?”

“I did. Very much.”

“Then I’m very sorry you lost her.”

He shrugged, and the movement bounced me, but he acted as if I weren’t any more substantial than a sack of feathers. “If I hadn’t lost her…I wouldn’t have found you, would I?”

“You wouldn’t?”

“I would have been home, with her, and not chasing sorcerers for the king. I would never have come down that canyon and found your Demius by his fire. But had none of that happened, I think Fate would have found a way to cross our paths.”

“Oh? You think Fate cares?

“I think Fate very much cares about the heartbound.”

I could barely breathe. “You think…”

“No. I believe. The question is, do you?” He looked into my eyes then, ignoring his footing while he waited for my answer.

“How is…heartbound supposed to feel?”

“It’s a great deal like what Lennon feels for her dragon, that she would rather stay here with Kivi and die rather than leave her behind.”

“Or like Griffon feels about Lennon.”

“No doubt in my mind.”

“What if…what if that little zing I felt when we kissed is just some residue from the heartstone stored inside me?”

He scowled. “Do you feel it now? Is there any of it left inside you at this moment?”

I shook my head. “Oh, no. All out.”

“Then this is the time to test it.”

He stopped and let go of my legs, keeping a tight hold around my waist, and bending to let my feet rest on the ground. We’d left the courtyard far behind us and were nearing the arena. A DeNoy grunted behind him and gave him a push, which had no effect at all. Instead, Tearloch put a hand to the man’s head and shoved. The DeNoy landed in the snow on his backside a good seven feet away.

A tremor shook Tearloch’s bare hand as he lifted it to the side of my face. I smiled into his eyes and lifted my chin just a little more, for encouragement. If this were to be our last kiss, I really hoped it would light him up like a glow stone.

Instead, it was I who lit up. From every point where our lips and skin touched, the most delicious fire shot through my veins. Warm enough to thaw my frozen toes, warm enough to bring feeling back to my wet knees. Warm enough to fill my chest and chase away my fear of what was to come.

When he straightened, I could tell he’d felt something similar. His eyes danced like he’d just touched down after his first dragon ride.

“Nothing else matters,” I said.

“Nothing but this.”

The next DeNoy that came along wasn’t so gentle. He gave Tearloch’s shoulder a violent shove, then lifted the sharp tip of a sword up to his face. When Tearloch batted it away, the man just brought it back again.

“Move.”

The man I loved gave me a wink. “Can you walk now?”

“Now?” I laughed. “I may just fly.”