Page 30 of Heart of Fire (Royal Ice Dragons #3)

HANNA

The prison steps were uneven to keep us off balance. The guard’s hand on my arm was rather slack, as if he didn’t care if I tumbled all the way down.

“I feel like being tossed in a prison cell is more amusing to you than it should be,” Dare drawled in the lazy way he did when he was being even more insulting than usual. “Because you know it’s just a game. Eventually, you’ll be rescued.”

“I don’t want to be rescued,” I reminded him, exasperated. I’d draw too much attention to my presence on the Isle. And now, I couldn’t wait for my brothers-in-law to find me. I needed to be at Honor’s side now…or better yet, hours ago.

Still, Honor would be offended if I killed a bunch of guards who were just doing their job.

“I’m aware. And yet, being stuck in a cell can’t have nearly as much sting when the only trouble it’s going to cause you is feeling embarrassed in front of your family.”

“Shut up,” the guard warned, his hand tightening on my arm as he pushed me forward, so that I stumbled down a step. The back of my calf scraped painfully against the sharp wooden edge of the stair, and I stifled a hiss of pain.

But I must not have stifled it enough to escape Dare’s attention. Dare gave my captor a mock-sympathetic look over his shoulder, despite being shoved along by his own guard. “That is going to be a moment you regret later.”

“Why antagonize them?” I demanded.

He gave me an innocent expression, though it was entirely unconvincing. “I was just trying to get into your mindset.”

Usually, I would’ve wanted to find a way to escape on my own. Now, though, I needed to be in touch with my sister as soon as possible. “He is right, by the way. I’m Princess Hanna, and I need you to get a message to my sister. She will want me released at once.”

The guard let out a laugh. “Certainly, Princess .”

The mocking title didn’t sound cute from anyone’s mouth but Dare’s.

“It’s the truth.”

Dare shook his head. The more I protested it was the truth, the less likely it sounded.

As we reached the bottom of the stairs, facing the first set of locked doors, a surge of desperation hit me. My sister’s life hung in the balance, and I refused to be caged while she was in danger.

In a heartbeat, I made my decision. With a sudden burst of movement, I threw myself sideways, twisting out of the guard’s grip.

Using the wall as a springboard, I pushed off hard, launching myself upward and backward in a move that caught everyone by surprise.

Time seemed to slow as I soared through the air. The guard’s eyes widened in shock, his mouth falling open as I sailed over his head. As I reached the apex of my jump, I channeled my magic into the cuffs binding my wrists. With a thunderclap of sound, they shattered, fragments of metal raining down around me.

“Some notice next time would be helpful,” Dare protested, before seizing the moment of confusion to headbutt his own guard with a sickening crunch.

As I landed in a crouch on the unstable stones, the guard pulled loose a club as if it had been hidden with an enchantment up his sleeve. I didn’t dare truly harm any of the guards; my sister would be dismayed. But with a flick of my wrist, I sent a wave of magical energy crashing into him, slamming him against the wall.

“That’s not very nice,” I taunted.

Dare’s magic flared, invisible tendrils wrapping around the club and wrenching it from the guard’s grasp. It clattered to the floor, the sound echoing in the suddenly chaotic hallway.

While Dare was distracted, protecting me, his guard struck him viciously in the side.

He stumbled, gasping for breath.

Rage and fear surged through me, and I raised my hands, magic crackling at my fingertips.

I never saw the blow coming. A fist connected with my cheek with explosive force. The world spun, and I felt myself flying backward. There was a split second of weightlessness, then a sharp, devastating pain as the back of my head connected with the unyielding stone wall.

Stars burst behind my eyes, and darkness began to creep in at the edges of my vision. The last thing I saw was Dare’s face, contorted with fury, as he fought to reach me. Then, like a candle being snuffed out, everything went black.

* * *

DARE

As one of the guards dragged Hanna into the cell, he snarled, “The princess has precious little magic. Should’ve done more research into your disguise.”

Hanna’s lashes fluttered open just in time to hear the insult. It would’ve been kinder if unconsciousness had claimed her a little longer. The guards gripping me—barely—pushed me toward her. I stumbled off balance to land on my knees at her side.

They all but raced out and slammed the door shut with a resounding thud, as if they realized they had just barely gotten the better of us and could easily lose control of the situation.

I wanted to tell the guards outside that they would burn or freeze for hurting her—whichever one of us got our revenge first—but I held my tongue. They sounded as if they were congratulating each other as they moved down the hall, as if there hadn’t been half a dozen of them.

Instead, I told her, “It seems as if you have outsmarted yourself. The persona you created is its very own being now.”

She pushed herself to one elbow, and made a face as if the world were reeling. “Are you gloating?”

“How would I gloat? I’m in this cell with you.”

She looked defeated, and given how much I knew she worried for and loved her sister, sympathy ached in my chest. I wished I could fix it for her.

“If I were going to gloat,” I added, to give her something to focus her fury on, “I’d gloat over how jealous you were of a poisoned, incredibly dull noble, of all things.”

She groaned and raised her fingers to touch the wound on her forehead where the guard had clubbed her. I pushed her fingers away, moving to bandage the wound. “Magic is blocked in here. I can’t heal you.”

“Who could, really?” she muttered.

“What?”

“Head wound.” Her fingers skimmed over mine as they pressed at the edges of the bloody mark. “You can’t expect me to make sense.”

“Do you think I ever? Why did you choose to start a fight when we were quite so outnumbered and cuffed besides?”

“Only six. And I’d rather fight.”

“That’s because you’ve very little experience being beaten.” And I would prefer to have little experience watching her be beaten.

“I’m fine, Dare.”

I had not been fine watching.

She heaved herself upright, looking as if her head were heavy, and blinked around her.

I dragged the mattresses off the bunked palettes, not wanting to risk her tumbling off in her current unsteady state, and wanting to be able to lay close to her anyway. Our room was windowless, the door a flat slab of black stone, by all appearances, without hinges for us to remove.

I hoped being trapped really did feel like a bit of a game to her. The memory of her heart racing in her panic made my own heart beat faster.

“Kaelan would’ve gone mad with rage,” she noted.

I was about done being compared with Kaelan. “I’m not him. I’m not entirely distressed by you being knocked upside the head after an ill-considered decision.”

She gave me a long look that said she didn’t believe me. Then her gaze returned to studying the room, and the light that had sparked in her eyes when we were talking faded, as if I were watching her hollow out.

“Hopefully they won’t be long,” she said. “Now that I’ve failed.”

“What if your brothers don’t get word of a girl that acts distressingly foolish to realize it must be you?” I regretted saying it, knowing the fears it might spark, but I needed to know.

“They will.” Her faith in them was so absolute. “But if it will be in time or not…”

“There’s no reason to think assassins are crawling under your sister’s dining table as we speak.”

Her jaw tightened, hard enough to send a throb pulsing high in her cheekbone. “I imagine the assassins already know that I’m aware of them. They’ll hurry their timetable.”

“Why would they know?”

“I think Ginelle must be their spy, and they poisoned her to prevent her becoming inconvenient.”

“Really?” My brows arched. “How jealous are you to turn that poor dull girl into a villain?”

“I was not jealous of your tender ministrations.” She pushed my hand away from her forehead impatiently. “Which I am currently experiencing myself and am unimpressed by.”

She went on to explain, “Once she came into the room, Ligo lost the thread of his control over the corpse.”

I considered that, as Hanna began ticking evidence of Ginelle’s betrayal off on her fingers. “She was slumped in death’s doorway, supposedly, and yet I notice she wasn’t dragged out of that inn with us. She made her escape.”

“Do you think she turned us in?”

She nodded. “To slow us down. Because my next stop would have been my sister’s castle. I should’ve flown.” Her frustration with herself is evident on her face. “I should’ve shifted.”

“You would’ve destroyed the building and caused death,” I reminded her. “That’s not what your family does.”

“And it’s quite the weakness, isn’t it?” she snapped back. She lurched to her knees, looking as if she wanted to get up and pace, but then she seized her head as if it hurt. “My good intentions have left an open path to my sister!”

“Hardly,” I reminded her. “She has those impressively terrifying men of hers, does she not?”

She chewed her lower lip.

The sight of her, ragged with worry and with blood drying in her hair, tore at me. I felt insufficient to take care of her. Especially when I still didn’t understand what I could possibly offer her that Kaelan and Thorne didn’t already; did she even need me?

I would never be sweet like Thorne or dangerously protective like Kaelan. I could offer her sarcasm, a pragmatic view of everything—even herself, no matter how much I loved her—and my store of peasant wisdom. All of it was of questionable value.

“Well, if Ginelle is a villain, now you have an excuse to tear her fingers off her hand like you fantasized about when she touched me.”

She narrowed her gaze at me. At least the fear that had just flickered in her eyes eased. “I know what you’re doing.”

“I’m sure. I’m an open book to you.” I smiled at her, resting my hand lightly on my chest. “Just as you are to me when another woman’s gaze lingers a little too long.”

She rolled her eyes. “We need a plan. Not for you to crow imagining me jealous.”

“I don’t have to imagine you jealous. I’ve s een you jealous.” I leaned back on the mattress, lacing my fingers behind my head for a pillow. The mattress smelled distinctly musty. “Jealousy is such an unpleasant emotion. I’m not going to pretend I don’t enjoy seeing you try it on.”

She looked at me sharply. “Why did they put us in the same cell?”

My lips tilted in a smile. “I’ve worn it enough myself, since you came to the Ice Kingdom.”

She softened at that, obviously interested in talking about this particular subject. “I did not think you cared for me very much.”

“When?”

“At any time.” Her voice was exasperated.

“I expect you to be more observant.” I let my eyes drift shut, thinking of how she looked when she staggered into Edric’s court, frozen, filthy, and exhausted. She’d been wearing Thorne’s sweater, her chin held high. “From the first time I saw you, I was so curious about you. Edric had set that whole game in place when we first met, all for your sake. I’d watched Thorne’s obsession with you bloom while he watched you through Kaelan’s gaze, and nothing he told me about why made any sense.”

She let out a laugh—a surprised, genuine sound. “I appreciate your honesty. So, it was my beauty that won you over?”

“I think you forget how you looked when you first came to the isle,” I reminded her. “No, I was more perplexed than ever, especially seeing Thorne plot in your defense. When you plopped yourself into my lap to threaten me?—”

“I believe it was more graceful than a plop .”

“I still didn’t fully understand the obsession, but I did at least think you were interesting.”

“How tedious. I don’t want to be liked for being interesting . Then I’d have to keep it up, and I’m looking forward to being done with this adventure and growing fat sitting on the throne, having sweets and books carried in by admiring servants.” She lay back down again; I could feel the mattress moving as she nestled by my side. Her breathing was soft, calm.

“Don’t worry. I don’t find you interesting anymore.”

She sighed. “Your insults grow tiresome.”

“I don’t think they do,” I disagreed. “I think you like the banter. What else are we going to talk about? Should we share about our childhood traumas, our hopes and dreams? Now that would be tedious.”

She turned her head to look at me. “What does comes after? Could the four of us spend our lives throwing barbs at each other? What will we do when things aren’t interesting anymore?”

“I don’t know.” I offered her one of my arms, and after a moment, she nestled her head into my shoulder. “I don’t think I know how to be happy. But I’d like to see if I could learn.”

She glanced up at me, her blue eyes soft. Her lips parted, and I steeled myself to hear whatever she would say.

There was a distant rattling down the hall, barely heard through the thickness of the walls. I hoped there was dinner, or possibly a rescue that would soon be followed by dinner.

As the door swung open. Hanna sat up hurriedly. I unfolded myself, too, grimly readying myself in case she staged another ill-fated escape attempt. I would fight alongside her, of course, even if I would also call her a fool.

“Really, Hanna?” The voice was deep, male, irritated. “Again?”