Page 67 of Winter's Fate

But there were people here, too, enemy soldiers who had attacked the camp from the rear to create the distraction. Clothed in black, they still fought, but Laena’s magic knew how to distinguish them from her allies. She weaved it through the battle like a needle, arms raised, pain radiating from her center as she burned from the inside out.

No one on the battlefield felt the heat. Only the cold, unleashed from the depths of her soul.

When the magic hit the enemy soldiers, they did not crumble. They froze fully, fingers and faces turned ice-white, their black clothing crusted with frost. Too quick for frostbite, too quick to blacken the skin, the magic froze them with swords raised, ice dripping from the blades.

Milla was last to freeze, in motion to her final moment. She frozen with her arms outstretched, her mouth open in a cry of despair.

And then, silence.

Laena was on her knees. She wasn’t sure when she’d fallen; she knew only the buzzing in her head, the heat at her center, like someone had set her insides on fire. The agony of a sunburn times a thousand, only her skin was unmarred. Whatever the magic had done to her, it was burning her from within.

Landon Moore’s voice, no longer distant but close. Too close. “Arrest the whore.”

No one moved. She could see the sky now, feel the blades of grass beneath her head. When had she fallen? Something hot dribbled down her face, and she realized she was bleeding from her nose.

“She saved us, General,” one of the men said. She didn’t know which one. Only that it wasn’t Callum. Where was he?

“She usedmagic.” Moore’s disbelief, his disgust, was palpable, and she was glad she couldn’t see his face.

“She did more than use it. I’d say she conquered it.”

That.Thatwas Callum’s voice. And then, finally, his face. He appeared above her like a damn angel out of a story, his face wreathed in moonlight. He wasalive.

The world blinked, and she was in his arms, her head cradled against his elbow. “Do you trust me?” he asked.

Her lips parted to say yes, she trusted him—she always had, she always would, even if heralwayswas doomed to last only another minute—but her throat was made of fire, her voice lost to the raging pain in her body.

Again, Landon Moore called for her arrest. Callum said something she did not hear, and she wanted to tell him not to sacrifice himself for her. Whatever consequences Moore had in mind for a magic user, one who could freeze entire armies to a standstill, she did not have enough time left in this world to face it. Callum needed to think of himself.

She would not pretend she felt no fear. But she would face her death with courage. As much of it as she could muster.

But none of the words would come.

CHAPTER 28

Moore was the only one to protest when Callum took his horse. It was the strongest one, the horse master told him. The one capable of carrying Callum with Laena in his arms. So Callum took it, weaving around the frozen figures of the soldiers and calling out final orders to keep them under guard and send word to Vunmore for backup. There was no way to know whether they were corpses, or if they were enemies yet to awaken.

He didn’t care. He needed to get Laena back to Inasvale.

He thought his men would physically hold Moore back, if they had to. But the general was a coward at heart, and he let them go, still muttering about the famed magic hunter rescuing a whore of a witch instead of letting her die in the dirt.

There was no time to reply, no time to argue with the fool. There was only time to ride, with Laena gathered in his arms. Her breaths were so shallow, so infrequent, that he found himself lowering his ear to her mouth so he could reassure himself she did still breathe, that she had not slipped away. She felt too warm, the blood from her nose soaking the patch of cloth he’d ripped from his shirt to stanch the blood.

Brin lay nestled beneath Laena’s chin, her pink scales shining in the light of the setting moon. The sight made Callum swallow, his throat too dry. “Can you help her?” he whispered.

The shimmerling made no reply.

Yesterday, they’d ridden a full day from Inasvale to reach the meadow where they’d camped. Callum could not hope to reach the city quickly. But that knowledge didn’t stop him from seeking the sight of it over every hill, around every bend, searching, searching for any glint of the sea against the moonlight. As if his panicked need could break through the hills and will the city to slide closer.

Yesterday, they’d traveled with a full company of soldiers. Yesterday, they’d taken their time. Callum should be able to get there in a matter of hours.

But he would not be able to do it if he pushed the horse too hard. The poor beast was bearing an extra load as it was. Yet he could not stop himself from urging the creature forward.

“Why Inasvale?” Edmun had asked as Callum mounted with Laena, bleeding and unconscious, in his arms. “Why not the nearest village? Why not a healer?”

Callum hadn’t been able to voice it. Hadn’twantedto voice it. But Laena’s suspicions about Hawk… he’d watched the king as he dipped his hand into that magepool. He’d seen the look on his face, like he was reaching deep within himself and outward at the same time. And he’d known the truth then, even if he hadn’t been able to put words to it.

There could no longer be any doubt. Hawk had magic, too. And Thaddeus had given him something to help with it.

---