Page 27 of The Prince and the Ice King

It was alone. There were no signs of any other wolves, no pack it had come from, which explained its weakened state—weak enough to be ravenous and exceptionally feral.

A whistle rang out from Shayla to draw the wolf’s attention, but its eyes remained on Reardon. He didn’t dare look at her himself, but he could see her out of the corner of his eye, her hunting knife and one of her daggers in either hand.

“I’m going to throw you a weapon, but he’ll probably leap the moment your eyes are off him.”

“What?”

“Be ready. Try to defend more than harm. He’s only hungry.”

“Wait—”

“Now!” she cried, and Reardon jerked his head toward her, arm already reaching to catch the dagger his eyes found and locked on, and a moment later he had it with a twist of his wrist and swipe forward just as the wolf lunged.

Its teeth caught the blade instead of Reardon’s neck. If this had been a healthy dire wolf, he would have been helplessly bowled over, but he stood firm, pushing back on the blade until a great shove forced the wolf away from him. Reardon swung the dagger around to slice at each of its legs, just enough to wound it, and then scrambled back to keep out of reach.

The cries the wolf made were pitiful, but the narrowing of its eyes was murderous as it readied to lunge again.

Shayla darted forward as fast as if she’d appeared from nothing, slicing first with the hunting knife and then with the twin of the dagger she’d thrown to Reardon. She raised the blunt end of the dagger and rammed the hilt down into the wolf’s temple, at which it dropped like a drunk in a tavern at the end of a long bar fight.

Reardon gasped, adrenaline pumping and weapon tight in hand. He’d fought in the past, trained in multiple forms of combat, but he’d never had to fear for his life.

“You know how to handle yourself,” Shayla said through panted breath.

“And if I didn’t?”

“Then I couldn’t have helped you.” She grinned, nimble fingers effortlessly twirling her dagger and knife before sheathing them. “But Istill tried.”

Reardon watched her kneel beside the fallen beast, recognizing how close he’d come to being rent in two without accomplishing anything of real note, other than coming to the Frozen Kingdom to rescue his friend. Knowing Barclay was safe did not change that Reardon was glad he’d fought to get here, but there was so much he hadn’t confessed to. So much he hadn’t done.

Shayla pulled a vial from her belt and tipped the liquid down the wolf’s throat.

“What is that?”

“A sort of healing draught. When he wakes, it’ll be as if he’s slept and eaten well for a week, his stamina entirely returned to him. What he does after that is up to him. After all, we don’t know his story or why he’s a lone wolf so far from friends.”

“Such mercy,” Reardon noted, wondering if the numbness settling into his fingers was from his own draught wearing off or the grip he had on the dagger.

“It’s easy after being shown mercy yourself.” Shayla stood and came over to take her dagger back from him. “Funny how people work that way.”

Mercy merely means you might end up the dead man instead.

Reardon liked Shayla’s lesson better, but he still had to say, “Most of the people in the castle didn’t act that way toward me.”

“Many of them are still angry, but while they may gnash their teeth, none would actually harm you. They just wanted to push you, see how you’d react. They trust their king. If he was willing to give you a chance, they will too.”

Reardon wasn’t sure yet if he had been given a chance or merely a temporary stay of execution.

“We get protective is all,” Shayla said, gesturing him up the hill, away from the wolf and the line of trees. She must have deemed their spoils enough—or it too risky to wait for the wolf to wake. “We’re family.”

Family. Josie and the Ice King certainly, but the others too in more than blood.

Just without children.

So many of the people in the castle were paired off, and while not everyone, it made the lack of children suddenly apparent, though Reardon hadn’t realized until now.

“If no one here ages… then children can’t be born either, can they?” he asked as they headed home.

“One of the downsides. For some. I find it freeing.Lotsof worry-free sex.”

---