Page 14 of Throne of Ice and Blood

Since I’m too hungry to be offended by his presumptuous command, I simply walk over to the desk and sit down. Dravencrosses his arms and leans one shoulder against the wall as he watches me inhale three entire plates of food and gulp down a whole pitcher of water.

The woman in the gray dress finishes cleaning up at the same time as I swallow the last bite of food. She bows to Draven before she disappears out the door again with both the now empty tray and a small bag full of clinking glass shards.

Once she has shut the door behind her, Draven turns back to me.

“Good,” he says. “Your collar is off, you have eaten, and you understand the situation you’re in.” He nods towards the room I woke up in. “That’s your bedroom.” He jerks his chin towards the closed door on the other side of the living room. “That’s my bedroom. The bathroom is the door next to it. Any questions?”

I almost laugh out loud. He’s joking, right? I have like a million questions about a million different things.

But since I get the feeling that the answer to his question is supposed to beno, I decide to give him what he wants. “No.”

He nods. “Good. Now stay here.”

“Where are you going?”

“You heard Bane and Jessina. There is a killer on the loose.”

“The Red Hand.”

“Yes.”

I open my mouth, but then decide that asking too many questions would be stupid since it would just make him suspicious. I already have a plan, and it’s better for me if he leaves quickly so that I can get to it. So instead of asking more about the Red Hand, or telling him what I really think about his mission to kill the most important resistance fighter in this city, I blow out a sigh and give him a nod as if I have accepted my reality.

Draven watches me in silence for another few moments, as if he doesn’t believe it for a second. Then he shakes hishead, informing me that he is indeed not buying my act in the slightest, and straightens from the wall.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” he says.

Before I can retort, he stalks out the door and closes it behind him.

Two distinct clicking sounds echo between the white ice walls as he locks it too. I shoot him a glare through the door, even though he can’t see it.

Then I jump up from the chair and hurry over to the balcony door instead.

I have a human resistance to find.

CHAPTER FIVE

Winds swirl over the wide balcony, tugging at my black cloak and making my long silver hair flutter behind me. I brace my palms on the ice railing and lean forward a little so that I can look down.

The ground stares back at me from four stories up.

My stomach turns.

Shifting my gaze, I study the ice wall next to me that runs straight down to the stone ground below. Just like that ice wall that Jessina created in the hedge maze during the Atonement Trials, this one also looks to have been made by ice flames. At least in part. The wall is straight, but it’s not smooth. The ice flames must have frozen the way they hit, because the entire surface of the wall is jagged and uneven. Which means that it might be possible to climb it.

My gaze slides back to the hard stone ground again.

“It’s not that high,” I try to persuade myself, as if that would somehow make the ground come closer. “I could totally climb that.”

Another gust of wind rushes over the balcony, and I instinctively grip the railing harder. Mabona’s tits, did it really have to be windy today of all days?

I cast a glance over my shoulder. From this angle, I can only see part of the living room through the open balcony door. But the front door to Draven’s quarters remains closed and locked.

Swallowing, I shift my gaze back to the world outside. I can’t let this opportunity pass me by. Draven has taken off my collar, and he has left and will likely be gone for a while. If there was ever an opportunity to escape and seek out the human resistance, it’s now.

My eyes sweep across the city that is visible on the other side of the defensive walls that circle the Ice Palace. Sunlight shines down from a mostly clear sky to illuminate the sprawling city that spreads out across the grasslands at the foot of the mountain. Compared to the Seelie Court, it’s so big that my mind can barely comprehend its true size. Buildings made of wood and stone almost seem to gleam in the sunlight.

And somewhere in there is the human resistance and the legendary assassin known as the Red Hand.

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