Page 128 of Of Rime and Ruin
“Yes!” Lucas cheers. “That’s it, Your Majesty! We’ll get him out this way! Give me all your anger. All your rage. I will cure you once and for all!”
Before I can take a step, his magic stiffens my body, immobilizing me. I stand rigid and seething, caught in yet another of his snares.
“Ah, ah!” he warns. “Don’t get too close. She may not want you near her, given your history.”
I hesitate, searching her face for confirmation of the healer’s suggestion. Her brow puckers with confusion.
“Have you nottoldher, Your Majesty?” Lucas circles me. Golden tendrils thread from his fingers like a dark puppeteer, snaring us both. “Whyyou agreed to this treatment?”
No.
His magic yanks Nahla closer, dragging her before me. She slams to her hands and knees with a cry of pain. She strains her head to lift it slowly, tears streaming down her cheeks, as she looks me in the eye.
It’s reminiscent of the first time we met: Nahla forced to bow before me as I stood over her like an over-powered asshole. Regret twists in my gut. How far we’ve come since then, only to end up in the same position.
“Agreed?” she mumbles around the thread of magic in her mouth.
“I didn’t agree tothis, healer. I agreed to your cure—” More pain sears through my system, and I fight to finish my thought. “Get her out of here.”
“As you wish,” Lucas says. His magic withdraws from Nahla’s body, and she collapses onto the floor, coughing. Blood speckles the floor. He hooks a hand beneath her arm and hauls her up, her body as limp as reedgrass. Her knees knock together as she wobbles unsteadily on her feet. “Go on, now,” he says. “Out you go, Princess.”
As he lets go, she takes a shaky step forward and stumbles. I press against the magic, but I can’t catch her fall. She lands with a thump.
“What have you done to her?” I demand.
“Do you know what it feels like, Your Majesty, to have the one person you love incapacitated?”
Nahla moans on the floor, trying and failing to push herself onto her hands. My muscles burn with power as they grow, every fiber of my being itching for violence.
He hurt her.
With a sharp cry of my Voice, ice explodes from my fingertips. The stream pierces the air as it slices toward Lucas’s face. I narrow my eyes, focusing my aim.
He HURT her. He must pay for her pain.
Lucas smiles.
Suddenly, I lose my grip. The ice splinters into a million pieces, shards flying in all directions. I watch in horror as they slice toward Nahla instead, missing the healer.
Her eyes grow wide. She raises her arms to protect her face, hunching to make herself small before me.
“No!” I scream.
But I can’t cut the spell. I’ve lost control of it.
Panic.
Fear.
Regret.
With a flick of his light, Lucas melts the shards inches from Nahla’s face, turning them into soft powder. Snow dusts her dark hair and melts on her cheeks. She looks up with a gasp.
“Did you think you were safe from him, Princess? You would have lost your life if I hadn’t stepped in,” Lucas bellows, peering down at her with a snarl. “Don’t you know he’s brutalized his subjects for years, and he’s donenothing? That brave hunter, Orson? His death was the king’s fault. His mother. Mysister.Perrin’s gimpy fin. All. His. Fault.”
Nahla touches her cheek gingerly, wiping away the snow. Confusion swirls her expression for a moment before the pieces click together. “Aethan, what does he mean?”
Shame.
