Page 199 of Wings of Ash & Flame
She scrambled onto Solflara’s back. Dawson swung onto Beck, and with a powerful thrust of wings, the two celestials surged upward—just as an avalanche thundered into the cavern, burying the space they had stood seconds before.
They soared higher, snow and shards of ice tearing at their skin. For a breathless moment, all was white chaos, a churning sea of frost and storm.
Then the roar faded. The avalanche’s fury dwindled to silence.
Alaire risked one last look at the mountain. In that frozen hellscape, something heavy had lifted from her shoulders.
The altitude made the cold unbearable despite Solflara’s flames. They flew swiftly through the fading grey light until at last they spotted Kaia and Caius waiting at their meeting point. When Kaia noticed Solflara’s glow, she jabbed Caius in the spine before bouncing on her toes, waving her arms as though two massive celestials could be missed against a sheet of tundra.
Once they landed, Caius greeted Dawson in an odd, masculine half-hug, fists thudding against each other’s backs. His face was lined with both worry and relief.
“You made it!” Kaia exclaimed, rushing forward. “We heard the rumbling from the west. Are you okay? We’ve been here since this morning.”
“We’re fine,” Alaire said, forcing what she hoped was a convincing smile. “It wasn’t easy—we had a few close calls—but we managed. The important thing is we obtained the winterflame.”
She wasn’t ready to share what had transpired in the cave with Dawson. When she did, Kaia would have an absolute conniption.
“What about you two?” Dawson asked.
Kaia and Caius exchanged a long, heated look.
Alaire raised her brows.
Kaia stepped forward, holding a crystalline object that shimmered in her hands. “We obtained the frostfire crystal,” she said, voice full of pride. “It was challenging. We had to navigate a maze of ice and fend off snow leopards, but we got it.”
Alaire’s eyes widened as she took in the gem, multifaceted and dazzling—fire and ice captured in crystalline form. Its polished surface caught and refracted light.
“Do you think it’s time to reunite them?”
“Yes,” Dawson said firmly.
Spinning on her heel, Alaire slowed when she reached Solflara’s side. With careful hands, she extracted the winterflame from her phoenix’s protective custody. The warmth of the artifact pulsed against her palms the flame leaned forward, as though straining toward the frostfire crystal.
Alaire held out the winterflame toward Kaia. The moment the two artifacts neared, a magnetic force pulled them together. The air thrummed with energy, and a brilliant light erupted from the point of contact. Fire and ice fused, the core an icy blue streaked with veins of red, orange, and gold.
The fusion blazed, dazzling and alive.
Behind them, a swirling vortex roared to life.
“This is it,” Caius said.
The only way out was through.
Forty-Five
Before they could file through the portal, the ice exploded like frozen fireworks.
Alaire whipped her head around, trying to isolate what had caused the fissures. Until now, the cracks had only ever splintered the surface. This time, the ice shattered, opening to reveal dark, churning water below.
She startled as a deep, inky blackness slithered beneath the surface behind Kaia and Caius. An ocean of freezing water stretched beneath the tundra they’d been traveling across.
“We need to move—now,” Caius urged, pulling Kaia closer as they edged toward Alaire and Dawson. For once, she agreed with him. Foolishly, she’d assumed the worst dangers were above the ground. Her heart pounded, each beat a thunderous echo of dread.
A monstrous tentacle shot upward, wrapping around Kaia with alarming speed.
More limbs erupted from the abyss.
Kaia’s eyes went wide as the slimy appendage coiled around her torso, lifting her off the ground. Her hands clawed desperately at its grip.
