Page 21 of Embers in the Snow

The road we’ve been traveling all this time.

If I follow that road, I’ll reach Tyron Castle.

All of the things we think we know about Corvan Duthriss…

They’re just rumors.

“Kastel.” My voice is hard and quiet. I sound like a stranger. “You and Garan will take the greatest care when moving our brother to the carriage. Be careful of the broken glass. Keep him warm at all costs. Layer him in blankets and keep strong pressure on the wound. One of you will hitch your horse to the carriage. The other will keep guard, in case any other brigands appear. I’ll go ahead—to Tyron Castle. Mark my words, the Archdukewillrender assistance.”

This time, it’s Garan that protests, holding up a gloved hand. “Better that I go. You aren’t—”

I glare at him. “Aren’twhat?I am Corvan Duthriss’s betrothed. If not for me, you wouldn’t be here. The least I can do is try and do everything in my power to save someone that saved me. Besides, I can ride faster.”

For whatever reason, the horses have always chosen me above all others. The stablehands say I have anaffinity.I’m a naturally excellent rider, and it drives my father mad.

Time to put this ability of mine to good use.

“Stay the course,” I order. “Maintain a slow pace. Aderick’s in no state to be subjected to rough travel until we have the right kind of bindings on his wound. Iwillreturn.”

I stare down the road, which is lined with the skeletal forms of hibernating trees. A mist hangs across the forest, ghostly and ephemeral.

The horse snorts uneasily. I give him a gentle squeeze with my calves, easing him into a walk.

“Wait for me,” I call, glancing over my shoulder. The boys’ faces are ashen and grim.

I’ll just have to ride as fast as this horse will take me and pray that no monsters cross my path.

7

CORVAN

Iwalk to the edge of the trap and stare down at the pure, undisturbed snow.

Nothing.

The tripwire hasn’t been triggered, even though I’ve placed a shaman’s potion in the center of the circle as bait. It contains a scent that’s supposed to be irresistible to lycans—something called apheromone. I know it works, because I’ve had some luck with this method before.

But this time, nothing. Maybe the shaman sold me a dud.

Or maybe the lycans are growing wise to my tricks.

Above me, the winter-stripped woods are silent. Wan sunlight filters through the branches, but I’m shielded from it by the edge of my hood and the silken scarf wrapped around my lower face.

It’s a weakness of mine now. I can’t stay in direct sunlight for very long before it scalds me. My body is different in so many ways—faster, stronger, quickly-healing—but these powers of mine come at a price.

I’m no longer fit to inherit the Empire.

It doesn’t matter, though. I don’t mind it out here; in the cold, in the silence.

After the horrors of war, the silence puts the mind at ease.

But silence can be quickly broken.

Just like now.

Across the clearing; across the woods, I detect a familiar sound.

A sound I’m intimately familiar with.

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