A Queen of Ice (A Trial of Sorcerers #5)

Chapter 43

43

E ira fought to push away from the ground. The invisible hands that set her ablaze continued to hold her. Ulvarth loomed over her as he leaned forward. His hand closed around the dagger on Eira’s thigh, drawing it.

“I imagined killing you with this,” he whispered.

“ That will be your demise,” Eira forced herself to say.

“Such bold words for a woman about to meet her maker.” Ulvarth smirked. “Tell Yargen that her Champion will continue fighting for her glory.”

He moved the blade toward her throat. The movement was slow and purposeful. Like one would approach carving a steak. It whispered, I’m going to enjoy this , without him having to say so much as a word.

Not like this . The words almost escaped. But she denied him the satisfaction of her desperation. She’d die on her feet, fighting. Not on her knees like an animal brought to slaughter.

Focus! The command was in Adela’s voice. Focus! Once more, this time her own.

Ice coated her throat right before the blade could meet it. Ulvarth’s brow knitted. Eira smirked up at him. Confusion turned to fury.

With a grunt of rage, he grabbed for the needle-dagger Yewin had been holding and stabbed it through Eira’s left hand—nailing her to the floor. She let out a yelp, mostly from shock. Then from the pain of fresh waves of agony.

“I was going to grant you the honor of a soldier’s death. But die like the cur you are.” Ulvarth stood.

Glaring up at him, Eira ripped out the dagger. Ice coated the floor and walls. The room became a frozen coffin.

But it wasn’t her magic.

“I was always told that you had a propensity for touching things that weren’t yours.” A voice as cold as winter slithered across the frost-covered room. “Seems some men never learn.”

Adela .

Eira fell heavily when trying to turn. The poison was making her head spin. But it wasn’t a hallucination. The Pirate Queen was there in all her snow-covered glory. She’d left the Stormfrost amid the battle and stepped foot on Meru…all to save her.

“I hadn’t planned on being the one to kill you.” Adela’s eyes flicked to Eira and then back to Ulvarth. Cold swept up Eira’s left arm. “But it seems you’ve left me with little choice.”

Eira capitalized on the distraction. Dagger still in hand, she stabbed Ulvarth through the soft, worn leather of his boot—right by his ankle—plunging the weapon to the hilt. Yewin let out a bloodcurdling scream.

“My love!”

“I’m fine. There is nothing on it now. Focus!” Ulvarth barely had time to finish before Adela tapped her cane into the floor and a spear of ice jutted out from one wall. It crashed against his breastplate, shattering.

“ Oh-ho. ” The noise was part amused and part intrigued.

Yewin launched back, flinging Lightspinning in Adela’s direction.

As the fight broke out around her, Eira was practically forgotten. One hand useless. A side of her body completely numb yet also in agonizing pain. She couldn’t make it off the floor.

So she stopped trying.

As her breaths became labored, Eira rested her good hand on the ice. Her body was breaking, but her magic was still there—still strong. Closing her eyes, she extended her awareness through the magic coating the room. Just like every time she’d taken control of the Stormfrost , she could feel each footstep. The flows of the magic crashing against each other.

Adela … Her nails dug into the ice as Eira fought for a hold on Adela’s channel. The boom of a flashfire was deafening in a small space. The magical surge was almost enough to break Eira’s focus. But it didn’t.

The Pirate Queen’s magic deepened as Eira gave her increased access to her channel. The battle shifted. Keeping Adela’s flow of magic as open as possible, Eira aided in other ways.

Spears of ice jutted from the walls and floors. She pursued Ulvarth with the jabs and stabs of a thousand formless soldiers. Warriors that were nothing more than ice and her will.

The tides of battle turned. Yewin fell and did not rise, blood pouring from a hollow in her chest. Ulvarth didn’t so much as flinch. So much for mourning the mother of his only child.

Eira continued to stab, targeting what she had mentally recorded as each of the weak spots in his plate. Adela’s assault was equally relentless. Together they found their mark at the same time.

Every bit of fleshy resistance was keenly felt as the spear she’d made jut from the wall plunged through his shoulder at an angle that could tear through his arms and reach his heart. Adela’s cane skewered him through the gut. If he made a word, it was barely more than a whisper.

But what was said was lost to Eira. She was so far from her body that it was impossible to make out any sounds. Except…

Warmth returned to the back of her head. Through thin slits, a ghostly, ghastly visage came into view. A smile barely cracked Eira’s lips. A similar expression folded the familiar lines on Adela’s cheeks. Eira hoped she lived long enough that the mighty, horrible, and wonderful deeds of her life were written across her face like a map.

“Well done, girl.”

“Everyone else?” Eira asked as she pulled herself into a seated position, with Adela’s help. Shivers still wracked her body. Her left side was completely numb.

“They’re fine.”

“You?” Her usually white and gray ensemble was covered in blood.

“Theirs.” Adela nodded toward Yewin and Ulvarth. Then her attention turned to Eira’s thigh. Specifically, the empty scabbard.

Eira looked to where Ulvarth had dropped the dagger. “I got it. I think.”

Adela retrieved it for her. “Then what are you waiting for? An invitation?”

Her knuckles were white around the hilt. “I…I’m not sure it’ll work.”

Adela clicked her tongue against her teeth. “I took you for more. Oh well then. It was a lovely experiment, Eira. Enjoy your mediocre life.”

“You’re such a demanding mentor.” Eira didn’t bother turning to look at her.

“You’re such an aspiring pupil. Now, enough of this stalling. Do it, or not. I am done with this land.”

It felt like the final test. The last opportunity for Eira to prove herself to Adela. It was also the only thing holding her back. With this, it’d be over. As finished as Ulvarth’s cooling corpse.

Eira clutched the dagger and held it before her, bringing the pommel to the center of her chest—pressing into the rune. Ice encased her once more. Everything she’d learned. The mastery of her powers. The work she’d done to deepen her connection to her magic. It all came down to this.

She braced herself, and exhaled winter.