Page 155 of Winter Gods & Serpents

“Why?” she almost shouted back. “Why, and why can you know my anger but never understand my pain? Any of you, all of you.”

My feet almost stumbled a step back at those words and the silver rimming her eyes. I was wrong, wasn’t I? I was wrong again about her. There was something else and she was right. Had I overlooked what she felt? Had I forgotten how torn she must have been after we left Amerie? Had I forgotten just how much she truly hated us?

She dragged us silently through the castle walls and then city walls, telling the guards she could not sleep and was wanting to clear her mind. She reassured them she was guarded and would return swiftly. By the time we rode out of the woods, I was completely confused where we were heading except that we were riding north.

“Where are you dragging us to?” I asked as we dove deeper inside the empty dark lands after abandoning Sable Abyss. She had not even opened her mouth to breath, let alone speak the whole journey we had taken.

“Patience, I see is another virtue you lack.”

She was now really playing and walking in a thin strand of it. Why was she being this secretive for?

She dismounted and I followed after her, walking cautiously through the forest, and as I had thought she was plotting something. A camp grew large in front of us, concealed by towering coniferous giants. Isjordian flags toped the roofs, soldiers loomed all around it pacing towards endless duties. My mind jumped around confused between each tent that raised for miles. She had found it, the camp General Moregan hid, the one Samuel told her about. I should have known she was not letting that go. It stretched for miles, heavy clank of hammers beating metal, stomps of soldiers, shards of Verglaser ice blast hovering above in the air. Silas had erected an enormous war camp in here, who were they preparing to fight with such artillery?

“What are we doing here? You swore not to come. You promised the General you would not.”

Her head swung round, taking in the camp. “I recall saying fine, and that is not a promise. Sam was worried he would do the honour of having me punished, but I will do that myself.” A masochist, the thrill danger gave this woman was concerning.

I rubbed my temples in beaming frustration. “How does Your Highness intend to enter there?” Samuel had been right to not want her here, soldiers and Verglasers circled around endlessly, uncountable and on strong guard.

“Fade me in, inside that one,” she said, pointing to a large tent in the campsite. She had gone fully mad. I was to sneak her inside a war camp belonging to her own father, who I knew would be more than happy to exert his punish for her for it if she got caught.

“No,” I responded sharply. I was not hers to toy with, let alone order.

She narrowed her eyes in slits. “Fade me in, or I will walk towards that camp, with a scarf and a hood covering my face, leaving their imagination play and their duties take over. I know you would like to see an arrow pierce my heart but after a moon and a half from now, right?” she provoked, standing up from behind the bush we were hiding.

My head begun making calculations on how to take her down, tie her and take her back home. As if reading my thoughts she shook her head and pointed to a growling Memphis.

“Gods, you awful woman,” I groaned in my hands that concealed my furious face.

She scoffed. “Given up on offending me in Darsan?”

“No, I truly wanted you to understand the offense this time.” I was to single-handedly take her right to hearth of danger, the one that I’d sworn to protect her against.

I stood and grabbed her hand, she flinched on my hold. I wondered if I had hurt her, had her palms not healed or had she dug new wounds? I faded us both behind the tent where I didn’t spot any soldiers circling around.

She was cringing and holding her head, fading was not easy.

“Gods, how do you do this so often without collapsing?”

“Practice.” I vomited my guts out for two years when I was first learning, but it was the easiest part of my magic that I grasped. Flow of spiritual mana was endless and infinite, harder to channel than the portioned life mana the elementals had. Our magic required the most training and the longest to harvest fruit from. To the elementals it came easy as second skin, they only had to call it out of them. While I had to drag pieces out of an ever-flowing mist, sometimes too overwhelming and at others not enough.

We waited till the voices inside left and entered the large tent. Inside there were several tables and large maps sprawled atop them. Maps of not only Isjord but of all the other kingdoms, except Adriata I noted. She circled around them and I stood guard beside her to fade us out at the sight of danger.

“Seraphim, hells he was right,” she murmured to herself, tracing a finger over ink. “He has map of Hayes and sent an order to dispatch two new ships there.” Her face changed, a scowl wore her brows and her eyes narrowed taking in the details of the maps. “Hanai,” she counted, pulling maps one after the other. “Myrdur, Solarya, Eldmoor, Vrammethen. He doesn’t have this much strength to pull into all of them.”

She turned to me. A narrowed expression dipped in her face in accusation. “Adriata is helping him, isn’t it? Is that why the only map missing is yours? You are helping my father in whatever madness he is contemplating.”

I shook my head at her baseless claim. “Adriata is doing no such thing, careful now, pointing fingers.”

She radiated in anger, almost glowing in it. “Tell me, I want to hear it from you. What are you helping him with?”

“Produce, spices, living stock and few others of the same, lands to work free of tax, short pathway towards Vrammethen and a few other movement deals,” I explained. “It’s an agreement Snow, not a joined act of war.”

“In exchange?”

“The wall to be removed, us to continue and tie new trade deals with other kingdoms, free movement. That was the major intention of it, no longer be trapped and I don’t mean only Highwall.”

“Elaborate.”