Ashkii watched only at her lover, who stood a few steps away from Lannahi, motionless like a statue. The enchantress couldn’t see the expression in her eyes as Amaruk did with his extraordinary sight, but it was easy to assume what he saw in them.
Pride. Betrayal.
Accusation.
How much longer are you going to let the witch hurt me?
Lannahi felt dryness in her throat. Her sight couldn’t match that of the shapeshifters, but her mind, trained to look for weaknesses in her opponents, immediately saw an opportunity.
She could destroy Ashkii and Amaruk’s love.
She could requite not like for like but with interest.
Lannahi stood as motionless as Amaruk, strangely aware of his presence. From the corner of her eye, she saw him clench his fists and his breath turn into a cloud of steam. She knew that under the thick layer of clothes, his muscles were tense, every fiber calling for him to save his lover.
He saved their settlement from destruction, but would Ashkii forgive him for this? When he watched and did nothing when she needed him the most?
How many times did the chain have to pull her underwater for her love for him to die?
Because her attention was focused on him, Lannahi sensed a change in him even before he started to turn his head in her direction. She reflexively raised her eyes to his face. He wasn’t looking at her, but at the person whose steps were muffled by the packed snow.
Ashared slowed down. He threw the guards standing behind her a reassuring glance and stopped beside her at arm’s length. “Sevii is going to collapse,” he said softly.
Lannahi looked in the girl’s direction and sensed Amaruk doing the same.
The girl’s lips were blue. She didn’t open her eyes. Her body hung limply against the chain. She seemed unconscious until Lannahi saw that she opened her mouth to take another deep breath before being dunked under the water’s surface.
I’m not going to demand payment of the debt, but if you listen to me and grant my request, I will consider that we are even.
The chain pulled the girl down and she disappeared underwater.
Beware of those who make you choose between them and power.
Snowflakes were falling slowly in the wintry silence.
A ruler needs a partner who challenges their mind, not their authority.
When an enchanted chain lifted her to a sitting position, Sevii coughed and spat out water. Her head lolled forward. She forgot to take a breath.
Ashared remained silent.
“Enough,” Lannahi said aloud. When Dallal looked at her over the heads of the women kneeling in the vats, she added, “Take off their chains, Dallal.”
“Has your anger been satisfied, Lannahi?” Amaruk asked but didn’t look at her. He only cared about one woman.
“You may leave,” she said, forcing herself to sound indifferent.
Amaruk didn’t need to be told twice. Without a word, he moved toward Ashkii. He allowed the guard who was watching over her to cut her shackles but he took her in his arms and carried her to the sleigh.
When Inik and Sagii were moved to the other sleigh and wrapped in their cloaks, he gave his pack the sign to retreat.
Lannahi moved toward Sevii. The shapeshifter who had been guarding her earlier pulled her out of the water but didn’t cut the shackles around her wrists, and the girl lay in the snow helpless and forgotten.
“Amaruk abandoned you, just as you abandoned Goldfrost,” Lannahi said when Sevii blinked up at her. “Fate turned to be just.”
The girl didn’t reply, but when her gaze stopped on the face of the man standing next to Lannahi, her eyes filled with tears.
“I should leave you here to freeze, Sevii. As you left me.”
