Page 27 of Throne of Ice and Blood
I need to make it back to my room before Draven gets back.
CHAPTER EIGHT
My lungs burn as I sprint the final distance along the path that leads up to the side gate. Every breath feels like I’m inhaling shards of glass, but I keep pushing myself. I have to make it. Please, Mabona, I have to make it.
Just dashing through the city like this has taken almost all of the energy I had. I have no idea how I’m supposed to make the climb up to the balcony. My gaze drifts down to the gloves and the other strange pieces of equipment that I’m still holding. Hopefully, these will be enough to get me through it.
At last, the side gate becomes visible before me. With a sob of desperation, I reach for my magic even though my energy is already draining fast. But before I can use it on the guard, he leaps into motion on his own.
While still running towards him, I blink in surprise as he unlocks the door and opens it for me.
When I get closer, I realize that it’s the same guard from before. Conflicting emotions twist in my chest. Apparently, I managed to manipulate his emotions so strongly the first time that I permanently altered his perception of me. On the one hand, that makes me feel incredibly powerful. But at the same time, sharp guilt and rolling nausea hit me straight in the gut.
All my life, people have kept me at arm’s length because they were afraid that I might do something like this to them. And I have been angry at them for that assumption. But now, I’m becoming the person that they always feared I was. The person I swore I wouldn’t be.
Anger burns through me, and I shove the guilt aside. What’s the point of having magic if I can’t use it to help people? It’s not like I make a habit of manipulating people’s emotions. Today was just an exception. A necessity. I needed to make the guard let me out and I needed to make the humans in the resistance group trust me. It was a one-time thing. It’s not like it’s going to happen again. Right?
As I reach the gate, I slow to a walk so that the guard won’t get too suspicious. But it appears to be an unnecessary precaution, because there is only fear in his eyes when he looks at me.
“Please, don’t tell Commander Ryat about earlier,” he whispers as I stalk through the open gate.
I cut him a sharp look and make my voice hard. “As long as I never have to wait for you to open the gate again, your failure stays a secret.”
“You won’t.” He nods vigorously. “I promise.”
An intoxicating burst of satisfaction pulses through me, making me feel invincible. I have to resist the urge to grin as I stride away from the gate and back to the secluded section where Draven’s balcony is.
Once I reach it, I finally come to a complete stop for the first time since leaving The Black Emerald. Dragging in a deep breath to refill my lungs and slow my racing heart, I at last unfold the items in my hands.
The gloves I was given are lined with a strange material across the entire palm section as well as the fingers. I have neverseen something like it before. It looks like it should be sticky, but when I poke at it with my finger, it doesn’t get stuck to it.
Shaking my head, I place the gloves on the ground while I fold up the map to the drop-off location and hide it inside my shirt. Then I shake out the final two pieces of equipment. I frown. It looks like two small pouches that are shaped roughly like low shoes. Except they’re stretchy, and the bottom is covered in the same odd material as the gloves.
Since I don’t have time to second-guess this, I just pull them over my boots and then yank on the gloves as well. Then I reach for the closest chunk of ice that sticks out of the wall and begin climbing.
Shock pulses through me.
My hands and feet… it’s like they’re sticking to the ice until I pull them back off. It gives me an incredible grip. I can even just press the bottom of my shoes against the flat wall while only using my hands to grip chunks of ice, eliminating the need to find proper footholds. I doubt the material is strong enough to allow me to just walk up the side of the building, but with the help of the handholds, my shoes stick firmly. As do my hands. They only come off when I deliberately pull them away. It’s almost impossible to slip.
Hope and excitement surge through me. With these, I will be able to climb in and out of the room at will. I could even use it to sneak into other windows in the castle so that I can help the resistance find a way to the treasury without Draven knowing. This is going to be perfect.
I grin as a strong gust of wind whirls around the castle, tugging at my cloak and my hair, while I remain firmly on the ice wall.
For the first time since I began my sprint back, I don’t regret my decision. I will be able to leave any time I want. So I’m not really trapped here.
A massive weight lifts from my chest at just the thought of it.
This is going to work. I’m going to help the resistance find a way to the treasury, they’re going to rob it, and then I’m going to leave this castle for good. The Iceheart Dynasty will be financially crippled. I will be free, and I will have gotten revenge.
My muscles tremble when I at last reach Draven’s balcony again. Despite the help of the gloves and the shoe covers, scaling the side of a building still requires physical strength. Which I don’t exactly have in spades right now.
With a soft groan of exertion, I drag myself over the railing and drop down on the balcony. The door is still slightly open. I stare at it, estimating how large the gap is, while I suck more air into my lungs. The gap looks to be exactly the same as the one I left. Which should hopefully mean that Draven hasn’t been here and noticed it.
After taking off the gloves and the shoe covers, I send a desperate prayer to Mabona that I’m right.
And then I slink back in through the balcony door and close it behind me.
I barely dare to breathe as I straighten inside the living room.
