Page 101 of Winter's Echo
He held my look for three seconds before he turned away. “No,” he said.
He was telling the truth. I was almost certain of it. Almost.
I looked back at the basin. The rings in the snow. The converging lines of color in the stone.
The pull in my chest had settled into something that felt less like urgency and more like anticipation, and I wasn't sure which was worse.
My magic knew this place.
The question was whether this place knew me back.
Chapter 23
I hadn’t slept.
At some point in the night, I had gotten up and gone and sat on the ridge and just watched the basin below.
I wasn’t the only one.
Nicco sat across from me along the ridge, and I realized quite quickly he wasn’t there like me to stare at the puzzle below, but to deter soldiers who might have wandering fingers in the night.
In a way, I didn’t blame them. According to Baxley's description, these gemstones were worth a lot. But I had told them not to touch them, and they thought they could sneak them into their packs while I slept.
He hadn’t looked my way when I got up, somehow knowing I had no interest in picking stones from rocks.
He hadn’t even turned his head when he saw me settle down in my spot, my hood pulled low, and just watched the basin. The waterspouts fascinated me. I’d tried to discern a pattern, but the pattern was that there was no pattern.
It took me far too long to figure that out.
After Nicco had let two soldiers know he was watching anddeterringtheir curiosity, no one else tried to get up.
He waited longer, then he too took his rest. Leaving me in my spot, watching the basin with an intensity I never knew I possessed.
I nodded off at one point, lulled to sleep by the sound of the waterspouts. I woke to a rough shake on my shoulder and to Nicco looking down at me.
“We’re ready to go down. Are you coming?”
They didn’t need me right now. They had reached their destination, but there was no way I was staying up here.
“Yes.” I was already pushing to my feet.
“You sure?”
I looked up at him as I picked up my pack. “Yes? You don’t want me to?”
Nicco gave me that flat stare. “If I didn’t want you down there, why would I be asking?”
“Because you like to confuse me?”
He let out a breath. “Gods, I swear you get more difficult the farther north we go.”
I looked around, settling my pack on my back and clasping the center strap like I always did. “We can’t get much farther, can we? This must be my most difficult.”
His lips twitched at my sass. “Let’s hope.”
He walked away, and I saw that everyone else was ready and eager to descend into the basin.
For once,Itrailedthem. We picked our way down the ridge to the basin below. Because I’d studied the pattern the night before, I did my best to pick out the path that avoided the waterspouts.
