Page 104 of Wings of Ice and Steel

She could drift and listen to those melodic tones for eternity, but a sudden, searing pain jolted her out of her trance, interrupting her peace. No. She fought—this wasn’t allowed in death! She shrieked as the pain shocked through her once more, dragging her from her thick, comforting haze. It started low in her leg and spread rapidly through her body, setting her veins on fire. She screamed in agony and heard a distant, muffled sob.

A cool hand touched her skin, soothing the blaze of her cheeks. She leaned into it, needing the contact, the touch. A low voice was chanting, the sound enveloping her, soothing the burn with a wash of iced air. Then the voice turned harsh. Water flooded her lungs. Drowning. She was drowning and unable to gasp air into her body. She needed to swim, to rise above the flood. Up. Up. Until the realness of the world felt as though it was pressing on her eyelids. She cracked them open to blinding light.

‘Ari… can you hear me, Ari?’

It was the familiar voice.

‘Nieve?’ she croaked, her voice brittle and dry.

‘Come back to me, Ari...’

‘Am I dead?’ It seemed like the right question to ask. The light was too bright to open her eyes more than a slit.

Nieve laughed tightly. ‘Not yet, my love. Not yet.’

The deeper voice’s chanting continued, moving through her with a rhythmic beat. With each pulse of sound the pain subsided and she forced her eyes open wider. There was the familiar ceiling of her bedroom. Plain stone walls. Nieve’s beautiful, pale face swam into view, brow drawn and worried and Ariadnne thought she might be dreaming.

‘How are you here?’ Ariadnne’s tongue was like a dry strip of leather. She focussed on Nieve, who was dirt-streaked, still wearing a tattered prison tunic. Ariadnne vaguely remembered that she was supposed to be languishing in a cell. ‘They didn’t release you, did they?’ she muttered and closed her eyes again.

‘No, Ari, they didn’t,’ Nieve murmured softly. ‘I’m so sorry, but as soon as they notice we’re gone they are going to be banging down your door, so we need you right now.’ Nieve’s arm trembled where it held her. ‘I need you to focus on getting stronger. Quickly...’ She touched Ariadnne’s cheek and Ariadnne turned her head into the touch. Gods, her head was foggy... her mind struggled to form coherent thoughts.

‘We?’ She opened her eyes again and leaned slightly to look around. There, at the foot of the bed, was the source of the chanting. With shock she recognised the black-faced prisoner from the cells. Adrenaline made her sit, and she scrabbled back up the bed, her whole body screaming at the sudden movement. His people killed Han, and Ariadnne was too weak to defend herself, or Nieve.

‘Easy, Ari…’ Nieve said, voice low as if calming a wild beast. ‘Liren saved your life. He’s a friend.’

Ariadnne didn’t miss the unspoken ‘For now’. With reluctance, she let herself be calmed. If Nieve trusted this ‘Liren’, then she would. For now. She didn’t have much choice, in all honesty. Nieve motioned for Liren to come forward.

‘Liren needs to dress your wound. Will you let him?’ Nieve’s eyes were round. For me, they said.

‘Fine.’

Ariadnne eased herself back and Nieve exhaled, fingers tightening around Ariadnne’s shoulder. Sascha stood by Liren’s side holding a basket of herbs and dressings. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen. Ariadnne tried to offer her a weak smile but felt like her face contorted into more of a grimace.

‘Thank you,’ Liren said in a low, heavily accented voice. He took the basket from Sascha and murmured, ‘You would be wise to barricade the door. We must be running out of time.’

Nieve gave Ariadnne’s shoulder a final squeeze before releasing her.

‘I’ve got this, don’t worry,’ she said, and gestured for Sascha to join her in sliding what heavy furniture they could to the door.

‘This will probably hurt.’ Liren turned to Ariadnne. ‘These herbs will help with the healing, but I need to seal them under your skin in case we need your other form to escape.’

Ariadnne glanced at the open iron collar lying beside her. Her hand rose to her neck and felt the welts there.

‘Was that thing—’

‘It was.’ Nieve materialised at her side, pushing the collar further away from her. ‘Liren removed it and I swear I will never let them put it on you again.’

Ariadnne swallowed. Nieve couldn’t know how much those words meant to her. If she’d woken wearing that…

She turned back to Liren with a crooked smile. ‘Well, this can’t hurt more than what I’ve just experienced.’

She was quite possibly wrong. She gripped the bedsheets as he cleaned the wound, barely able to stop herself crying out as his hand brushed her poisoned flesh. Gentle as he was, he might as well have been ripping her leg into pieces with each sweep of the cloth. She blinked and Nieve was there, pine scent enveloping and protecting her. Ariadnne seized her hand, squeezing till her fingers hurt. She let her head tilt to rest on Nieve’s chest.

‘I thought I would have to tear the castle walls down to free you,’ she murmured.

‘This is less messy, at least.’ Nieve’s said with a smile.

Ariadnne snorted. ‘Since when have you cared about the easy path?’