Page 20 of Ice

“Mack?” As if she knows, she speaks directly to me instead of Tanner. “Are you all right? Snow was hurt? Does that mean you’re…” She trails off.

I sit up a little straighter in my chair and press my fingers together. “I’m okay. Not bad. All right.” I’m not convincing enough. Rev sighs and I hear her heels start clicking as she paces up and down the cabin.

“Thornfield? The scepter? Do we at least have good news…?” Luther asks, even though his tone tells me he is pretty certain it’s not going to be good news.

“I lost the auction. The Anti Magick Alliance have the scepter.” Thornfield sounds and looks as if he doesn’t give a living crap whether the scepter is in his possession or not. Except, that’s not true or he wouldn’t have offered to help us in the first place. And he wouldn’t be bothering trying to figure out how to get Miranda back from Zephyra now the others have been captured too.

There’s a long pause on the other end of the phone, then Luther says, “Does the Bureau know?”

“I have not spoken with anyone except the people in this room and yourself.” Thornfield pours himself another whiskey and brushes down his jacket.

“You lost it?” My throat constricts. Not with anger but with fear, and I realize – my stomach tightening – that I’m not scared for the fate of the world; I’m scared for myself.

It’s a shitty thing to admit.

But it’s the truth.

I am terrified of leaving Nova now I’ve found her.

I’m terrified of Snow dying in front of me… because if I lived for even a second longer than him in this world I don’t know how I would survive the pain.

And I’m terrified that I’ve wasted so much time. For so long, I resisted Nova. I held back.

Perhaps not so long in the grand scheme of things, but long enough.

Long enough that I didn’t make use of every precious second with her.

“It was out of my control,” Thornfield says, his eyes flashing with those scarlet rings that make trepidation drip like acid down the back of my throat. “So, instead of whining about it, perhaps we should think about how to get it back.”

“Do we know who actually has it?” Tanner asks, perching on the edge of the desk, rubbing his temples.

“The Anti Magick Alliance,” Thornfield replies scornfully.

“Yes… which faction?” Tanner snips back.

Thornfield shakes his head, seemingly unfazed by Tanner’s bluntness. “I do not know. I’d have thought this was something your Bureau friends would be able to help with?” he asks, turning to me and waving one hand as if he’s asking for dinner recommendations.

“Perhaps.”

“So…” Thornfield narrows his eyes at me. “Why are you standing there instead of calling them?”

“Because we need to think about this a little,” I reply, my head suddenly fuzzy and tight. “What is our priority? The scepter or the witch?”

“Both,” Thornfield replies quickly. “But we can’t do anything about the scepter. So, I suggest you get your friends at the Bureau to deal with it while we deal with the witch.”

“Yeah?” Sam crosses his arms. The tension between him and Thornfield has not lessened… if anything, it’s more intense. “And how do you propose we do that?” A snarl curls his lip. Thornfield is bringing out the wolf in him, and if we’re not careful we’re going to end up with a blood bath on our hands.

I take Sam’s elbow and encourage him to stand beside Tanner.

As he moves, he flashes Thornfield a distasteful growl.

Their eyes lock.

Shit.

Thornfield launches at Sam before I’ve had the chance to step in. I’m knocked flying, and skid across the floor to land with a thud in front of the desk.

My head collides with the mahogany leg. The room spins.