Ashes of Snow

Chapter 6

THOUGHTS OF OUR kingdom's destruction aren't exactly fodder for restful dreams. Only a little while after falling asleep, I'm shaken awake by nightmares of a shadow engulfing Jannuari's desolate streets, a darkness so complete and absolute that all buildings and people disintegrate into oblivion.

I fly up, gasping on my nightmare, thankful that the tent is empty. The only noises come from the fire crackling on the distant edge of camp. It must be suppertime.

I stand, still fully clothed, and pull my white hair into a braid. The sun is just starting to set when I step outside, casting the Veral Plains in the gray-yellow haze of a day about to die.

To my left, the flap of the meeting tent swishes, and my muscles tighten. I have no desire to face Sir yet unless his face is apologetic, which is less likely than the Kingdom of Summer freezing over.

So as the tent opens I hurry away from it, running until I reach the southern edge of camp and crest the hill.

The setting sun pulsates directly in front of me, and a hint of relaxation creeps into my muscles.

One of the only good things about this place is the sunset. The fiery hues bleed into the landscape until the world around me is nothing but colors—the encroaching black night, the flickering yellow sun, the reaching beams of scarlet, the waving brown prairie grass.

I slide to the ground, elbows resting on my knees as the campfire crackles somewhere behind me and the wind hisses somewhere ahead. In the face of all that has happened, it feels good, really good, to just breathe for a moment. So in my mind, I sketch out the map I saw hanging over the desk in Lynia, my nerves calming as I focus on the withered yellow edges, the faded brown lines, something simple when everything around me is so ... not.

The Veral Plains—a great swath of empty prairie lands between all the kingdoms. The Seasons— Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring to the south, wrapped together in the arms of the jagged Klaryn Mountains. The Rhythms—Fleryns, Nemell, Avellia, and Yamer, spread across the rest of Malkier. Four Season Kingdoms, four Rhythm Kingdoms, eight conduits.

The locket half flies through my mind. I bite my lip, the thin sheen of calm I constructed shattered by a victory that feels more like failure. Will we always fail, even when we succeed? Getting this half of the locket, getting the next half, forming a whole conduit, gaining allies to free Winter—when will it feel like enough?

"Aerin?"

I whip around, heart caught in my throat until I realize it isn't Sir—it's Lucien.

He watches me in silence, his eyes flitting across my face. My heart thwump-thwumps against my ribs and I don't look away from him, hating how with one glance he can crack me open. Anyone else I'd be able to ignore, to hide my fear from them behind a cocky smile, but Lucien sees everything. I know he sees it, because for the briefest moment he drops his expressionless mask and the look in his eyes shows me he feels the same way. A mirror of every part of myself I can't bear to face.

He drops down beside me and asks, his voice quiet, "Was it that bad?"

I frown. "Getting the locket half? What makes you think it was bad?"

"You barely yelled at William earlier. Either you're sick or Lynia was ... I went on and on about my own problems when you ..." His eyes linger on the bruise on my cheek as if seeing it for the first time. "You wouldn't have gone if it weren't for me, and I didn't even realize you'd been hurt. I'm an idiot."

"No," I snap. "No. I mean yes, you are an idiot sometimes, but don't you dare apologize. You don't need to feel guilty for letting me go to Lynia—I'd do it again, no matter how close I came to being captured."