Ice Blink

38: Gatherer of the Dead

Prince Maliq Ivaluik walked with them to their rooms. Nuna couldn't help but notice how silent he'd been throughout the meeting, all the attitude he had shown earlier simply gone.

"We have to get into the library," Niju said in an undertone.

"Even if the royals condemn us for it?" Amarok asked.

"Even then."

"Do you guys purposely try to create new enemies whenever you go somewhere new?" Iki asked.

"We should make a list so we don't lose track," Nuna commented.

Maliq's roguish smile returned.

"What are you looking at, prince?" Iki snapped.

"Reluctant prince," he corrected. "I didn't want my parents to seize power in such a way."

"Yeah, of course," Iki said sardonically. "Who wants more power? Sounds terrible. I bet you fought so hard to stop them."

"What a charmer you are."

They were shown to generous rooms, but as soon as the attendants left they gathered in the largest to discuss the meeting.

"I'll send healers to tend to your feet," Maliq promised before shutting the door behind him.

"Why take away our title? What good does that do them?" Amarok was pacing.

"Stripping us of the Inua mantle removes any influence and power it might have given us," Niju said. "They think we're a threat."

"A threat? That's ridiculous. We're all in danger, why do they have to make things harder?" Nuna asked.

"Even in desperate times, people care about their own authority. Their rule is new, the citizens are probably still adjusting. They don't want us to attract a following or challenge them."

"But we wouldn't do that."

"We could, when all of this is over."

Try as she might, she couldn't see a future past the war and the looming glacier.

"Trapped by politics," Amarok groaned. "This is why I became a Commander. Now what?"

"We go to the festivity tonight," Niju said.

"Do we have to?" Iki grumbled.

"Amarok and I must, as Circle members. After the ball is over, we find out how to get into the library, get information on the final two temples..."

"Then run," Nuna finished. "A sound plan. What could go wrong?"

*

Nuna had never worn a dress that was so magnificent. In Nualik, finery consisted of elaborate parkas, but their clothes were practical above all else, designed to keep them alive. In the palace, however, the nobles could afford to experiment.

The silvery blue dress glided along her figure like water before falling in floaty folds to her feet. The translucent sleeves hung from her shoulders, baring them and showing off the curve of her collarbones, before billowing out only to gather in cuffs at her wrists. She couldn't begin to imagine what the dress was made of, but as she moved, it rippled like starlight caught in water. Her unbound hair fell in waves down her back, and two large ivory earrings shaped like leaping polar bears hung from her ears.

Nuna did not recognise the woman in the mirror.

The door swung open and Maliq walked in, giving a small knock on the frame behind him as an afterthought. He appeared at her shoulder in the mirror.