House of Winter

Chapter 14, Part 2

Sanna retaliated in an instant, standing up and throwing her full force of ice magic across the table to block Tai's fire. She felt the surge of Tai's magic and she embraced it. She let it sink into her and fill her up, and then she lashed at him with all the force he'd given her. She would stand by and watch him send insults in every direction, but she would never stand by and watch a starrling attack an ord with magic.

"How dare you," Tai snapped, rounding on her, but Sigrún stood between them.

The servant was cowering on the ground, while his broomstick was burning harmlessly on the floor.

Tai was now glowering at Sanna, past the wolf. "These are my servants and I will treat them as I wish."

Sanna stepped around the chair and past Tai and helped the man from the floor. Then she turned to Tai. "What's this mood, then?" she said lightly. "Clearly something's upset you."

"Where is my sister?"

Sanna fixed him with an annoyed stare. "I do not know, Tai. I was just as..." but before she could say more, he'd stalked from the dining room.

Sanna sat watching the smouldering broomstick lying on the floor. Eventually she left the library, curious to see where Tai was going. She forced herself to walk at a normal pace down the hallway. She could hear Tai ahead. In fact, she could feel him. She had realised that Tai emanated a surge of power that Sanna could sense, almost like she could sense Sigrún.

She followed Tai through the palace towards his sister's quarters. She watched as he flung open Lumi's chamber door without knocking, to find it was empty.

"Where is she?" Tai snapped, spinning on his heel and glaring at two of the guards who were stationed nearby. "Where did she go?"

"We haven't seen her, sir," one guard said. "We assumed the princess was down at the barracks."

"You're saying no one knows where the princess is?" Tai snapped. "What use are you?"

"Maybe she's plotting with Empress Kiyo behind your back," Sanna suggested.

Tai turned and looked at her. "You knew. You helped her escape."

Sanna raised her eyebrows. "Escape?"

"She's gone!" Tai snapped.

"It seems you've finally lost the plot," Sanna mused.

Tai grew even more irate at this. "YOU KNEW. YOU'RE ON HER SIDE. YOU'RE UP TO SOMETHING!"

As he yelled, he threw a fireball directly at Sanna.

Sanna scrambled out of the way, her skirt scorched, and sent up a wall of ice to defend herself. Sigrún leapt into action, defending Sanna.

Both of the guards were running. Sanna knew she could protect herself against Tai - she had always been magically gifted - but she was growing tired of him putting ords in danger.

There was another ball of fire, and this time Sanna countered it with a wave of ice magic, flung like daggers towards Tai. He stumbled back against the wall, shielding himself with fire so that the daggers hissed and burned.

"You're acting emotionally, Taikku," Sanna said. "You should think before you lash out."

Tai glared at her. "You're nothing but a peasant dressed in fine clothing. You're a bastard and you would be nothing if not for your father whoring himself out to influential women."

Sanna laughed. "Here it is," she said. "Here's what you've been thinking all along, isn't it? But beware the names you fling at me, Tai. We are cousins, after all. If you insult me you won't be so far from insulting yourself."

Tai ignored her, stalking down the hallway towards General Virani's quarters. Sanna followed, only because she was curious to see what Tai was so angry about. Something had changed.

Tai slammed his fist on his aunt's door, and eventually General Virani said from inside, "Come in, Tai."

"Where's my sister?" he said, flinging the door open.

General Virani was sitting at her desk. She looked at Tai calmly. "I don't keep tabs on the princess, Tai. She should be training with my officers. Why don't you ask them, instead of barging in here?"

"No one knows where she is," Tai said.

General Virani put down the papers she'd been reading. "Well," she said. "You know what I told you. You can sense Lumi through her quell magic. Can you feel her pull?"

"I can't feel her quell magic," he snapped.

General Virani sighed. "Think harder, Tai."

"I can't feel her! She's gone!"

"She can't have gone anywhere," Virani said plainly. "She has no kinnling, no friends, and nowhere to go."

"She's gone. You don't think I know that she's gone? I woke up and I knew she was no longer here."

Sanna felt her breath hitch. Tai sounded serious. He sounded worried.

General Virani stood up from her desk. She looked over at her white tiger, who was sitting beside the desk, and gave a sharp nod. The white tiger leapt into action, out the door of the office and down the hall.

"Auntie?" Tai asked.

"Tai, I'll need you in the sky. You need to follow your sense of Lumi's quell. You're the one who can track her."

Tai didn't wait to hear more. He almost knocked Sanna over in his haste to leave the room. Sanna was left standing in front of her mother's desk.

"Sanna, take a message down to the barracks for me," Virani said. "I'd better write it down. I need all army recruits in the skies, around the volcano perimeter."

"You truly think Lumi escaped?"

"I suspect she's been kidnapped," Virani said, almost lightly, as she wrote down a note on a piece of paper. "Here, take this to the barracks. Give it to the most senior officer you can find. Be quick about it, girl."

Sanna stared at her mother's dismissiveness, then took the piece of paper and left the room without a word. As she walked along one of the stone courtyards, she dropped the message into a pond. If General Virani wanted to treat Sanna like a fire army officer, and not her daughter, then Sanna had no reason to be here, and no desire to help her find Lumi.

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