𝑮𝑳𝑰𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹 | 𝑘.𝑏.

37

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W O R T H  T H E  R I S K
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FETA WANTED TO LOOK BACK but Nina was already daring one last glance over her shoulder — no point in both of them watching Inej get dragged away by the guards.

Nina sighed a bit shakier than she would have liked and linked her arm with Feta's. "Trust the Wraith," Nina repeated to herself.

They kept a steady pace, wanting to be gone before the guard who stopped Inej extended his suspicions to them. As they ducked through the hordes of partygoers, Nina and Feta shucked off their cloaks, letting them trail before allowing them to drop and be subtly trampled by the crowd. While their costumes would still turn heads, they would no longer be giving away their location with a big red topknot and spikes of ears.

The girls exchanged few words as they passed through the party, keeping their spines straight but not prideful, and let the weight of the other's arm be comfort enough.

The glass bridge rose before them in a gleaming arc, shimmering in the blue flames of the lanterns on its spires. All around them people laughed and clung to one another as they climbed higher above the ice moat, its surface shining below, a near-perfect mirror.

The effect for Nina was disconcerting, dizzying; her too-tight beaded slippers seemed to float in midair. The people beside her looked like they were floating on nothing at all.

For this same reason, Feta found the bridge mystical, enchanting. She only wished she was unaware of where the bridge was located. It kinda ruined it.

"It's sick."

Nina had spoken so softly Feta wasn't certain it hadn't been a snippet from a passing conversation. She would have tuned in regardless; it was her job, after all, to collect rumors and comments. Feta followed Nina's disgusted gaze to find she was still taking in the view before them, glass bridge and all.

"I was thinking the Ice Court was looking a little too pristine," Feta agreed. She'd guessed right at what was bothering Nina. It wasn't hard since she'd brought it up when they first laid eyes on the Ice Court.

Nina's arm tensed against Feta's. "Did your parents have any theories on how this place was built?"

"Well," Feta hummed, "they certainly didn't believe what they were taught. Practically any dimwitted Fjerdan will tell you the Ice Court was the work of a god or that Saint with Fjerdan blood. Or that Djel pulled miracles like this bridge right out of his ass." Feta glanced down to where her own slippers appeared to be floating above the ice. "But my father disagreed."

"I'm right there with him," Nina grumbled. "You can't tell me this isn't bona fide Fabrikator craft." Feta giggled loudly in response and aimed a playful slap that stung more than it should have to Nina's arm. Nina furrowed her brows at her.

Feta's eyes widened imperceptibly, her smile pulled painstakingly tight, and gave a subtle look around to the people crossing the bridge alongside them. "Play the part," she whispered conspiratorially, so to anyone who overheard the mere tone of her voice, they would believe the girls were simply gossiping about the party. "Our tempers rise like cakes without flour, remember?"

Nina schooled a somewhat pleasant smile on her face before continuing her rant on the injustice of it all. "In Ravka, they say the miracles of the Saints could very well be the work of talented Grisha." She nudged Feta's side. "Djel very well could have been a Tidemaker."

Feta smirked, a tad prouder than her current disguise may have allowed for. "That's what I like to hear."

At the highest point of the arch, they got their first real view of the White Island and the inner ring. It was obvious from a distance that the island was protected by another wall, but from this vantage point they saw the wall had been crafted in the shape of a leviathan, a giant ice dragon circling the island and swallowing its own tail.