House of Winter

Chapter 44

Lumi

The pain in her hands was creeping up her arms. She didn't know how long she could hold on. There weren't enough wolfguard to fight against the fire soldiers, but with Lumi quelling her own army, she was able to give the Norrlish a fighting chance. But she needed to quell Tai, too, and he was fighting back.

Lumi squeezed her legs on Jinni, urging him forwards, into a blaze of fire. He took her direction like he could read her mind, and knocked back two of the fire soldiers on their tigers. Lumi quelled them, just enough so that they lost momentum in their attack, and then turned in the direction of where she thought Tai and Yainni had gone.

The fire army was making progress, Lumi realised. They were much closer to the palace than they'd been before, forced back by the relentless fire power. The snowstorm was the only thing that stopped the fire army from advancing faster than they already were. If Lumi didn't stop this army, they would take the palace.

Her army.

She was fighting against her own army.

These were her people, and she was stealing their power from them even, drawing it out and using it against them. She watched the horror in their faces as they saw their princess and felt their own magic evaporating. She didn't quell them completely, but just enough that they wouldn't be able to fight for a few minutes.

"Tai!" she screamed into the whirling snow. "Where are you?"

Once, when the two of them had hidden in the snow, kept safe from the Fire War, they'd been playmates. She'd learned to slide down snowy hills with skis strapped to her feet, and they'd raced each other. She'd loved him so desperately. She'd loved him more than she'd even loved her own parents.

He was her twin.

She saw him climbing a tower on the outer perimeter of the palace gardens. Yainni stood in the snow below him, trying to protect herself from the vicious wind. The tower steps were thin - not built for kinnlings - but Tai was climbing them anyway. He was looking for a vantage point where he could surge from afar.

"I need to leave you here," Lumi told Jinni. Jinni understood, and went to join Yainni, close to the base of the tower. Yainni let out a panicked growl towards Jinni, and Jinni looked at Lumi, concerned.

She realised the issue. Yainni was flooded with hate from Tai, and the young tiger was now expressing all of that hate towards Jinni. But Lumi felt no hate for Tai, only pity, so Jinni showed no hate towards Yainni. They should have loved each other as siblings, but Yainni was defensive, and ready to fight.

"Jinni, go back to Tom," Lumi said. "I promise I'll find you when this is done."

Jinni gave her a look, and Lumi remembered the last time she'd promised Jinni she'd come back from him. But the tiger still trusted her, and he gave her one last gentle nudge, before turning back and disappearing into the snowstorm.

Lumi took a breath, lowered her head against the wind, and ascended the tower after her brother.

Fire rained down on her, and she pushed it back with her own quelling magic, feeling her hands burning as she resisted Tai's surge. She climbed the stairs blindly, her head bent against the snow, so she was surprised when she saw his feet on the step above her.

She looked up.

"Is this what it comes down to?" Tai asked her.

Lumi stared up at him. She should have known he would stop her from getting to the top of the tower. She was at a disadvantage like this, standing on the steps below him, while he blocked the way up. As always, he wanted to be above her, looming over her like a father.