Sisters Three (Completed)

38. Adair (2/2)

By the time they reached the pass the men had made it to the other side, milling on the ground as they waited for the stragglers to reach land. As soon as the sled and reindeer came into view, however, the men immediately snapped to alert and ready, drawing swords and guns and training all of them on Adair and Silver.

Adair scanned their ranks for the wolfish young man but didn't spot him. Drawing herself up to her full and regal height, she glared down her nose at the men. "Where is your commander?" When they didn't answer, she raised her voice. "Where is the man who called me?"

A nervous energy ran down their ranks, everyone looking to everyone else to see what he would do. No one saw fit to answer her which brought Adair near to raising her hand and setting the storm back on them, but then a voice drew their attention upward.

Balanced on the edge of the fallen snow in the pass, the commander stood with his hand on a holstered pistol and his sword hanging by his side. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Adair and Silver, but he showed no fear or anxiety like the men below him. Adair didn't like that he was higher than her, either, which made her square her shoulders and harden her eyes.

"I called you," he said. "I am Robbin, King of Anjeluund."

Adair raised an eyebrow. A king. She'd heard of Anjeluund before, but the last she'd known there some sort of fighting going on over its throne. Apparently someone had won, and that someone was now bothering her.

"How did you come across my name? Most do not even think I exist."

The king, Robbin, pursed his lips but answered in a level voice. "My wife told me. Brenna."

Adair drew in a sharp breath. She hadn't heard that name in so long, and it now came from the mouth of a dangerous man perched on the remains of an avalanche.

"You've married my sister?"

Robbin nodded. "She's the Queen of Anjeluund now. Your other sister, Morna, is there as well. They send their regards."

Regards. After years of each of them not knowing if the other was alive or not, they sent their regards. Adair's mood curdled and she stopped herself from summoning her snow right then and there.

"Well, as I don't see them standing around with you, I assume this is not a visit to reunite with lost relatives. What do you want?"

"Nothing that will cost you anything," Robbin said. Adair caught the almost imperceptibly motion of his hand tightening around his gun. Good, they both mutually distrusted each other. "I merely wanted to ask if you would give my men and I a safe route through your mountains to the ice plateaus and back. It would not be for longer than a month, just enough time to trade with the Ice Isles."

Adair laughed, the sound tinkling like icicles in the wind. Robbin's men shifted uneasily, casting glances his way. She reveled in their fear. It had been so long since she saw anyone shrink away from her powers. It might have bothered her once, but now she knew the power of it.

"Oh, darling brother," she said, resting a slender finger over her lips and widening her eyes. "Hasn't anyone told you that it's improper to let a gentlemen into a lady's room?"

Robbin's face was stonily unamused. "I'm not in the mood for frippery, Adair. I've come to ask you a favor, and I'm prepared to make it a business deal if need be. We can offer you payment. Money, supplies, even a house in Anjeluund if you wish it."

Silver stiffened at her side, his breath turning shallow.

Pulse quickening, Adair shook her head sharply. "I don't do deals with kings."

Robbin took a step forward. "Anjeluund has much to offer. With the wars now over there's a mass migration back to Latterstill. Festivals, market days. I can even offer you a title. Princess."

Adair didn't dare look at Silver. Her insides burned and panic began to take over. Limbs growing numb and face buzzing, she raised her hand. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she wanted him to stop talking. Right now.

"I refuse your offer. Go."

"Adair," Robbin said, making no move to leave. "Think of Brenna and Morna. You can see them again. We have a castle big enough to house you and whoever else you want-"

Adair let him go no further. With a flick of her wrist she summoned a long spear of ice, glistening in the sunlight. Before she knew what she was doing, she'd released it in a glimmering arc of rushing air right at Robbin. It arched over the heads of the soldiers, flying true and straight up the mountain of snow, and landing squarely in Robbin's chest. The force sent him flying backward, out of view, and the soldiers immediately drew their weapons with yells of alarm.

Too late to back down now, Adair waved her arms in the air, calling back the snowstorm to darken the sky. Silver picked up the reins, steering the sled away from the approaching soldiers and heading back toward the path to home. Adair spun in her seat to keep the storm growing, and finally let loose the snow to engulf the soldiers in its maelstrom. Even when she could no longer see them, and the sled drew farther and farther away, Adair kept the snow coming, burying them as far below a crushing blanket of cold as she could. She didn't stop until the weakness overcame her and she collapsed against Silver's side.

Shuddering and breathing heavily, she waited for the waves of sickness to pass. Her blood felt frozen as it coursed through her, more so than usual. Looking down at her fingers, she felt a twinge of fright at the way they looked so blue next to Silver's pale skin. Her teeth chattered together and she closed her eyes as her stomach turned.

Normally it dispelled a few minutes after she used her power so heavily, but for some reason she could not rid herself of the aching in the pit of her being. It chewed on her like a wolf. Even Silver's presence couldn't shake it.

It took a moment more before it slowly dawned on her what ate her from the inside out. It wasn't her powers or the fact that she'd just buried all those men alive. It was her sisters, the sounds of their names, the memories that came with them. A flood of emotions barreled into her as she remembered those nights in the nursery, rescuing Morna from the water, talking to Papa, scheming how she might pay Brenna back for some slight. Days that she wanted desperately to lose were now found once again, and she needed to stop them.

With a deep breath she gathered all the confusing and conflicting emotions up and stuffed them back into the corners of her mind. Every single one was removed and locked away, leaving Adair feeling empty but back in control. She straightened, then took the reins from Silver after she was sure she was steady.

Silver stared at her but she refused to look back at him.

"Why do you do that?" he asked, his voice like a knife against the silence. "Why must you always cut off the world?"

Adair's jaw clenched but she kept her voice calm and even. "The world cut us first, Silver."

"That doesn't mean you should run away."

He hadn't said it loudly or with any sort of malice. If anything, it was tinged with a heartbreaking sense of the love that she craved from him. She supposed that's what made her so angry, that he tried to help her when she just wanted him to stay quiet. So she summoned a small ice spear and released it at Silver in a flash of anger. It missed, of course, as she'd planned it. But when they reached home and they climbed out the sled, she saw the thin ribbon of glistening red that ran across his cheek.