27. Avalanche

Chapter 27

Avalanche

LORI

T he remaining enemy soldiers scatter. The horned warriors jump on the back of their sleighs and steer their wolves forward right along the ice bridge, heading toward Daisy. I move to chase after them, but Elio wraps a hand around my upper arm and points to the peak.

Three white flumes of snow are visible far in the distance, near the top of the mountain. The deafening thunder signals the start of an avalanche. The leather-clad sleigh drivers speed down the bridge leading off the snowy mountain and disappear between the trees.

"Nothing can stop an avalanche of this magnitude once it's started. Not even me. We have to take refuge in the mine," Elio says.

"If it wasn't for the stupid barefoot-in-the-snow challenge, all the girls would be safe. This is on you." I shake him off and turn to face the sleigh's escape path, searching for Daisy, but she's no longer there. Fuck! The soldiers must have passed her by and captured her. "We have to stop them and save Daisy!"

The mountain continues to tremor beneath our feet as Elio marches over to the captive white dragon. "That bridge will shatter before you can cross it."

The unstable ice bridge veers toward the trail Daisy and I had hiked earlier, leading away from the mine. Beyond it, deep imprints from the sleigh runners weave between the trees, marking the soldiers' escape route. I head toward the forest.

"Winter is going to swallow you whole!" Elio shouts.

"I can't just let her die!" I answer without looking back.

My legs burn as I run. The ice bridge hugs the side of a steep cliff, but before I can reach solid ground, deep cracks spread around me, and the ice creaks as it breaks apart.

The bridge crumbles beneath me. I bend my knees and dig the balls of my feet into the snow, but there's nowhere left to run. The last inch of crust finally gives way, and I plunge, feet first, toward the black abyss below.

This is the end. I couldn't run fast enough. Not today.

It takes me a moment to realize I'm not falling. Not impaled on the ice shards I'm sure to find at the bottom. My feet dangle above the chasm, and a hard hand grips the flesh of my upper arm.

Elio's nostrils flare as he pulls me to solid ground and snakes an arm around my waist, crushing me to him. A new ice bridge has formed to replace the broken one, the fresh ice sturdy and smooth.

The Winter King's brows pull together like he can't quite believe what he's done, before his gaze settles on the forest behind me. "Let's find her."

"Okay." The solid hold doesn't relent as he tucks his index finger and thumb between his lips and whistles.

The ice dragon has been freed and lands beside us. A loud huff escapes its snout, its nostrils flaring as it leans in to sniff Elio. Smoke billows from its nose, forming a murky veil between us. Intricate white antlers extend from its head, but their bases appear to have been prodded and cut, as though someone tried to saw them off. Scales are also missing from its side.

Poor beast.

Elio raises a hand to the formidable creature. "Easy, Mistress. I know you're hurt, my friend, but I need to ask too much of you."

The dragon blinks and extends its neck in greeting, its nose nudging Elio's uninjured side before its reptilian gaze shifts to me.

"This is Lori. We kind of like her, so we can't eat her—at least not yet." A smile escapes Elio as the beast nuzzles his outstretched hand, and he caresses it with a loving whisper, "Good girl."

Shivers rock my body when the majestic creature bows its head. Elio proceeds to boost me up onto the back of his ice dragon like it's the most natural thing to do, and I grab a fist of the beast's long white mane not to topple right over to the other side.

The shape of the dragon's back allows for my thighs to hold on to each side of its spine, but without a saddle or stirrups, I can't imagine how I'm supposed to remain in place when it flies.

My eyes bulge, the blood draining from my knuckles and face, my mind screaming at me to get the fuck off this dragon .

"You don't ride," Elio says as he climbs behind me.

"I ride horses ."

And sparingly.

"You're shaking."

No measure of urgency can justify this folly. "I need to get off?—"

"Shush. It's just like riding a horse. Trust me." Elio adjusts his position with ease and tightens an arm around my waist. He nestles me in the space between his thighs, closer, closer, closer…

A hiccup of surprise quakes me at how warm he feels. The king of ice isn't quite as cold as he was the other day in the wagon, and I barely resist the urge to relax against him.

He reaches for the dragon's mane with both hands, caging me in. The hard planes of his chest are pressed flush against my back and swell with each breath—every thunderous beat of his heart racing even harder than my own.

I scream as the dragon extends its wings and jumps straight off the cliff. My lids screw shut, and my body instinctively cowers inside Elio's embrace without an ounce of shame. The scenery blurs, and black spots dance in front of my eyes.

Tumbling down an ice dragon's back sounds just like the kind of accident that could happen to a bride.

"Breathe, little spider," Elio says, the smile in his voice audible. "I've got you."

That fucker sounds perfectly amused… My mind spins as I try to get a hold of myself.

Elio's hot breath sears the shell of my ear. "At this rate, the sleighs are going to tumble straight off the mountain."

I snap my eyes open, my hunter's instincts kicking into gear. The sleighs are racing downhill, the avalanche gaining ground every second. "That one isn't carrying a heavy load. Daisy must be on it, and maybe the other girls, too." I point to the last of the three sleighs. The precious metal and dragon scales give the other sleighs more momentum and less precision than the one carrying the prisoners. Hopefully.

The path leading down the mountain will be overrun by the avalanche in minutes, and the Tidecallers and their sleighs will be swept right off the rocky cliffs.

Elio conjures a chain of ice with his magic. The solid links glisten in the early light of dawn as they wind around the dragon's chest, forming a secure anchor around its neck and front limbs.

No, no, no, no, no.

Elio guides my hands to the dragon's mane. "Hold on tight. And whatever you do, stay on the dragon."

With that, Elio grabs the free end of the chain and leaps from his mount, swinging from the dragon like a furious pendulum. He impales a soldier below, causing the enemy driver to topple off. Elio then lands on the sleigh, takes the driver's place, and yanks the tarp off the cargo.

It's the right sleigh. Daisy's hair is visible, but she's either tied up or unconscious because she's not moving. Elio steers the wolves to a complete stop, the animals obedient even though they are about to be swallowed whole.

He ties the chain to the sleigh and signals to his dragon with a sharp whistle. The beast perches atop the tallest nearby pine, about halfway up the tree. I hear its jagged claws splintering the bark, the sound harsh and unsettling as the tree shudders under the dragon's weight. My feet slip from the spikes on its side, and the fine hair of the dragon's mane digs into my hands, my legs dangling above the approaching storm.

I hang from the dragon's neck, the nearly vertical angle making my muscles scream in agony, but I manage to hang on. The quietness I find whenever I hunt engulfs me, my shadows pulsing over my skin as I force my thighs back around the beast's body and squeeze, relieving part of the strain on my arms.

The dragon clings to the thick conifer's trunk with its talons, the ice chain Elio fashioned wrapped tightly around its thorax. The avalanche roars past the edge of the cliffs in powerful torrents, ready to take its passengers straight to the gods. Clouds of snow and white smoke swirl around me, and flakes of ice stick to my lashes, blurring my vision.

Trees crack and bend under the force of the avalanche, the pine we landed on resisting the onslaught of ice—for now. The rolling thunder tapers down, and my vision clears a little, allowing me to see further down than before.

I search for Elio in the chaos and find him dangling from the curve of the sleigh's front bow, his hands gripping the wooden arch of the shaft. His feet are stuck in the current of the avalanche, its unstoppable pull dragging him down. A pain-filled grimace twists his lips, and his biceps strain with the effort to keep himself above the fray.

He's not going to last much longer.

I carefully slide down the dragon's back and past its backside, holding on to the ice chain, until my feet find footing on the sleigh's steering shaft.

"Get back up there," Elio grits through his teeth, his eyes dark and full of reproach.

"Hang on. I'm coming."

"It's almost over. Just stay put." His eyes dart to the snow below him and back to me, a shard of danger or wrath or perhaps even capitulation gleaming inside of them. Like he might just…give up.

"Don't you dare let go, or I swear, I will plunge in after you!" I shout, terrified by the keen pulse of shadow in his gaze.

I wrap one leg around the chain and hook my other foot in the narrow space between the two wood panes that form the handle of the steering shaft, slowly leaning over the bow until I glide down to the front of the sleigh. A strap of my dress gets stuck and tears right off, but I finally manage to extend my hands toward Elio, quite literally hanging upside down. "Here!"

His lids screw shut. A grunt tears out of his throat as he releases one hand from the sleigh's curved extremity to reach for mine. His hard, steady grip fills me with a blinding sense of relief.

My arms burn as Elio pulls himself up, but I don't dare to relax my muscles until both his feet are secured on the front shaft bow.

He stands tall, trembling all over. "You silly spider. Why would you risk your life like that? All the ice in the worlds couldn't kill me?—"

I wrap my arms tightly around his midriff, burying my face in his stomach. His proximity wards off the chill, offering a welcome shield against the cold. "Stop complaining. You're safe now."

A deep, crystal-clear crack echoes near my ears as the tree's trunk succumbs to the dragon's weight. The beast flaps its wings, sending a frigid gust that numbs my fingers and toes. The ice chain wrapped around my thigh tugs painfully, and I release my grip on Elio to avoid being torn apart as it wrenches me upward.

For a moment, it feels like I'm flying—but I'm not. I'm plummeting head first toward the ground, and the tide of the avalanche sweeps me into a dark void. Snow swallows me from all sides, as soft and suffocating as spider silk, filling my ears, nose, and mouth until I can't breathe.