Chapter 31

31

T hey were in their places by dawn. Eira was perched in the window of a nearby building, ice under her skin so thick that it bloomed on the surface as spots of white frost. It was the only way to keep her agitation at bay.

She was going along with this plan solely for the sake of getting them out of Hokoh and on to Risen faster. Arguing would’ve chewed up more time and only seeded tension among the group. Neither of which she wanted. But she was far from happy biting her tongue and biding her time.

Who was Lorn to command her to be off to the side? Why did Olivin think it was even the slightest bit of a good idea to put her—arguably their strongest at this point and among their most skilled—where she’d do the least good? She’d heard his argument last night—that he wanted to make sure she wasn’t injured before facing Ulvarth. But the fact was, if a random Pillar could wound her then she had little hope of facing Ulvarth.

It would’ve been better if she was down there. Why hadn’t she argued more? Olivin seemed so convinced it was for the best…

Eira massaged the scar of the rune permanently carved into the center of her chest as she watched her friends get into their positions. The only reason she was going along with this, for now, was for them. At this point, it was best if they had the backing of the Court of Shadows. But her compliance was as fragile as spider’s silk. It was going to snap sooner rather than later.

The bell tolled across the city. Pillars made their way through the early streets like ghosts in the thin morning fog. Eira stretched out her fingers as wide as they would go. She didn’t need the motion to command her power, but it felt good. It was better than stillness, and she was alone, so there was no need to worry about others seeing the tell.

Like low storm clouds, the fog continued to roll over Hokoh, chasing the Pillars inside. With the last toll of the bell, the doors to their temple closed. Eira continued to thicken the fog. Her friends emerged from their hiding places.

In time with the wriggling of the fingers of her left hand, streaks of frost cracked across the roads. The windows were already hazy with white. A wicked notion echoed in Adela’s words: I’ll freeze the whole city if I have to . She’d said it before they’d left Ofok. That’d be one way to accomplish her goals…

Her friends had encircled the temple. They drew a collective breath. The bell tolled again.

With a pump of Alyss’s fist, the wooden doors slammed open. Olivin and Cullen rushed in. Ducot’s magic rippled through the air, changing things that Eira couldn’t even see from her vantage. Alyss was the last to charge inside as the windows illuminated with Lightspinning.

Yonlin remained perched, like she was, but in a building opposite. One hand was on the pistol, the other ready to magically summon a rain of arrows.

Unlike her, Yonlin was content to be off to the side. It was the positioning Eira would’ve given him because it suited him . But an errant notion wouldn’t abate that there were deeper motivations behind Olivin’s decisions for his placement and hers.

Yonlin was everything to Olivin. His brother had been his mission to protect. Any future that Olivin built would be as much for Yonlin as it would be for himself, or Eira. He’d said as much—he was willing to give up journeying with her, at least for a time, to ensure his brother was safe and settled. She had seen what the mere notion of Yonlin being injured did to Olivin’s composure.

He can’t handle another loss , she realized. It was as bleak and obvious as the dawn. Olivin would do anything to avoid that pain, or the risk, and that drive was already leading him to push her to the side, consciously or not.

Anger streaked through her with a sharp, sorrowful ache. Did he even realize what he was doing? Maybe, maybe not. But her frustration was present either way.

Eira’s hand closed into a fist. The streaks of frost across the ground rose as jagged walls—walls that she was only supposed to make in the unlikely case of reinforcements because it would make her presence obvious. She turned from the window and stormed down the stairs of the empty house. In a breath, she was out the front door.

The ambient temperature had dropped from the ice and chill mist. But Eira’s breath didn’t even cloud the air. Her feet made no noise as she crossed the frost. The window Yonlin had been perched in was thrown open. Eira met his eyes as he leaned out. He hadn’t called to her and they shared a long, purposeful look.

She lifted a single finger, curled it, then pointed it down to her feet. Come , the motion said. A commotion was rising behind her, muffled by the wall of ice. It competed with the shouting and explosions from within the temple.

Ice rippled out from her, smothering the doors. The wood groaned and buckled as the ice continued growing around it. There was nowhere for it to go, and, with a mighty crack , the wooden doors of the temple splintered like the small boat she had used to get to Meru.

For a second, those within were too surprised to do anything other than stand there. A second was far too long for their own good. Ice and frost coated the room. It shot underneath her friends’ boots and into the hearts of the Pillars.

This time, Eira didn’t keep their hearts beating. They were as still and as cold as the grave.

“Eira?” Alyss whispered, staring at her with a mix of horror and awe. As if she didn’t recognize her.

“What are you doing?” Olivin moved for her, recovering faster than the rest. “This isn’t what we?—”

“I thought you wanted to annihilate all Pillars.” Eira gestured to the frozen room. “That is what I did.”

“According to plan.”

“Plans change.”

His eyes shifted and he saw the buildings covered in frost and her walls of ice. Panic widened his eyes and his lips parted. “Now everyone will know you’re here.”

“Good.” Eira glanced to the rest of them. “We’re leaving.”

“Good? Good? ” Olivin grabbed her wrist, as if he had been about to jerk her toward him, but his fingers unraveled with a hiss. The flesh was pink, burned from the cold. He ignored what must still be stinging. “How is Ulvarth now knowing you’re coming ‘good?’”

“Ulvarth might think it’s Adela coming…which she also is.” Eira stood a little straighter. “Let him prepare for her arrival. If anything, this could distract from me.”

“You’re risking too much.”

Am I actually? Or do you not like seeing any risk? She wanted to ask, but couldn’t. This wasn’t the time or place.

“What’s done is done. What’s next?” Cullen interjected himself into the conversation. Olivin shot him a glare.

“We’re leaving. Now. We’ll find the stables and take the best horses. On the way take whatever you think we might need—any supplies you see. We’re riding straight to Risen.” As Eira finished speaking, she was already walking out, Yonlin meeting them.

“What about Lorn?” Olivin asked, partly chasing after her now.

“What about him?” Eira parted the wall of ice like a curtain with a wave of her hand, unveiling chaos beyond. Men and women ran through the streets. Most of them didn’t seem to be Pillars or Shadows. Many seemed to be citizens taking advantage of the chaos the ice had created. “He looks like he’ll be fine. We cleared the majority, if not all, of the Pillars.”

One looter ran from a shop, hands laden with goods that tumbled to the ground as he skidded to a stop. A finger rose to point at her.

“Ah—A—Adel—” With a scream, he was gone, scampering away. Eira didn’t mind how his terror felt in the slightest.

“Well, I think Ulvarth will be preparing for someone else now.” Eira glanced back to Olivin. He sighed, a forlorn softness clouding his gaze. She stepped closer and tilted her head, looking up at him. “It will be fine. I will be fine.”

“Sometimes I question if that’s true.”

“Then stick with me and let me show you.”

Some resolve returned to his expression at that. Eira smiled slightly. Olivin did the same. And, with that, she moved on.

They did as she commanded and took what they needed. Ducot had no qualms over smashing windows to reach around and unlock doors. Alyss focused mostly on the houses that were already empty, picking like a hesitant bird. Cullen was a surprise; he was right beside Ducot, loading a pack with all manner of goods.

Olivin and Yonlin took up the rear. It surprised her. The questions associated with it lingered as they rode out of the town, simmering until they slowed to a trot among rolling plains and grasslands.

Eira tugged on her reins, falling back to Olivin’s side. She wasn’t going to let this be. Not when there was so much still ahead of them that they needed to work together through.

“If you do not wish to come with me then?—”

“We’re with you,” Olivin said. Though he sounded more conflicted than ever before. Yonlin wouldn’t even look at her.

“Truly,” Eira insisted. “We can find a safe place for you both and?—”

“We didn’t come to pillage and steal,” Yonlin interrupted. He sounded more wounded than outright angry. “We came to protect our home, to make Meru right again, do good by and help her people. Not to freeze their towns and pilfer their resources.”

“What must be done to accomplish our goal might not always be pretty,” Eira answered calmly.

“That was downright piracy.”

“I am a pirate.”

Yonlin opened and closed his mouth, as if the fact was sinking in for the first time. His attention swung to Olivin. “Are we just going to sit idly by and let this happen?”

“For the greater good, sometimes ugly things must happen,” Olivin said begrudgingly. Hardly the endorsement of piracy she would’ve hoped for from her future fleet master.

Her eyes darted between the two men. Did Yonlin know what Olivin intended? When the time came, would Olivin be able to leave his brother’s side?

“Eira… You are a good woman. You don’t hurt innocents.” It sounded like Yonlin was trying to convince himself.

“I don’t delight in it. Nor do I go out of my way to do it.” That much was true. She was more than content to let innocents live so long as they didn’t force her hand.

“Then what do you call that back there?” Alyss had overheard and spoke up. Eira glanced over her shoulder. Alyss’s stare might as well have stabbed daggers straight through Eira.

“I told you.” She slowed her mount and spoke loud enough for them all to hear. “I will give Pillars no quarter. I am here to destroy Ulvarth and the rest of his ilk. The people I killed in there were Pillars through and through. They bore the markings and gladly praised Ulvarth. They were not innocent.” She swept her eyes over them. “But, while my ice covered the town, I did not kill the rest of the townsfolk.” At least not intentionally…if someone slipped on some ice and cracked their head, that was on them.

When she finished, she swept her gaze across them, searching for any signs of objection. There was none, and she turned her attention back to Yonlin.

“Am I clear?”

He nodded mutely.

“Good. Let’s focus on riding; we’ve a lot of ground to cover before nightfall.” Eira tried to soften her tone but she wasn’t sure if she succeeded. It was hard at times to figure out where the lines were when it came to them. When she was their friend, lover, or confidant, and when she was their pirate captain.

Olivin came up beside her this time. “He means well.”

“I know.” She spoke as softly as he did. “But does he understand what this is going to cost? Will he be able to take the shot?”

“Against Ulvarth? Unequivocally.” Olivin’s lack of hesitation reassured her some. “The rest of the costs…I’m not sure about. But I will shield him.”

She studied Olivin from the corners of her eyes. In her periphery, Eira could see a newer streak of white. It seemed every time she drew from the rune on her chest in a significant way, it took a toll on her physical form. But if he noticed, he said nothing.

“Like you shielded him from what you did in the Court of Shadows?” She remembered him saying as much, long ago.

“Something like that,” he murmured. “But know that I am with you.”

Eira nodded. His presence would always be reassuring to her. But if the cards fell, Eira was certain Olivin would do what benefitted Yonlin best, every time. What made the realization all the more painful was that she could understand it. There was a time with Marcus where she wanted them to be everything to each other. Siblings against the world.

But what if she was the thing Olivin wanted to protect his brother from? Where did that leave them?

They had barely made it into the woods to the west of Hokoh when a burst of flame had her horse rearing. She barely managed to avoid being thrown. Frost thickened under the palm that once held the reins as she twisted in her saddle. Cullen’s magic spiked. The earth fractured around Alyss.

“I thought I told you not to come to Meru again, Pirate—” Vi Solaris, Crown Princess of the Solaris Empire, emerged from the shade of the trees, stopping short at the road’s edge. And she was not alone. Her eyes widened. “Eira Landan?”