Chapter 48

Caleb sat astride my back as I ran through the snow in my Wolf form, his fingers tight in my fur and the icy wind driving against us. We'd stardusted out to the very edge of the Polar Capital, and as I crested the snowy hill at last, the city spilled away beneath us within a giant crater of snow. Blue and green lights glittered within shining glass buildings that stretched up toward the sky like giant shards of ice. Thousands of Fae lived within those glass walls, the walkways between the buildings and the domes over the streets keeping the entire place contained from the brutal cold.

My breath fogged before me and my heart rate began to settle from the exertion.

I'd dreamed of visiting the Polar Capital all my life, but I'd never thought I'd be here under these circumstances. This city thrived in one particular market, many of the citizens here made rich since the long-ago discovery of the glacia diamonds that lay deep underground. It had been the founding of this place. Just a handful of Fae had come at first, chasing myths of diamonds the size of their fist, and once they struck rich, more had followed. Then more still.

Today, the mines were well guarded, owned by a society called the Glacials that had been formed from the families of the original miners. The society had been in a long-standing relationship with the Dragons, offering them first purchasing rights on their greatest finds. Since Lionel's ascension, the Glacials had lost any power they held in that relationship, the mines now under the ownership of the king, and all new diamonds were meant to be sent directly to his court. But they had become rarer by the year, the value of each glacia diamond increasing with every day that passed without a new discovery. So Lionel had laid plans to dig a new mine to the north of the city, all but abandoning the old ones in his efforts to find more of the precious diamonds, likely seeking out the legendary stones which were said to be able to harness the mysterious powers of the northern lights.

Caleb brushed his fingers between my ears and I leaned into his touch, the warmth of his fire Element washing through me and melting the snow that was clumped in my fur.

"The city of glass," he exhaled. "When I was a kid, I thought it was some fairy tale place that couldn't really exist."

I nodded, the beauty hidden here in the snow even more awe-inspiring than the photos I'd seen of it. The sky was crystal clear above, the stars seeming so near it looked as though those glass towers could reach up and pierce them.

"The diamonds make that strange light," Caleb said, and my ears turned so I could listen to him better. "All that blue and green glow within the glass, it's there because of the most powerful glacia diamonds ever discovered. The Glacials used them to charge the glass with the glow of the aurora borealis. It's how the city is powered too. Apparently the Glacials have those famed diamonds hidden somewhere, and only they know how to wield them. Their secrets are bound by a magic so ancient, I doubt even Lionel could torture the information from their lips."

I vaguely recalled what he was saying from a history lesson we'd had last year with Professor Welkin. I'd been pretty distracted that day after I'd run through a load of flamma nettles out in The Wailing Wood and I'd been covered in nasty blisters for three whole days. Cal had helped me put the cream on to settle them down, showing me a tenderness that he had rarely shown the world. Even back then I'd loved him. It may have been platonic, but that kind of love only magnified what I felt for him now. Our bond was built on kinship, a deep caring for one another that had grown long before we'd unlocked this fiery need for each other too. And there was something so damn special about that.

"Ready to move?" Caleb asked and I barked my ascent.

I followed the edge of the crater, heading for the north side of the city. This giant bowl carved out in the snow was a long-dormant volcano, the vast slopes rising around the Polar Capital giving it shelter from the wind and the violent snowstorms that tore across the tundra. It was protected by magic too, and my nose tingled with the nearness of all the power contained within those walls.

Perhaps one day, if we won this war, we'd return here under different circumstances to explore the winding tunnels of the city and seek out the famous glass fountain at its heart where the water was coloured by the northern lights, and every aura tossed into its depths was said to grant you your heart's desire. Not that I needed any such wish when I already possessed that in the man who was here with me now.

The snow was fluffy beneath my paws, only freshly fallen perhaps hours ago, but there was no sign of clouds now, as if the stars had made it so, parting the curtains of the sky to watch on as we attempted to free our allies.

It took a while to circle the giant crater, but eventually we made it to the other side, and I turned my back to the Polar Capital, heading out into the frozen tundra once more. The dark quickly descended as we left the lights behind, and the cold bit deeper somehow.

"I can see a glow up ahead," Caleb called, and I peered toward the horizon, spotting it too.

I slowed my pace, feeling Caleb's concealment spells tighten around us along with his silencing bubble. The shadows would cover us well, and my white fur was made for camouflage out here regardless.

As we closed in on that glow, a deep, rhythmic drumming carried to us. We crept closer still, and Caleb slid from my back as we reached the edge of a precipice, the two of us lowering to our stomachs on the snow to peer over the edge.

A cavernous quarry swept out beneath us in a giant circle, a wide path cut into the rock and spiralling away to the very bottom of it where Fae were gathered in droves. Tunnels led away into the mines around the pathways, but the largest passages lay at the belly of that pit. Polar Bear shifters were tethered by chains, pulling giant slabs of stone from the tunnels where earth Elementals waited to cleave it apart and search for glacia diamonds within.

Fae stood around in the King's United Nebula Taskforce uniform, overseeing the miners who looked both malnourished and exhausted. Instead of a Nebula Inquisition Centre, these Fae were being brought out here to slave away in this star-forsaken hole, and the thought of it had my blood burning with rage.

I shifted back into my Fae form and Caleb passed me my clothes from his pack. I quickly pulled them on, and Cal laid a hand on my arm, offering heat into my veins while I settled myself down on the snow then nuzzled him in thanks.

"These assholes have it coming," I hissed. "There are more miners than Kunts. Why don't they fight back?"

"There must be something we're missing," Caleb said thoughtfully, looking around the mine.

A cry sounded from below and my gaze whipped to one of the tunnels at the base of the pit where a half-dressed man launched himself at one of the uniformed guards. His fist was encased in stone and serrated metal blades, but before it connected with the guard's face, a blast of power shot through the air and cleaved the upriser's skull in two. His body crashed to the ground and I inhaled in shock, seeking out the source of that blast.

"There," Caleb breathed, pointing out a weapon that looked as though it was forged from ice. The gun was mounted high up on one of the sheer walls and the glitter of magic across its shell told of the power contained in it.

"Fuck," I exhaled. "What is that thing?"

"Some of the miners are talking about it," Caleb said, frowning as he strained to listen, his Vampire hearing picking up ten times more than I could. His face paled as some information carried to him and I rested my hand on his arm.

"What is it?" I pressed.

"The miners are fitted with trackers linked to that weapon. No matter where they are in the mine, that shot of power will find them if they act out."

"How can it possibly know when they act out? Is it like, conscious?" I shuddered at the thought.

"Sounds like it's based on adrenaline levels. Some of the miners are saying…" He listened again. "The guy who just got killed has been telling them all he can supress his adrenaline."

"Dude was wrong," I sighed. "So let's take down the freaky ice gun then break the chains on the Polar Bear shifters and let them make a fancy little feast of their captors."

"That gun will have protection spells or the prisoners would have taken it out by now," Caleb said with a head shake.

"Well lucky we're the most powerful motherfuckers in Solaria, huh?" I nudged him.

"Not quite." He smirked.

"Of the male variety at least," I said with a grin, but his frown only deepened as he observed the weapon again.

"We'd better do this fast. We can't cause a stir or it could risk raising their adrenaline," Caleb said seriously and my smile fell.

"Remember that earth lesson where we learned to crush items with stone?" I said and Cal's navy blue eyes glittered.

"Crush the fuck out of it, Seth," he said, grabbing my hair and leaning in to press his mouth hard against mine. When he moved back, his expression said he was ready for war, and every part of me blazed with the feeling of it too. Being on the brink of death was so very fucking hot sometimes.

"Break those chains, Cal. And break some legs while you're at it – just not your own. Unless it's in the luck way. Then break a leg like that but-"

He kissed me again to shut me up then shot away, leaving only a small flurry of snow in his wake.

I released a breath of amusement then shoved to my feet, urging my earth Element to the surface of my skin and pressing my will into the ground. I felt every rock, every crack in the stone, every rivet and mark, layers upon layers of stone built by the hand of time, and the entirety of that ancient earth became connected to me at once.

I set my feet, my gaze fixed on that gun right across from me on the other side of the quarry, deciding its fate right then and there. I couldn't make a mistake. One error and I could get people killed.

The pressure of it mounted on my shoulders, and I glanced at the crescent moon, finding her prideful gaze set on me. She knew I could do this. She had faith in me right down to my bones, and I wouldn't let her down. I felt the power of her spilling into my veins and I let my magic tear from me in an explosion of fury.

The blast tore away from me underground in two directions, the stone and rock all shifting towards that gun from either side until it slammed together. Giant splinters of rock burst from the wall, driving into one another and smashing into the gun. The weapon was crushed in an instant, an explosion of power bursting from it and ripping a fissure right down the wall, tearing open a vertical gap.

The earth trembled from my attack and I howled to the sky, making every gaze in that pit turn from the shattered gun to me. As blasts of power came my way, I ran forward and leapt straight into the quarry. I tumbled through the air, shielding myself from the rogue shots of magic the Kunts aimed at me, falling like a stone towards the very base of the pit.

I caught myself at the last second, landing lightly and sending a Kunt flying away from me on a storm of air, his head cracking against the wall of the mine and his body slumping to the ground.

Caleb sped through the quarry in a swirl of speed, breaking the chains on the Polar Bears and their bellowing roars built a chorus of freedom in the air. One of them clamped her jaws around the head of a uniformed guard, blood spattering as she made her first kill. But it wasn't her last. The Bears cut down their prey with vicious brutality, and the other miners joined them, their magic building a cacophony as carnage spread out around me.

Caleb sped to my side, coming to a halt and watching as the miners did the dirty work they were owed, seeking vengeance in death.

"The True Queens have sent us!" Caleb boomed, amplifying his voice. "Join the Vega twins at Zodiac Academy if you wish to fight! Or seek refuge among our ranks!"

"This war will be won by the best of our kind!" My voice joined his, ringing out above the savagery descending around us, and cheers rose up in response. "We are the rebel army, and we will not stand for the False King placing his foot on the backs of the innocent! We bay for blood, and we will have it as surely as you will have seized yours this day!"

The Polar Bear shifter who had made the first kill shifted back into her Fae form and she walked toward us, ice sliding over her dark skin as she wielded her water Element to make a tightly fitted, glittering suit. Her hair was as white as snow, but her face was youthful, and she had a smattering of freckles across her nose. She came to a halt before us then placed a hand against her heart, tilting her face towards the sky and whispering a word that set the atmosphere alight.

"Sagviq."

A diamond appeared as if from her heart itself, sliding from her skin to lay in her palm. It was roughly cut and glittering with all the colours of the northern lights, blues, greens, pinks and shimmering violet. "My name is Imenia Brumalis, and I have waited a long time to place this diamond at the feet of my queens. As a fellow of the Glacials, I pledge my allegiance to their cause. Take me to them so that I might assist them in the war."