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Levin spun, menace and jubilation seeping from him in waves as he stormed across the frozen lake. “Fitting that my freedom will come on the anniversary of my damnation.”
I shook my head, the water rising above my ears as I floated to the top of Atlas’s sealed orb. With only a slice of air left, I couldn’t help but hear Atlas’ story in my mind.
Never lose the fight.
Whatever speech Levin was delivering outside of the bubble was beyond comprehension. The water muted all sounds. But Goddess be damned, I didn’t want to let this man win. I’d spent years letting the fire within my soul extinguish out of fear. He’d taken more of my life than he even knew. As I had taken his, if he were to be believed.
I sucked in that final breath as the orb filled. Seconds turned into a minute of me slamming my feet and hands against the glass, trying anything to break it. Lungs burning, vision darkening around the edges. It was almost over. But only when I looked down, that tiny sleigh falling out of my pocket and drifting to the ground, did my salvation occur to me. Atty hadn’t known if the orb could break. Only guessed. I cast, returning the sleigh to its original size. More than twice the length of the fucking prison.
Glass shattered around me, the water bursting outward as the sleigh landed with a crash to the ground with me falling onto it. The sound of a bone breaking jarred me, pain reverberating through my ribs. I’d lurched out of the frying pan and been tossed into the fryer, it seemed. Levin snatched me from the ground, his powerful fingers gripping my throat. He wanted to suffocate me. His feelings of vengeance and vindication might have even done so if not for the abrupt snap of his neck.
Atlas.
13
“Never, ever lock someone in one of your globes again if there’s even a hint of a chance that you could die or pass out or fall down and break a fucking leg.” I shoved him, though it killed my ribs, and I had no idea how badly he’d been hurt.
“Marley,” he said, helping me to my feet.
“And the next time you decide to sacrifice yourself and just—”
“Marley!”
“No. We’re supposed to be a team and figure this—”
He didn’t let me finish as he threw his arms around me, holding me so tight I could feel the heart pounding in his chest and the sheer pain within my body roaring in protest. I hissed, and he relented. Only slightly.
Checking on his emotions, the fear and relief were nearly equal. There was a fading sense of desperation and panic, and all of that combined overwhelmed me until I simply wrapped my arms around him, too, letting the reality of what had just happened wash over me.
Five years. For five years, I’d been running and hiding and spending every second of my life afraid. He’d found me so many times. I’d escaped those hands and that power by luck over and over again, knowing that one day, my luck would run out.
The tears fell as I finally let my own feelings take over. This moment wasn’t about the man holding me nor the one lying dead on the ground, it was about me and my salvation. It was about gaining an ounce of my life back. And maybe I couldn’t face my parents yet, but there was healing here. And there could be healing there, too.
“Okay?” he whispered.
“Mostly.” I pulled away to wipe the tears, clutching my stomach.
“Are you hurt?”
“I think I broke a rib, maybe two. You?”
He moved in closer, brushing a hand over my stomach until I winced. “Just knocked the wind out of me. We better wrap this. I know a healer in the Moss Coven. We just have to rush through Forest. Think you can make the ride?”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
“Good. Let’s fix you up and get the hell out of here.”
He snagged a blanket, drying it with his wind magic before approaching me. “I can wrap it over your clothes, but they’re wet. Either I blast you with magic I can’t really control to dry you, or you—”
“I have to take off my coat and shirt, don’t I?”
“You’re only making yourself colder because you’re sopping wet. I won’t look.”
I fumbled for words. For air. “You can look, Atlas. Just be gentle.”
He manipulated the buttons on my coat with ease, but the second I raised my arms and swore, he ripped the shirt off as fast as he could, bearing me to the elements. His eyes didn’t leave mine as his knuckles brushed my skin, devouring me with the only heat I’d felt in hours.
“I’ll be quick, Frostbite. Are you ready?”
