The pendant's pulse quickened against Thalia's skin as she broke into a run, abandoning the training session without a backward glance.Her boots skidded on the frozen edge of the Crystalline plateau, sending small crystals of ice cascading over the cliff's edge.The glacenite blade bounced against her thigh with each hurried step, its weight familiar now after days of training.Kaine was alive.Kaine was returning, weeks earlier than Thalia had expected.The certainty of it thrummed through her veins, matching the metallic heartbeat pressed against her chest.
"Thalia!"Brynn called after her."Where are you—"
But Thalia was already gone, her gaze fixed on the narrow, treacherous path that wound down the cliff face like a scar against the granite.The academy's massive doors offered the safer route—through corridors and spiral staircases, past the great hall and beneath the portcullis—but those pathways would slow her descent by precious minutes.Minutes she couldn't spare.
She slung herself over the plateau's edge, her gloved fingers finding the first ice-slick handhold as if by memory.The path—if it could be called that—consisted more of nature's whims than human design: a series of jagged ledges and precarious outcroppings that zigzagged down the sheer cliff face.In summer, this descent would be dangerous.In the grip of winter, with ice glazing each foothold, it was nearly suicidal.
Thalia didn't care.
The pendant pulsed again, its rhythm quickening as if sensing her urgency.She tucked her chin against her chest, pressing her lips to the spot where the metal warmed her skin through layers of clothing.Since Kaine had given it to her, she'd never taken it off, not even to sleep.Now its steady beat urged her forward, downward, faster.
Her foot slipped on a patch of black ice, and for one sickening heartbeat, she hung suspended by her fingertips over the hundred-foot drop.Wind whipped at her cloak, threatening to pluck her from the cliff face like a leaf.Thalia gritted her teeth and steadied herself, the muscles in her arms burning with the strain.Below her, Frostforge's lower ramparts jutted from the mountainside, their battlements encrusted with frost.Beyond them, the fjord's dark waters stretched toward the horizon, a slice of midnight trapped between mountains.
She continued her descent, moving with a speed that bordered on recklessness.Twice more she nearly fell, her heart lurching into her throat, fingers scrabbling for purchase against the frozen rock.But each time, she recovered, driven by the pendant's pulse and the image of Kaine's face—and Roran's—that flickered behind her eyes.
At last, her boots hit solid ground, the impact jolting up through her legs.She paused only long enough to catch her breath before breaking into a run again, her path taking her through the sparse pine forest that clung to the mountain's base.The trek from the academy to the fjord normally took over an hour, but Thalia's urgency lent wings to her feet.She raced along the winding path, ducking under low-hanging branches laden with snow, leaping over exposed roots that threatened to snare her ankles.
Her breath came in white puffs, crystallizing in the frigid air before being snatched away by the wind.The glacenite sword thumped against her leg with each stride, a steady counterpoint to her racing heart.In her mind, she rehearsed what she would say to them, to both of them.To Kaine, whose kiss still burned on her lips despite the weeks since his departure.To Roran, whose fate had driven her to abandon her post and risk everything.
Words tangled in her throat, unspoken and insufficient.
The path curved sharply, rising over a ridge that blocked her view of the water.Thalia's legs burned as she pushed herself up the incline, boots sliding on loose shale.At the top, she stopped, breath catching as the vista below revealed itself.
The fjord stretched before her, its dark waters perfectly still, reflecting the snow-capped mountains that embraced it like mirror images.And there—cutting across that glassy surface—was a small skiff, its single sail billowing with the wind.It moved with purpose, heading directly for the stone dock that jutted from the shore.
Joy flooded through her, a warmth that reached her fingertips and toes despite the biting cold.She could make out two figures on the deck—one standing at the bow, the other adjusting the sail.Even at this distance, she would know them anywhere.
"They're alive," she whispered, the words forming a cloud before her lips."They're both alive."
She plunged down the ridge toward the shore, her feet flying over the rocky terrain with newfound energy.The forest thinned as she descended, revealing glimpses of the approaching skiff between the trees.Its sail snapped in the wind, a defiant white flag against the gray winter sky.
When she finally burst from the tree line onto the narrow strip of pebbled shore, the skiff was less than fifty yards from the dock.Thalia sprinted across the frozen ground, her cloak streaming behind her like a battle standard.Her boots clattered against the weathered planks of the dock as she raced to its edge, heedless of the splinters that caught at her clothes.
On the skiff's deck, Roran stood at the tiller, his movements fluid as he guided the vessel toward its berth.Beside him, Kaine coiled a length of rope, his gaze scanning the shoreline.When his eyes found Thalia, he stilled, the rope forgotten in his hands.
"Thalia!"Roran called, his voice carrying across the water.
She raised a hand in greeting, too breathless to shout back.The pendant against her chest pulsed stronger now, almost violently, as if reaching for its maker.She pressed her palm against it, feeling its warmth even through her gloves.
Roran brought the skiff alongside the dock with the practiced ease of someone born to the water, a skill that must have come from his Isle Warden heritage.The vessel barely rocked as it came to rest, its wooden hull nudging against the pilings with a gentle thud.
Kaine tossed the mooring line to the dock, and Thalia caught it automatically, securing it to the nearest bollard with shaking hands.She stepped back as Roran lowered the gangplank, her eyes darting between the two men, cataloging every detail.
Kaine looked weathered, his face leaner than when he'd left, with stubble darkening his jaw and upper lip.A bruise bloomed along his left cheekbone, purple and yellow against his pale skin.His movements were stiff, favoring his right side as if nursing a wound.
Roran, by contrast, looked better than when she'd last seen him in his cell.His hair had begun to grow out again, black curls a sea-tossed halo instead of the harsh prison cut.The warm tone had returned to his brown skin, though his furs were torn at the shoulder, revealing a glimpse of bandaged flesh beneath.
They descended the gangplank together, their boots thudding against the wood.In Thalia's imagination, she had pictured this moment differently—running into their arms, perhaps, or words of relief spilling from her lips.But as they drew closer, the hard set of their jaws and the tension in their shoulders stopped her short.
Something was wrong.
"What is it?"she asked, her voice barely above a whisper."What did you find?"
Roran glanced at Kaine, a silent exchange passing between them that spoke of shared hardship, if not agreement.It was Roran who spoke first, his voice clipped and urgent.
"We didn’t find the source of the black metal.Our mission is unfinished.”
That’s why they’re back so early,Thalia realized.She felt a chill that had nothing to do with the fjord's wind.They had abandoned their primary objective.What could have possibly driven them to such a drastic decision?Kaine’s sense of duty would never let him turn his back on a mission, and Roran's entire future hinged on his strict adherence to the terms of his probation.
