Desperation claws at my chest the longer we go on searching, but Nilak hears nothing over the howling wind and sees nothingbut ice and snow. The tips of my ears burn from cold. Every breath I take feels like broken glass scoring my insides.
Again, I tell Nilak.Search again. Minta didn’t bring Zenevieve home. Minta always takes care of her rider.
My dragon flies lower this time, gliding just a few feet above the massive expanse of churned-up snow. My dragon has always been sensitive to sound. Sometimes it’s been to her disadvantage, such as when screeching fights break out between young dragons, ratcheting up her temper. I once asked a namyr player to perform for the trainees and their dragons. Long ago, the instrument was used by our enemies against our dragons, as they find the sound unbearable. Nilak was so enraged by the shrill, discordant instrument that she screamed, raked her teeth through the dirt, and flung stones at the cliffs. Her sensitivity is a blessing to us now. If Zenevieve and Minta are trapped beneath the snow, she will find them.
A short time later, Nilak picks up a sound, deep within the churned-up snow, and relays it to me. We both know what the sound is. A dragon struggling to breathe.
Nilak dives for the spot and rakes away the snow with her powerful talons. I jump down from her back and join her, digging with my gloved hands. A moment later we spot midnight black scales peeking out from the snow. Nilak breathes hot air and sparks, melting away the snow and freeing Minta, who slowly raises her head and shakes off the ice that has crusted around her scales. With enormous effort, for she is exhausted, Minta gets to her feet and crosses the snow, dragging her wings behind her.
I frantically search the area around where Minta lay. Where is Zenevieve?
Minta struggles thirty feet across the churned-up ice, and begins nosing and clawing at the snow, calling for her rider. Nilak and I follow her, and I frantically scoop away armloadsof snow. A terrifying amount of snow. My heart is in my throat as I dig alongside the two dragons, Minta crying in despair. Every second seems to take a lifetime. Zenevieve doesn’t have a lifetime. She could be crushed. She could be suffocating.
I uncover the edge of a black and emerald green cloak. With a ragged cry, I shove my arms beneath the snow, take hold of Zenevieve, and pull her out.
I fall backward on the snow with the young woman in my arms. She’s as limp as a rag doll, and her face is white.
“Zenevieve.Zenevieve.”
Her eyes are closed, and her lips are blue. There are snow crystals clustered on her lashes, and I can’t even tell if she’s breathing. “Zenevieve. Can you hear me? Wake up.”
I pull off a glove and press my fingers to her throat to search for a pulse, but I’m shaking so hard that I can’t feel anything. A wave of panic slams into me, so strong that blood roars in my ears and black spots dance before my eyes. She can’t be dead. I have to do something. But all I can do is stare at Zenevieve’s lifeless body as panic pounds through my blood.
Nilak nudges my shoulder. I look around and see a dark opening in the side of the mountain. My dragon goes over to investigate, and she disappears inside. I stand up with Zenevieve in my arms and carry her to the opening, Minta limping after us.
The cave is freezing cold, but at least it’s out of the snow and wind. Zenevieve needs heat, and she needs it fast. I pull a spare cloak out of one of Nilak’s saddlebags, find a blanket among Zenevieve’s things on Minta, and spread them out against Nilak’s side. Under my dragon’s sheltering wing, I place Zenevieve on the makeshift pallet and strip her down to her underclothes, and then I do the same to myself. I pull her ice-cold body against mine and huddle with her under my cloak. Minta is on Nilak’s other side, also huddled under a wing.
I chafe Zenevieve’s hands against my chest and wipe the ice crystals from her lashes. There’s no warmth in Zenevieve’s body at all. Zenevieve left my home and my life, but I can’t lose her from this earth as well. Seeing her every day with Minta was the only thing that made the loss bearable.
“Zenevieve. Zenevieve, can you hear me?” I pull her closer into the warmth of my body, but she feels like a block of ice. “Gods, Zenevieve, please open your eyes.”
A small sound reaches my ears. A soft, faint breath.
I seize her face in my hands. “Zenevieve?Zenevieve. Open your eyes.Open your eyes now.” I don’t mean to use my roar, but I’m so wound up from fear and my oncoming rut. My words reverberate through my chest, commanding that she obey me.
Zenevieve’s eyelashes flutter. She opens her eyes, and her gaze fastens on mine.
“Am I dead?” she whispers.
I cry out in relief and hug her to my naked chest, rocking her back and forth. She’s alive. She’salive. Thank the gods and the stars in the sky.
I pull back, cradling her head in my hands so I can get a better look at her, reassuring myself that Zenevieve is all right. I snatch up her hands and examine her fingers. They’re stiff and cold, but not frostbitten, thanks to her gloves. I hook up her knees and feel her toes, rubbing life back into them.
Zenevieve is so weak that she can only watch me through heavy lidded eyes. “I’m dreaming, aren’t I? I’m always dreaming of you.”
When I’m certain that she hasn’t lost any toes, I lay down and pull her against me. The warmth from Nilak’s soul core is bathing Zenevieve, and as her blood begins to recirculate, she starts to shiver violently. She shakes so much that she nearly slips into unconsciousness from sheer exhaustion.
“Don’t fall asleep. Keep your eyes open.”
“I’m trying,” she whispers.
I press kisses to her forehead and chafe her bare back. When most of her shaking subsides, I find a waterskin and let her take a few sips. She swallows them, and finally some of the color returns to her cheeks.
I groan in relief and let my head fall back onto a balled-up cloak. If I hadn’t noticed that Minta was missing, she and Zenevieve would still be trapped under that avalanche.
Zenevieve half sits up with a gasp. “Minta?”
Minta gives a soft cry from Nilak’s other side. She’s all right as well.
