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“I’ve got a hatchet. Hold the reins tight, and don’t let them follow me.”
Fingers shaking, I did as he said, watching as he hopped out of our warm sleigh and into the freezing tundra of the River Coven, digging a hatchet out of a saddlebag before trudging through the deep snow to the edge of the lake.
One swing, two, and three before he managed a breath, the plumes wafting around him as he jerked upright, staring at the horizon. He looked back at me, gestured something with his hands and waited.
I couldn’t… didn’t understand.
Again, he waved a hand and pointed to his heart, then eyes.
I leaned out of the carriage, careful to keep the reins tight. “What?”
“Dammit, woman. Magic.” He flailed his arms. “True Sight.” He pointed to his heart and eyes dramatically. “Can you tell if anyone is out there?”
Fear rocked me backward. He wouldn’t have asked if he hadn’t suspected something. I cast immediately, seeking any kind of emotion beyond the horses and the beautiful man standing on the ice with only a hatchet. Silence. Pure, blissful silence met my power. Thank the goddess.
I shook my head, and he got back to work. Maybe it was precautionary. Still, as he chipped away at the lake, I swept that power back and forth in front of us, seeking anything that might come within range. Eventually, Atlas knelt to the ground and stuck his arm into the hole he’d made.
When he returned, the crinkle of worry in his eyes was enough to overpower the feeling of conviction surrounding him. I instantly felt the same, accepting his emotions as my own.
“I won’t sugarcoat it.” He pulled the hat from his head. “It’s deep ice, but I don’t know if it’s enough. The sleigh is heavy, and four horses are more so. We can try taking two across. You can stay there, and I’ll go back for the other two and the sleigh to make it as safe as possible.”
“If you think that’s best,” I said, keeping the worry from my voice as I stood.
He unhitched the beasts quickly, using his magic to seal Queen Raven’s ball of fire in a sphere again so I would have it while I waited for him to come back across.
“We’ll walk instead of riding them to distribute our weight across the ice. If you hear anything, the smallest crack, lift your hand like this, but don’t shout and startle the horses.”
“Okay.”
He dropped the reins to the nearest animal and came to stand before me, gripping the sides of my face with gloved hands. “It’ll be over before you know it. But if you’re scared, I’ll go first by myself.”
“You’re sure we can’t go around it?”
His eyes didn’t leave mine as he shook his head. “The marsh is too dangerous. We’ll be stuck in mud.”
“What if I shrink the sleigh?” I couldn’t blame him for not considering magic when he’d been so averse to it, but I should have thought of it sooner.
“Can you shrink the horses?”
“No. Nothing with a heartbeat. Only physical items.”
“Then we take two horses and you put the sleigh in your pocket. I’ll come back for the other two.”
I nodded with a swallow. “Okay.”
The first step onto the ice was the scariest. He held my hand, refusing to let go, even when his horse hesitated. Inch by inch, it seemed, we moved across the slippery surface.
He spoke words meant to calm the horses, though they did something for me, too. “One time, when I was a boy, just a little older than Charles, I bet Torryn that I could swim across a lake faster than he could. I was young and dumb and getting into that cocky preteen stage.
“When we got to the halfway point, I realized I’d gone as far as I could. Hadn’t paced myself, and, as each of my muscles cramped up, I fell behind, the bottom of the lake becoming a magnet, pulling me down. He saved me, of course. He was always going to win that race. But his words stuck with me, even to this day. Should the water sweep you under, never lose the fight.”
He was quiet for a moment, and the horses reacted, pulling backward.
“Keep going,” I whispered, my foot slipping as I tried to steady the beast.
When I was stable, he continued. “I’m always fighting. Myself mostly. I know I should let go of all those things Past showed us, and trust me, there’s a lot more. But something in me fights to hold on to it. It’s as if I am afraid that letting go of the fear will take away the memories. I want to be afraid. I never want to forget the way it made me feel to lie there and watch her die. Even when it hurts to remember.”
I was so distracted by his confession, so moved, I didn’t hear the first crack. But the second was deafening.
