Nyra
They didn't chase us. Not at first.
The fire I unleashed had melted their courage along with their ice. The guards hesitated, stunned by the sudden shift by Kael's command, by the fact that I'd made it out of their little courtroom trap alive and unbroken.
But hesitation doesn't last long in Glacium.
The moment I grabbed Ava's hand and turned toward the corridor, I heard the barked order: "Seal the exits!"
Too late.
Kael was already moving beside us, cloak flaring behind him, one hand on the hilt of his sword, the other clearing a path with commands that cracked like whips.
"This way," he said.
I didn't ask where we were going.
The fire in me trusted him. I didn't. Not yet.
But I ran.
Ava stumbled once, and I steadied her, casting a glance at her face. Pale. Tear-streaked. But alive. Gods, she was alive.
I didn't let go of her hand.
Kael led us through a narrow passage that spiraled beneath the outpost. It reeked of damp stone and secrets. The walls wept cold, and our footsteps echoed like ghosts.
"They won't follow us down here," he said.
"Because they're afraid?" I asked, breathless.
"Because they don't know it exists."
"Convenient."
"Hard-earned."
We turned sharply, and a thick wooden door appeared ahead—reinforced with frost iron. Kael unlocked it with a sigil ring I didn't recognize. Ancient runes glowed briefly across the metal before fading.
Elira was waiting on the other side.
"You're late," she said, tossing a pack over her shoulder. "But dramatic, so I'll allow it."
"You knew?" I said.
She winked. "Who do you think slipped the phoenix seal under your door?"
Kael didn't flinch. "We need to move. They'll check this passage eventually."
I stepped forward. "Wait, how do we know this isn't another trap?"
Elira raised a brow. "We're standing in a condemned ice tunnel with no backup, no cavalry, and two fugitives with death warrants. If this is a trap, I'm really bad at it."
She had a point.
Still, I didn't release my flames until Ava touched my arm.
"Nyra," she whispered. "I trust her."
That made two of us. Barely.
We didn't pause again until we reached the ridge path that led into the glacier woods, half-frozen trees standing like ghost sentries beneath the moonlight. I could already hear the horns echoing behind us, urgent and shrill.
Kael glanced back. "We've got maybe ten minutes before the highborn trackers catch the scent."
"Then we move faster," I said.
Ava stumbled again. She wasn't built for this, thin from poor feeding, her movements hesitant. My chest ached at the sight.
"I can carry her," Kael offered.
"No," Ava whispered. "I can walk."
But I could see her wavering.
Elira slipped to her other side, slipping an arm around her waist. "You fall, we both go down. Let me help, Firelight."
Ava blinked. "Did you just call me....."
"Later," Elira said with a wink.
We plunged deeper into the woods.
The night air bit through my stolen gown, but I barely noticed. The adrenaline, the burn of magic, the rush of freedom, it pulsed louder than the cold.
Kael jogged a few paces ahead, scouting. His movements were precise, controlled. He knew the terrain like a soldier, but his eyes kept flicking back to me. Not in judgment.
In question.
And maybe… in awe.
I didn't know what to do with that.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"There's a hunter's lodge near the border of the neutral zone," he said. "It's off-grid. We rest there, then head for Ventaria."
Ventaria. The wind kingdom.
A place of shifting loyalties and secrets. But it wasn't Glacium, and that was good enough.
Elira muttered, "Assuming we don't freeze or get spotted first."
"Have some faith," Kael said.
"I'm saving it for when we need to lie to border guards."
Despite the danger, I snorted.
Eventually we crested a ridge, the treeline breaking just enough to offer a view.
Glacium's spires glittered behind us, cold, cruel, magnificent. Smoke curled faintly from the courtroom's upper windows.
I stopped.
Not because I was tired.
Because I had to look.
"You okay?" Ava asked.
I shook my head. "No. But we're alive."
And for now, that was enough.
Kael stepped beside me, close but not touching. "They'll paint you as a monster after this."
"They already did."
"You proved them right in their eyes."
I looked at him, fire coiling in my chest. "Then I'll give them something real to fear."
His eyes burned with something I didn't recognize.
Not fear.
Respect.
Maybe even hope.
We kept moving, the frost crunching beneath our feet, the fire behind us burning too slowly for their comfort and too fast for us to forget.
Ahead lay exile, or battle, or both.
But for the first time in ten years, I was no longer running alone.
And this time, I wasn't running away.
I was running toward something worth burning for.