Griffin
Jack tramped across the snow-covered glacier beside me, as we made our way back to the moulin. “I know you’re angry,” he said.
The others had drawn ahead of us. I glanced at him, but the shadow of his hood hid his eyes, leaving only his mouth exposed.
The aurora glowed red, so bright it threw our shadows onto the snow and made the ice look like rubies, or frozen blood. The voice in my head hadn’t grown louder, exactly. But something had changed. What, I wasn’t certain, but it terrified me. What was happening even now beneath the ice?
“You’ve lied to me, put my life in danger, and endangered Whyborne and Christine,” I said, because any distraction from that distant sound, hovering just out of range of understanding, was welcome at the moment. “No, of course not, why would I possibly be angry?”
Jack’s mouth flattened into a tight line. “Fine. Be angry. I’m angry with myself, to be honest. I’m your older brother. I’m supposed to look out for you, and I failed. If I’d only found you earlier, before Dr. Whyborne had the chance to seduce you.”
“Whyborne? Seduce me?” A mix of anger and grief twisted in my belly, but I’d be damned if I let Jack misconstrue our relationship. “I’m afraid you have it the wrong way around.”
Jack gave me a sharp look. “Are you serious?”
“If you imagine I was some innocent who had never even considered bedding a man, let alone actually done it, you are sorely mistaken,” I said coldly. To hell with Jack and what he thought of me.
“Well...yes...things get lonely on the frontier, in mining camps. It’s only natural, under such circumstances...” Jack cleared his throat uncomfortably. “But this is different.”
So Jack had availed himself of male company, and more than once, if I was any judge. “Yes,” I said. “It is different. I love Ival, and he loves me. And it’s still been hard sometimes, damned hard, to carve out a life together. So if you think he beguiled me into becoming his paramour for some incomprehensible plan of his own, you’re wrong. He didn’t even know sorcery existed when we first met.”
My words seemed to catch Jack even further off guard. “Are you certain?”
“Of course I am.” I hitched my pack higher on my back. “I’ve walked this path with him, every step of the way.”
Jack fell silent. Hopefully I’d given him something to think about.
We reached the moulin soon after. I stood beside it and tried not to betray my fear.
The smooth-edged hole vanished into darkness, untouched even by the blazing lights of the aurora.
Nothing good ever happened underground. Every instinct I possessed told me to run and not stop until I was far, far away. To do anything, go anywhere, but down this narrow slot. To draw no nearer to that distant, incomprehensible voice that even now spoke just on the edge of hearing.
But my husband was in danger. Even if I hadn’t been the one to get us all into this mess, I couldn’t leave him. I had to get to him, had to try. Even if it cost my sanity.
The ropes still hung in place, and no tracks led away from the moulin. Iskander had already taken up one of the ropes, his face set in a look of grim determination. Our eyes met, and he gave me a nod. “We’ll get them back, Griffin. Or we’ll sodding die trying.”
“I know.” I took a deep breath and seized another rope. Jack crouched by the moulin, peering down. “Last chance to back out, Jack. The things down there are...well. Terrifying is one way to put it. We might none of us ever see the light of day again.”
Jack shook his head. “You know I can’t do that.”
We made our way down the long, long drop, feet braced against the smooth ice and ropes clutched tight in our hands. I tried to pretend the ice wasn’t closing around and above me. Instead I pictured Ival’s face, the way his hair refused to lie flat for any length of time, the way his smile transformed his features. I imagined us in our study, curled together on the couch with Saul sprawled across our laps, this horror long behind us.
We’d make it home again. No matter how many umbrae I had to face. Anything else was unthinkable.
After what seemed an eternity, my feet touched the loose gravel. We were down. Beneath the glacier.
Down in the dark where the monsters lived.
Would I see Jack devoured, nothing left but a pile of bones? Or would we find Whyborne in the clutches of one, screaming for help, a bare skull in place of his face?
“Are you all right, old boy?” Iskander asked.
I took a deep breath. “Y-yes. I’m fine.” I had to be. If I fell apart now, all hope of saving Whyborne and Christine would be lost. “Christine said she found a ramp of some sort. Let’s look for it.”
I didn’t want to pay any more attention to the mysterious voice in my head than I had to. But if it could lead me closer to Whyborne, I’d let it. My footsteps carried me unerringly to the rectangular hole in the glacier-ground rock.
“At least there’s a fresh breeze blowing through,” Scarrow remarked.
I stared at the opening, my heart in my mouth. “I’ll take whatever good news I can get,” I said around it. My attempt at lightness fell flat.
Jack put his hand tentatively to my shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“You know my past, thanks to the Endicotts,” I said. “What do you think is wrong?”
The words came out more harshly than I’d intended. He flinched and let his hand fall. “I’m sorry. Perhaps you should remain here. Iskander, Scarrow, and I will find Nicholas and the others.”
“No.” Taking a deep breath, I started for the ramp. “I’m going with you. Let’s just get this over with.”