Glaciana Frostcall's Arc

Chapter 6 of 10

Glaciana opened the door before Kristian could knock. He stood on the step with frost on his white coat and his crown catching the low sun. The pink woman's warning still sat in the hall behind her. Glaciana had promised herself she would tell him the truth. Now his blue eyes were on her face and every word she had planned sounded like a shove toward the door. "Come in," she said. "Sit by the hearth. I have something to say and I do not know how to say it well." He followed her in. He did not sit. He watched her the way he had watched the dragon's breath — steady, waiting for the thing to arrive. "When you first came," Glaciana said, "my song was in the air. You walked through it. I told myself you chose me. But a siren's song leaves a thread on whoever hears it. I do not know how much of what you feel is you and how much is the thread." His jaw set. "You are telling me to leave." "No." The word came out too fast. She made herself slow down. "I am telling you what I fear. There is a difference. If I sent you away to prove it, I would be doing what she wants." "She," Kristian said. "A woman came here in a gown of pink hearts. She serves the one who warned me about keeping you. She said our bond is only my spell, and she waits past my voice for you to walk into her reach. I will not push you into her hands to settle my own doubt." She watched him take it. He did not flinch. He had not flinched at the dragon either. "So I am staying," he said, "and you are not sure of me." "I am sure of me," Glaciana said. "I ached for you past the shelf, where my song could not reach. That part I know. The part I do not know is you. I am asking you to stay inside the reach of my voice while we find out. Not as a test. As the truth." He stepped closer. The frost on his coat did not melt in the hall's cold air. He took her hand. His fingers were as cold as hers. "I heard your song," he said. "I chose to walk through it. I will keep choosing. If a thread pulls, we will see it together." Glaciana's chest loosened. She had not pushed him out. She had told him and he had stayed. Then a shadow crossed the high window. Wings, pink, wide, heart-marked. A wyrm circled her castle once and dropped toward the shelf. On its back rode a small figure in a heart-covered gown. "She did not go far," Kristian said. "No," Glaciana said. "And now she knows you are still here."