Hanako Tepes's Arc

Chapter 6 of 8

The Mother's coven watched Hanako now, not the traitor. Her freezing display had warned the very vampire she hunted. Somewhere among the witches and warriors, the spy stayed hidden. So Hanako stopped hunting in secret. She would draw the traitor out by force. She sent word that she would train her ice against a real opponent in the arena at midnight, in full view of the court. Whoever the traitor was, they would come to see how strong the Ice Queen had grown. Her uncle met her at the arena doors. Jiro Minamoto carried his katana across both palms, his topknot pinned tight for the night. He spoke plainly, the way he always did. "You cannot bait a snake with a show. You will only frighten it deeper." "Then I will freeze the whole nest," Hanako said. "Frost spreads. Whoever flinches wrong, I mark." Jiro studied her. "You will need someone who can push you past holding back." He looked past her shoulder. The torches dimmed. Every guard along the wall stiffened. Hanako felt her own heartbeat stumble off its rhythm before she turned. Her stepdaughter walked onto the sand in red. The Crimson Prințesă, Maria, Dracula's daughter and the first blood bender, moved like she owned the floor. Nearby heartbeats leaned toward her without permission. "Uncle says you hold back," Maria said. "So I will bleed you until you stop." Hanako raised her hand. Frost climbed her arm and hardened into a blade of clear ice. "I will not hurt you, Maria." "Then you will lose." Maria flicked two fingers. The blood of a dead beast rose from a jar at the arena's edge. It shot at Hanako like a red spear. She caught it on her ice and the two burst apart. Blood froze midair and rained down as red hail. Hanako slid back, boots carving the sand. Maria pressed. She pulled blood from every crack in the stone, whips of it lashing. Each time Hanako iced a strike, she pulled the cold back short. She feared a wide freeze would catch Maria's heart. Blood splattered the walls. Ice cracked the floor. But Hanako gave ground, and the watching court saw her retreat. "You freeze the air but not me," Maria snarled. "Coward." Hanako's rage broke loose. She stopped guarding Maria. She spread frost across the whole arena at once, then yanked it back from one small circle around her stepdaughter, exactly as Jiro had taught. The sand froze solid. The blood froze. And in the far seats, one figure leapt for the exit as ice sealed the doors. Hanako's frost caught the runner's legs. The court gasped. A witch of the Mother's own coven lay pinned in ice, a Nordic dagger sliding from her sleeve. Maria lowered her hand, breathing hard. "There is your snake." Hanako had her traitor. But the woman wore the Mother's mark. Exposing her meant accusing the Mother's own coven, the only house now shielding Hanako in Walachia.