Zilpha leaned over the back of the Xctas, watching in horror as the black hole ate the mountainside. Snow, rock, and ice poured into it, and with a swirling shudder the hole expanded, drowning the ferocious beast, the pine trees, the sharp towers of Stronghold, and slabs of the mountain, burned into an everlasting ruin. Screams died in Zilpha’s throat, but she clasped her hands to her mouth, shaking from horror and the cold. It pressed around her, relentless, ferocious, and the panicked beating of the Xctas’ wings did nothing to calm her.
All of a sudden, with a blast of frigid air, the black hole closed and the mountains quaked with fear. Zilpha took a gasping breath and wiped snow from her eyelids. The silence after the storm was even more terrifying, and she looked around, watching the snow settle after the destruction. In a distance she saw a blur of gold flash past the mountains. Another creature? Carrying a survivor? She pointed, and the Xctas wheeled, turning that way as though it understood her thoughts.
Zilpha blinked back tears, surprised she’d escaped at all. Her memories flashed back to Stronghold. She’d run through the melee, up to the towers where a few of the Xctas awaited. They were Nodin’s escape plan, in case things went wrong. But when Nodin saw Zilpha’s fear, something inside him had changed. At least, that’s what he told her. He was sorry. This was not what he had planned. There were traitors in their midst, aligned with the Frost Queen and determined to sabotage his efforts at every step. They’d likely already won over Citrine and Tor Lir, and if needed, she could flee, return to Sanga Sang.
When Citrine and Elbron confronted Nodin, Zilpha had taken her chance and fled. Her bones ached, and her head throbbed. But her desire to escape, to live, to survive was stronger than any other emotion. Even as tears streamed down her face and the foundations of Stronghold shook and shuddered under the onslaught, she continued onward. The winged creatures waited for her, dodged the arrows from the attack, and whisked her away from death and devastation.
The Xctas slowed its pace and alighted on a slope. Its eyes wide, head bobbing in terror. Zilpha tumbled off it and gasped, taking in the slight form of the child who stood on the ledge, sobs wracking her body. Zilpha’s arms came out, reaching for the child with long black braids. She held her tight, patting her shoulder, holding on as though they would save the mountains from the onslaught.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “We escaped. We will be okay.”
The child held on to her for a long time, shoulders shuddered as she wept. And finally, she pulled back, wiping ice and snow from her face. “They killed them. They killed them all,” she whispered, young voice cracked and raw. “If somehow, someway, they escaped, I want revenge.”
Zilpha looked down at the child, but she did not have the heart to tell her. Revenge seldom was the answer. Instead, she said, “Come with me. I know a place where we can live. Everything is going to be okay.”
Even as Zilpha said them she hoped the words she spoke were true.
42
Rubble
Citrine huddled under the furs, but she could not stop shivering as Grift flew her across the mountains. The black hole had unexpectedly closed, and everywhere she saw piles of snow, charred ruins, and a shattering of rock and rubble. The end had come for them in one day. Everyone was dead. The thought of it made her want to vomit again, and she trembled on Grift's back until he alighted in a cave.
This is where he is.
Citrine nodded and slid off his back, hoping her feet would hold her. She swayed and leaned against him for strength, allowing her eyes to take in her surroundings. The cave yawned high on a mountaintop where the storms could not reach it. Snow banks were piled high with ice and from where she stood, she could see the back of the cave, a solid sheet of ice that glimmered and hurt her eyes.
Leave us, she commanded Grift. But don't go far.
Grift spread his golden wings and lifted off, sending a sudden gust of cold wind which chilled Citrine to the core. She glanced behind her, noting the ledge was slick and crusted over with black ice. It would be easy to trip and fall to her death—or send someone to theirs. She regarded it, and her lips curled. Squaring her shoulders, she strode into the cave.
The dimness of it struck her, but a silence hung in the air and for that she was grateful, after the whispers of the wild beasts had threatened to drive her over the brink of sanity. She felt that new feeling in her chest, the warmth and buzz of power. A shaft of sunlight pierced the interior of the cave, and for a moment Citrine thought she saw a creature’s silhouette against the back of the cave. It was dark and diabolical standing on two feet with horns coming out of its head. It was covered in a coat of black that seemed to crawl with shadows. Eyes, red as ruby yet dark as blood, stared at her.
Fear clawed through Citrine, and she blinked, but it was only a trick of the light. Swallowing down her fear, she took another step, and he appeared.
She opened her mouth to shout at him. Hit him with her fists. Drive him away. But his changed appearance made her mouth hang open.
Emerald-green eyes met hers. They were wide, round, and glittered with a wet sheen, like a jewel bathed in water. When he shook back his head, his hair was blacker than she’d ever seen it, reminding her of the feathers of a raven. Although clothed, his entire body seemed to glow with a white shimmer, but there were dark circles around his eyes and a sad tilt to his mouth. His brows rose, and he made a sound in his throat. Arms open, he dashed toward her.
Citrine took a step back, but it was all she managed before he swept her into his arms. Pulling her tightly against his body. She smelled the soft hint of the first fall of snow mixed with pine and fir. A sob sat deep in her throat. She should let go, pull away, but she could not follow through with what she'd planned to do here.
“Citrine,” his voice was a velvet whisper in her ear. “I thought I'd lost you too.”
And then his hand came up, fingers twined through her hair and his lips were on hers. Hard and insistent. His tongue pressing against her lips.
Waves of emotions rippled through her, and Citrine opened her mouth, accepting, nay, welcoming the kiss.
A moan escaped her lips as she leaned into him, although her conscience pricked her.
On the one hand, she should not be doing this. She'd come with a steely resolve to take him down. Again, she recalled the slickness of the cave entrance and how easy it would be to push him over.
There was no forgiveness, no explanation for what he had done and what the Clyear of Revelation had revealed he would do. Yet, as his fingers twisted through her hair, impulse crackled through her, and a thirst made her meet his lips with an energy that matched his.
Resistance faded away. Her arms went around his waist with a frantic desperation, pulling his hips against hers until she absorbed his warmth. The feel of his hot mouth against hers ignited a flame of euphoria stronger than the power that helped her escape. She shivered as their desire entwined, and although her eyes were closed, she could have sworn there was a soul tie that flared up like smoke and twisted together, uniting them as one.
She pulled back, flustered, and swept her bright hair out of her face. Tor Lir’s angular face hovered above hers, and his gaze was dark, tortured even. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I thought. . .I don’t know what I thought, but I can’t lose you too. I know I am supposed to be stronger than this, but after the Frost Queen woke the beast, I lost all constraint. Citrine. What happened? Where’s the Clyear?”
He held her firmly against him, so close his breath appeared like a cloud that kissed her swollen lips. Citrine touched his cheek to keep him from turning away. She took a deep breath before her willpower could fade away. “Tor Lir. I looked into the Clyear once, because I wanted to know who you are, where you came from, and why you are here. I saw dark things, past, present, and future.”
“I am not those things,” Tor Lir breathed, his eyes going wide and his grip on her tightening further. “If you believe those visions you saw, you are wrong. I may be immortal, and I may
have the blood of the Green People within me, and the Changers, but I am not them. I will not destroy this world because I am strong and powerful, and I want to rule. I will not turn this into my paradise, as the Changers before me did. You have walked with me all along, you’ve seen the things I’ve done to help people, to change the balance, to defeat evil. You cannot think I am like them.”
Citrine stared at the light in his eyes, the curve of his lips and the sound of his words sinking into her, persuading her, changing her mind. “Oh, Tor Lir,” she whispered. “But did you see what happened here?”
“We cannot blame ourselves, it was a combination of the Therian, the Frost Queen and power in the hands of those who did not deserve it.”
Citrine knew he was right, and yet the words flowed from her lips all the same. “Tor Lir, do you know who you are? Do you know who your father was?”
He blinked, and a shadow came over his face. “The Clyear told you?”
“I saw it.” She hesitated, unsure how he would react to her words. “Your father was a hero, but I think your mother tricked him. He did not know you existed. I think you were a stolen child, born because of your father’s great power.”
Tor Lir’s arms loosened, and a shadow came over his face. His words came out hard and clipped. “Don’t play with me, tell me. What was his name?”
“They called him Eliesmore. The Great Conqueror. He left a powerful gift for you in Daygone. The power of the Green Stone. Don’t you see? You can’t go there, you can’t take up that power, the power of Creation, and descend into madness. I’m begging you, please don’t do this.”
Tears came to her eyes, and she angrily brushed them away, wishing she could go through with her plan but knowing, after she’d told him, there was no way she’d be able to.
He hurled himself away from her, a string of curses coming to his lips. For a moment the shape of horns flickered behind him, and Citrine recoiled. A scream came to her lips because she saw it. A shadow, his shadow. Dark and diabolical.
“Tor Lir?”
“That is not my name,” he whispered, his eyes lost, haunted. “I know who I am. I am the new breed.”
“What does that mean?” Citrine asked miserably, twisting her hands together. “Does that mean you want to destroy the world?”
He blinked and then sneered. A forced laugh came from his lips, and he faced her again. Anger flared red on his arrogant face. “Citrine. You, of all people, how could you think I’d want something as dark and evil as ultimate power and the destruction of the world? Do you know why there is a new breed? It is because those who came before me were not good enough. They let their dark desires overrule them, but I am here because of them, or despite them. You call me Tor Lir, but I know my true name. I am the first of the Order of the Iaen. Once I go to Daygone and take up my birthright, I will have ultimate power, and evil such as it rose in the days of our forefathers will never rise again, because I have the power to sway the balance. But I have seen the effects of ultimate power. Look at what happened here. This never should have happened, but I was too blind to see, too lost in my own musings to stop it. If you want to make a difference, if you want to stop those with ultimate power from ruling over the weak and causing endless chaos, come with me, because I have the power. And you, you are a powerful Enchantress, are you not?”
Citrine nodded miserably, unsure what to say.
“This is the place where power awakes. You feel it, don’t you, the Orenda surging in the core of your being. Your latent powers finally awake for all to see.”
Citrine bit her lip and nodded again, yet doubt filled her. “Tor Lir, what do you want? Surely keeping chaos from the world is not enough for you.”
“It isn’t,” he affirmed, and then he swept closer. “I am still figuring that part out, but for now, I want you.”
Citrine’s nostrils flared, and her lips parted. “Me?” She put a hand to her heart, scarcely believing her ears.
“Aye.” Quick as a flash, Tor Lir moved closer.
Citrine backed away until she pressed against the icy sides of the cave. “Why me?”
His hand came up and threaded fingers through her bright hair, forcing her face up toward him. He licked his lips, and his gaze flickered from her eyes to her lips.
Citrine shuddered with anticipation as his hand rested on her hip.
“Aye, you, Citrine. You are the most similar to me; with no malice in your heart, you take time out from your own desires to help those in need, and you and your beasts hold to a sacred oath. You know what you want and it draws me to you.”
Citrine rested her hands on his arms and held tight. Dark thoughts had vanished, and she saw a way out, a way to get what she wanted and set her mind at ease. “Then you will come with me to set things right and help the Under Water World people.”
It was a demand, not a request.
Tor Lir nodded.
Citrine blinked and dropped her gaze, just for a moment as another thought slipped through her mind. Why should she make Tor Lir pay? After he helped her defeat the monster that hunted the Udi, she’d turn him over to the Disciples of Ithar.
His finger curved under her chin, lifting her lips to his once again. He tasted delectable, and Citrine only hoped she could hold on to her resolve until then.
Also by Angela J. Ford
Dear Readers,
Thank you for reading Realm of Ice.
If you loved the book and have a minute to spare, I would truly appreciate a brief review on the site where you bought the book. It can be short, so don’t worry about trying to sound too eloquent.
Leave a Review on Amazon.
Tor Lir and Citrine will return in Realm of Rulers.
If you’re curious about the war between the mortals and immortals, read the series that started it all.
The Four Worlds Series
The Complete Four Worlds Series (Books 1–4)
The Five Warriors
The Blended Ones
Eliesmore and the Green Stone
Eliesmore and the Jeweled Sword
Stand-Alone Tales of the Four Worlds
Prison in the Sky
Myran: A Tale of the Four Worlds
Legend of the Nameless One
Citrine’s Monsters: Prequel to Legend of the Nameless One
Realm of Beasts
Realm of Mortals
Realm of Ice
Realm of Rulers (coming 2020)
Realm of Towers (coming 2020)
Realm of Power (coming 2020)
Acknowledgments
I’m also truly grateful for the people who never cease to support and encourage my work, including my four sisters, my parents, and the many authors I work with.
Special thanks goes to JD for polishing this story and to Amalia Chitulescu for creating a gorgeous cover.
Finally, to all fans of the Four Worlds: if you have a story suggestion or characters and creatures you’d like to read about in future books, email me: [email protected].
About the Author
Angela J. Ford is an award-winning blogger and author of the international bestselling epic fantasy series, The Four Worlds. Her books have been ranked bestsellers in multiple categories including:
#1 Bestseller in Epic Fantasy
#1 Bestseller in Coming of Age
#1 Bestseller in Sword & Sorcery
#1 Bestseller in Metaphysical & Visionary
She enjoys traveling, hiking, and can often be found with her nose in a book.
Aside from writing, she enjoys the challenge of working with marketing technology and builds websites for authors. She is currently working on her next epic fantasy series: Legend of the Nameless One.
If you happen to be in Nashville, you’ll most likely find her at a local coffee shop, enjoying a white chocolate mocha and furiously working on her next book.
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