Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,126
which explained why the ground’s chill wasn’t seeping into her bones. Stubbornly, she ignored the advice and raised herself again.
She was on her feet in seconds, hands searching blindly for her arnis sticks before finally spotting them leaning against a wizened-looking tree, inches away from where Ryker Cadfael sat by a small fire, dark head bent over a steaming metal pot.
She might be unarmed, but that had never stopped her before. Tala scooped up a handful of ice and lobbed it in his direction. Ryker ducked out of the way, and Tala used that distraction to run for her weapons, even knowing he would bar the way before she could reach it.
“Attack him!” she shouted at the firebird. “Come on! What are you waiting for? Fight!”
The firebird cocked its head and stared at her like she was the demented one.
Ryker didn’t budge. He didn’t move from his spot when she grabbed her sticks, let her aim them his way. He seemed more concerned about the food he was making, glancing briefly back before returning to the pot. “I know you’re angry,” he said, and while his voice was as calm as it could be, there was a faint nervous edge to it, like he wasn’t as sure about it as he looked to be. “But I’m not here to fight.”
“Angry?” Tala all but screamed the words out. “You forced us into Avalon! Your queen froze Alex’s kingdom! You pretended to be a…pretended to be my…pretended to be on our side so you could use me to get to Alex! If you’re not going to fight, then I will!”
“I didn’t know!” Ryker shouted back, sounding pissed off himself. “I didn’t know you were a Makiling! The queen had been tracking Alex all throughout Europe. We couldn’t find him after he left the Locksleys, and it took six months to pick up the trail in the Royal States. I didn’t know you were a Makiling until that night at the bonfire, when I saw you stop the ice with your curse!”
“Then why ask me out?” Tala snapped. “Why pretend when your target was Alex all along?”
Ryker quieted. “Is it so hard to believe that maybe I just liked you?”
“I may have been more gullible back then, but I’m not so naive now to think that you just happened to like the Makiling girl out of everyone in Invierno. You expect me to trust you?”
“I knew you would come to that conclusion. And I don’t really know how to make you believe me. I don’t care if you do.” He sounded weary. “But I could have let you drown in the marsh. The Queen Mother would not be happy to know that I saved you. Your mother stole your father from her.”
“My mother didn’t steal anything. My father came to his senses.” He wasn’t going to attack her. And as unbelievable as it sounded, he had rescued her. The firebird wasn’t acting like he was the enemy either. It was watching the boy warily enough, but made no move to do more.
“I swear by my mother that I am not going to harm you.” Ryker nodded at the firebird. “We’ve come to an agreement. I’ll see you safely to Maidenkeep, and it’ll help protect us the rest of the way.”
“You want us at Maidenkeep?”
Ryker shrugged. “The Queen Mother’s made no secret that she wants the firebird. Ironically, she couldn’t reenter Avalon after the frost. Someone had cast a counterspell that not only modified the passage of time here, but prevented her from going back.” He looked curiously at her, as if hoping she’d tell him about it. When she said nothing, he continued, “I managed to enter through the looking glass shortly after your group did—a couple of ice maidens slipped through with me. I’ve been tracking your group for days.”
“The mirror broke. No one could have gotten out after us.”
He shrugged again. “There’s a reason ice maidens are called creatures of magic. Your firebird burst open a wall they previously couldn’t penetrate; we swooped in before it could ice over again, and they used their own spells to find another access point.”
Tala gripped her arnis sticks harder. “Did you send those ice wolves after us?”
“I did not. That must have been one of the ice maidens.”
“And they’re not with you?”
“Ever spent time with an ice maiden? Not the world’s most interesting folk. Besides, I haven’t committed myself completely to Mother, heart and soul, like they have, and in their eyes I’m weak