Free Icebound (Legends of the Shifters Book 2) by J.B. North

it behind me. I changed in midstride,
lifting off into the air. I couldn't help the untamed cries of sadness that
escaped me as I flew higher.
    Sir
Lochlan's words echoed through my mind. “Brent, it's not her fault,” he'd said.
    But
I can't stop thinking that it is. If only I’d just gone alone.
    It
is my fault.

 
     
     
    -Chapter Nine-
     
    Sir
Lochlan called after me as I flew over the rocky hills, but I paid him no mind.
The hotel wasn't hard to find. It was easily the largest building in Redrune.
    I
folded in my wings and angled downward, plunging into a seemingly vacant
alleyway. I landed on human feet and leaned against the stone wall to steady
myself.
    What
have I done? Of all the times I'd thought of telling Roland's family about
his death, nothing could have been worse than what really happened. I'd kept my
promise to Roland, but I ran away like a feeble mouse at the first sign of
danger.
    I
took in a deep breath and pushed myself away from the wall, walking swiftly
around the corner to get back to the mahogany doors. I gripped the handle, but
instantly jerked it away when it started to smoke. A glowing orange hand print
was seared into the metal. I took in a deep breath to calm myself and opened
the door quickly, elbowing it shut once I was inside.
    The
foyer was grand, with the ceiling stretched high above my head. Blue and silver
banners with the king's insignia lined the hall. Flickering lanterns were hung
on either side of each one, to the very end of the wide corridor. I took a few
steps forward, and as I walked, the lanterns on either side of me went out one
by one. I paused as the rest of the lights went out until I was all alone in a
darkened corridor. Only the moonlight lit the way to the empty desk and the
doors just beyond it.
    My
heartbeat skipped. I was still in first form, and yet somehow, power trickled
through to my human body. I was absorbing the heat. I walked toward one of the
unlit lanterns and cupped my hands around it, willing it to relight. A bolt of
fire struck the lantern, glass and metal shrapnel shooting everywhere. All that
was left was a blackened spot on the wall.
    I
jumped when someone cleared their throat at the other end of the hallway. Grix
stood in the doorway, his hand still on the doorknob.
    “I’m
guessing things didn’t go well?” he asked, studying the charred remains of the
lantern.
    I
hid my stinging hands behind me. “No, they didn’t,” I said in a small voice.
    He
shut the door and came closer. “What happened?”
    I
didn’t want to talk about it. I turned away.
    “Come
on, was it that bad?” he said.
    “I
ran away,” I said, fighting back tears.
    “Why?”
    “Well,
Roland’s brother threatened me, but that’s only part of it.” I paused. “I ran
away because I couldn’t stand to see the pain on their faces for one moment longer
before I …” I trailed off.
    “Before
you broke down, too?” Grix finished for me.
    I
looked back at him, trying to keep the tears from falling. “It was hard for me
to lose him, but them? They had twenty years of knowing him, of watching him
grow from a child into a man. And I keep feeling like I could have done
something to spare them that pain.”
    He
put his hand on my shoulder in an awkward gesture to comfort me. “There was
nothing you could do, or you would’ve done it. The past it over, so let’s live
for the present and the future. What would Roland want you to do right now?”
    “I’m
not sure.”
    Grix
rubbed the back of his neck. “My bet is that he’d want you to take a deep
breath and calm yourself…and then, he’d want you to go eat something before you
starve to death.”
    I
laughed, and the tension in the room immediately lifted. All at once the
lanterns relit, filling the hall with light.
    He
glanced at the lanterns and gave me a tight smile. “You’re getting stronger,
Ivy. You need to control your emotions if this is what they can do. Perhaps a
way you can cope with it for now is that