Claus

Twenty-Four

"Cassian!"

No matter how much she may deny it, she was a Morozko, and she would not lose him to something she should be able to control.

She forced herself to her feet, the wind driving into her. And it was cold. She narrowed her eyes against it. She would not let it make a mockery of what power she did have.

One step at a time, she forced her way through it though it pushed against her, like it was body struggling to hold her back.

"Cassian!"

Answer. Please.

If he did, she couldn't hear him over the raging of the wind. Each step she took was firm; she would give the ice no purchase against her.

It felt as if she walked in a dream, the wind might as well be tar. It fought her, pressed against her, but she pressed back harder. When she made it to the end, she crawled the last few feet, her bare hands pressing into the ice. It should have burned, should have at least felt cold. But it didn't.

Maybe she'd gone numb.

"Cassian!" She pushed herself along the ice the last couple of inches and heard a growl. Fingers clinging to the ice, she looked over the edge. "Ata," she swore.

The Fata hung by one hand from a bar that was dislodged and was becoming more so with each moment. Cassian's other arm hung at his side, blood dripping from the end of his sleeves, and blood covered the bar from which he hung. Below him, the couplers connecting the two cars train rattled as the tracks passed by in a blur.

"Can't you fly?"

He growled, louder. "If I try, I'll be slammed into the other car." And then fall between them, where some limb would be severed, not that it mattered if the fall succeeded in killing him.

Faryn reached down for him, and his eyes widened.

"I'll drag you down with me."

"No. You won't." She felt secure on the ice, to the point she wasn't sure whether it hadn't melted beneath her.

The bar groaned, and slid further from its socket, sending Cassian swinging.

"Cassian. Now." She flexed her fingers. "Take my hand."

"No."

"I need you to help me find my mom. To find Nick. Take my hand."

He stared at her; his eyes determined to do no such thing.

Her eyes narrowed. "Then what exactly is your plan? That bar isn't going to hold until the train stops."

His jaw tightened, and at last he reached his hand up toward hers. Their fingers brushed, and she strained to reach down farther. His fingers clamped above her wrist, his hand slick with blood. If she didn't act quickly, he would slip away from her.

She locked her hand around his arm, clutching it as if she were the one falling.

The Fata braced his feet against the carriage, and Faryn pulled, until he was climbing over the edge. Faryn fell onto her back, Cassian landing beside her, both of them panting.

The ice was harsh against the back of her head, but she laid there, not moving anyway.

"Thank you."

"I figured I owed you for saving me."

"Right." He sucked in big mouthfuls of cold air and rolled over, climbing onto his hands and knees, when he froze.