Fugitive by Kate Avery Ellison

face and neck where my skin was exposed as we left the farmhouse and stepped into the yard, but I barely felt the cold. Words still churned within me.
    Standing at the edge of the trees, bathed in lantern light, were two men in cloaks, their faces hidden by hoods. I stopped.
    “Are we sure we can trust them?”
    Lia looked at me. “We have to. We don’t really have a choice.”
    I gazed into her face, and a warm emotion rushed through me. I trusted her. I would follow her. And so I did.
    The one called Adam pulled back his hood as we approached. His gaze flicked over me, and he lifted one eyebrow as if observing something of note. Something about his gaze made me bristle. I stared back, refusing to cower.
    “This is my older brother, Abel,” Adam said after a long moment. He gestured at the other man. “Only he and I will accompany you tonight. It’s best to travel in small groups into the deep Frost, to avoid attracting too much attention from Watchers...and anyone else who might be watching.”
    A restless energy had slipped into my bones. It felt like dread. Beside me, Lia was still. I ached to reach for her hand, but I didn’t. Instead, I offered mine to Adam. It was more a challenge than a gesture of friendship.
    Adam stared at me for a span of two breaths before gripping my hand in brief greeting. His mouth twitched. I had the sense that he trusted me as little as I trusted him.
    But we both trusted the girl standing between us.
    That was enough for me.
     
     
    Months later
     
     
    I STOOD IN the wild, stark forest of the Frost, gazing at the black branches coated with dripping snow. Behind me the sounds of celebration filled the air. I knew that somewhere in the night, Lia Weaver and her siblings were happy. Laughing, perhaps. Dancing, because we’d done it. We’d liberated the Frost.
    An emptiness filled me, an ache without a name. I did not turn to look back at the village behind me. For some reason, seeing it filled my mouth with a bitter taste.
    Freedom had come to some people this day, but there were many others still in bondage.
    My sister’s face flashed across my memory, and I lowered my head. I had not thought of her in a long time. I had no idea where she was now, or what had happened to her. Shame licked along my bones.
    Footsteps crunched in the snow.
    It was Korr. He’d been in the Frost for months, working his own agenda to overthrow the Dictator, and he’d helped us drive out the Farthers from Lia’s village in exchange for the use of a device her father had discovered.
    Our trust was tenuous as best.
    He stopped at my side, should to shoulder with me, gazing at the same thing I looked at, which was nothing, really. We stood that way for a short while, saying nothing.
    “Congratulations on not getting yourself killed,” he said.
    I ground my teeth together to hold in a sigh. My half-brother had proven himself able to make a wise choice or two, when it suited him, but that did not mean that all was forgiven.
    Silence filled the woods along with the gathering darkness. The sounds of celebration came from Iceliss. Music, laughter. Spontaneous bursts of cheering broke out intermittently.
    Korr stamped his boots to warm his feet. “Shouldn’t you be with them? Reveling in the victory of your adopted people?” When he spoke, his breath was a white cloud before his face. The night was cold, colder than we’d had in weeks. A hiccup in the coming Thaw.
    “It’s not...I’m not...” I stopped. “I don’t belong here.”
    I expected agreement, or at the very least, mockery.
    Korr said nothing of the sort. His dark eyes scanned my face, as if looking for confirmation of something. “They do not want you?”
    “No, it’s not that. It’s just...” I hesitated to bare my thoughts to him, but somehow, I spoke the words anyway. “I have unfinished business in Aeralis.”
    “Yes,” Korr agreed. “You do. We both do.”
    Shocked by such an honest admission, I looked him in the eye. He