Sea of Glass ✔️

Chapter 32 - Naked Sin

A long shard of ice shot up from the ground, piercing Uriel's neck. Ingrid grabbed his hand and ran, pulling him along the vast empty tundra. Haydn had to sprint to keep up, his legs a blur as he followed her lead.

Even though he saw that Uriel was pinned in place, he didn't doubt that the Demon could easily free himself. If he didn't simply pry himself off the ice, then he would charm a mortal to do it for him.

Waves of snow shifted behind them, covering up their tracks. Ingrid pushed forward, practically flying across the ice as her abilities shoved them through the desolate landscape.

They didn't stop, not even when his knees and ankles begged him to do so. He was beginning to understand how exhausting it was to be prey. He had been pursued before, but never by a persistent predator.

He nearly slipped a dozen times on the terrain, unused to moving faster than a grinding march. Eventually, they slowed their pace, forced to reckon with the flurries flowing in their face. The small pieces of ice hurt his skin, akin to cold little bites that were spreading over his cheeks. He could hardly see where they were going, helplessly dependent on Ingrid to keep the both of them safe.

Without warning, the ground beneath them gave away. He scarcely remembered to scream, his life flashing before his eyes as Ingrid pulled him into the hole. He caught a glimpse of the pale sky, weakly lit by the winter suns, before she closed the opening above them.

They sat in the darkness for a moment, sending only the sound of each other's breathing. Then, after his heart had stopped pounding, she finally spoke.

"We'll be sleeping here tonight. I've already frozen your magic so Uriel shouldn't be able to find us. There should be blankets somewhere so make yourself at home."

It was then that he realized that they hadn't slept all night. They were running for so long that it became morning during their journey.

He spent the next few minutes fumbling around in the dark, bumping into sharp corners as his fingers tried to find the soft edges of a blanket. Thankfully, Ingrid gently pushed him in the right direction before he had to struggle more.

They settled against a wall, huddled shoulder to shoulder for warmth. The heat from the blankets was faint but steadily building. He wondered if her ability to manipulate ice allowed her to leech the cold away, but he was too tired to care about the specifics of it all.

A dim amber glow filled the space and his eyes picked up their shadows on the opposite wall. Ingrid grabbed his arm, pointing to the source of the light.

"Your soulmate is thinking about you," she said, her voice hushed and reverent.

Evelyn is thinking about me. Even now, while we are on opposite sides of the world. At least I've done one thing right in my life.

"I'm very lucky," he said.

She nodded. "You really are. I never got to meet mine. But we used to think of each other often, about what the other person could have been. Nowadays, it doesn't happen as much, but I know my other half is still out there."

"I didn't think mine existed until I met her," he admitted. "I thought I would have to go about the rest of my life alone."

"How bleak. What a dull life that would have been! Aren't you glad that you met her?"

I would be so much worse without her.

"I'm eternally grateful."

"I don't think I could have gone the rest of my life alone. I can tell that it doesn't hurt someone like you. You've got this way about you like it's just you against the world. But I can't do that. Sooner or later, we all eventually need someone," she said.