Elementals: Ice Wolves

uniform, her cloak hanging open to reveal the crisp shirt and trousers below, black boots shining. The crest of Ulfar—a fierce wolf guarding the city of Holbard itself—snarled down at Anders from where it was fixed on her chest. “You’re here for the Trial?” she asked, gaze falling on Rayna. “We both are,” Rayna said, at the same time as the man still holding Anders tried to protest they were here for nothing of the sort. But his grip slackened, and Anders yanked his wrist free, rubbing it with his other hand. “Then you should be on the dais,” the woman said, turning to lead the way back toward it without another word. Before the man had a chance to protest, Rayna grabbed Anders’s hand and hauled him toward the dais in the woman’s wake. People were turning toward them from every direction, and Anders kept his head down, face hot. Rayna had got them out of the frying pan and into the f ire, as always, and he was left trying to catch up, wishing that for once he’d been quick enough on his feet to know the right thing to say, the right thing to do.

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