Hello and welcome back to part two of our readalong of Ledge by Stacey McEwan! Need a refresher of chapters 9 – 15? Let’s get into business!

🪓 Beware of spoilers down below if you haven’t read the section! You have been warned…🪓

!! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD !!

Picking up from where we left off, we see Dawsyn prepare to run down the mountain. The odds are against her but she’s willing to put up a fighting chance, especially now that her weapons were given back to her from a human slave of the Glacian’s. Though weary and heavy ladened in a dress, Dawsyn is ready to put up a fight.

The horn sounds and she barrels down the mountain, fast and afraid. She fears the sound of wingbeats from the Glacian’s and when she hears the second horn sound, she is desperate. Luckily, she finds a hiding spot and slides into it, hoping to hide from the Glacian’s.

Unluckily, she is immediately found by none other than Ryon, the half-Glacian – the ‘hybrid’, as Dawsyn calls him.

Expecting death, she prepares for a fight with him, attempting to kill him. Instead, she is surprised when Ryon lifts her up and hides with her within the trees. Other Glacian’s look for her and Ryon keeps her from being spotted.

He offers Dawsyn his help in getting down the mountain, which she rejects because she does not trust him or his intentions. Ryon leaves her on the snowy mountain and flies off. Perturbed, Dawsyn continues to run down the mountain, having hope she will reach the valley without being caught.

Two Glacian’s swoop down on her. With her axe, Dawsyn manages to kill one and incapacitate the other, cutting him in his neck and having him bleed out of the wound. Dawsyn is injured in the fight and the Glacian that’s still alive gets a blade between her eyes. She waits for him to bleed out before making a move but is saved when a flurry of snow appears and Ryon snaps his neck.

Succumbing to her injuries, Dawsyn falls but Ryon catches her and takes her to a small warren to warm up by a fire. Their trust is fragile, nonexistent, even, but Dawsyn passes out in the warren, injured and cold. When she awakes, she is closer to the fire and without her weapons.

Dawsyn hesitantly shares her background with Ryon: she tells him of her mother figure and that there is nothing waiting for her back on the Ledge. She asks about the Iskra and he tells her that it’s a source of magic that derives from human souls that Glacian’s need to be kept immortal. With their precarious situation, the two of them fall asleep fretfully, and in the morning, Dawsyn attempts to escape with her weapons. She is caught and pinned by Ryon.

The two of them escape the small warren and continue down the mountain, Dawsyn with better gear that Ryon kept there from previous trips. She is still injured but keeps up with him during their journey. The two of them spar with their words and Dawsyn wonders what his motives are.

As they run, Dawsyn hears the sound of trickling water and, despite Ryon’s vehemence that they shouldn’t go to it, she rushes to see the stream. This is the first she’s ever seen before. Dawsyn gets too close to the ice and Ryon drags her away to stop her from slipping – in retaliation, she hits him in the nose and he bleeds out of it. She expects a blow back but is surprised when he doesn’t attack her at all.

They are surprised by a Glacian who sweeps down and is shocked to see Ryon with Dawsyn as all the other Glacian’s are chasing her. This Glacian is revealed to be Phineas, the person who raised and vouched for Ryon to come to the palace. Ryon negotiates with him to not tell the guards that he is with Dawsyn, and Phineas flies off without a concrete answer. The two of them keep running.

While running, they hear horns and the beat of wings. Ryon hides Dawsyn in the trees, pressed up against him. The longer they stay hidden, the more aware she becomes of his body… 🤭

Soon, the Glacian’s disappear and the two keep running. They find another of Ryon’s caves and Dawsyn is exhausted and cold. The two of them end up huddling for the sake of her warmth; Ryon is perturbed by her closeness, but relaxes enough to tell Dawsyn about his upbringing. He was raised in a place called the Colony with other mixed-blooded Glacians. After Phineas brought him to court, he managed to rise up in his ranks and curry some of the King’s favour. Dawsyn learns about why King Vasteel needs humans for iskra: the pure blooded Glacian’s are dying off quickly. Despite immortality, they are able to be killed and they are unable to have children: there has not been a full blooded Glacian birth in over a century.

As Dawsyn and Ryon continue down the mountain, he worries about Phineas. The two of them get separated and Dawsyn is approached by a huge predatory cat. She manages to throw her axe at it, killing it in front of Ryon.

He is shocked to find that she was able to do it so easily.

The perspective shifts and we get Ryon’s POV! He is perplexed by Dawsyn, her violence and her yearn for survival. He tells her of his plan to go down to the valley and get away from Glacia. Dawsyn asks him who Phineas was to him and Ryon explains that Phineas is like a father to him. His real father was a favourite of King Vasteel, who, after some time, did not find joy in the killing of humans. He took a human for a ‘servant’ and ended up having a baby with her – Ryon. Once King Vasteel found out, he had Ryon’s father killed and Ryon sent to the Colony to be raised. Phineas watched over him fastidiously as he was a close friend of Ryon’s father.

Dawsyn muses about what will await her in the valley. The two of them bicker (or flirt), and Dawsyn threatens Ryon several times, ending up with a knife against his throat. Ryon comes to grudgingly accept her prowess.

And that’s as far as we’ve gotten! Whew! What a wild and icy ride so far. The sexual tension? Immense.

Discussion questions:

1. Why do you think the Glacian’s take people from the Ledge for iskra and nowhere else?

2. Do you think Phineas will betray Ryon?

3. What did you think of Ryon’s POV?

4. What do you think Ryon’s motives are when he gets to the bottom of the mountain?

Join us on the 9th for chapters 16 – 22! And remember to comment your thoughts for a chance to win a Chasm arc! 🪓❄️