The frost never melted in Vaerra's court.
It whispered.
The palace was carved from a single mountain of blue ice, its walls etched in runes that pulsed faintly with freezing light. Servants wore iron masks to prevent their breath from fogging the Queen's air. No warmth was allowed to linger.
Queen Vaerra sat alone.
She didn't need courtiers. Or counsel.
She had the mirror.
It stood before her—nine feet tall, framed in cracked bone and shadowglass. A cursed artifact recovered long ago from a battlefield soaked in ancient blood. It showed not reflections…
…but futures.
And the future had changed.
The Mirror's Warning
Smoke curled behind the glass.
Aryelle stood in flame. The Crown hovered above her. Her eyes were lit with gold.
Beside her stood Kael.
Behind her lay a kingdom of ash.
But then—the vision fractured.
Aryelle again.
Same mark.
Same fire.
But this time—Vaerra stood beside her.
Not Kael.
The mirror flickered between both.
Over and over.
Burn the world with Kael.
Save the world with Vaerra.
Or was it the reverse?
The mirror laughed.
The Hollowfire Monk's Return
A low thud echoed through the throne room.
The Hollowfire Monk knelt, his mirror-face cracked.
He had failed.
But in his silent posture, he delivered something else.
A shard of golden thorn.
Vaerra stood, expression unreadable.
"So," she said softly, "the second Seal is broken."
She turned away from him.
"Prepare the monks. Ready the ships. Send word to the Drowned Lords. And summon the Forgebound."
The servant beside her hesitated. "My Queen, the Forgebound are…"
"Mad?" she finished.
She smiled.
"Good. So am I."
In the Ice Vaults
Later that night, Vaerra descended into the Vaults.
Few had seen them. Fewer had lived after.
There, locked in a wall of silverfrost, was her secret.
A second Crown.
Thorns frozen mid-bloom. Flames captured mid-flicker.
Incomplete.
And beside it—her sister's remains.
Wrapped in ceremonial robes.
The first Flamebearer.
Aryelle's bloodline.
Vaerra traced her finger along the ice.
"My sweet niece," she murmured. "You think you're the first."
She smiled faintly.
"But I remember what the Crown really is."
And how to end it.
Elsewhere, on the edge of the final frozen sea…
Aryelle felt a chill that had nothing to do with the wind.