Marin's fever came on fast.
One moment, she was tidying up tea cups from a morning with Alendra, humming softly to herself. The next, the world tilted sideways and shadows curled like smoke around her vision. Her skin burned. Her breath hitched. And though she managed to set the porcelain tray down with only a soft clink, she slumped against the wall, gripping it for support.
The warmth wasn't just uncomfortable — it was wrong. It churned behind her eyes, throbbed beneath her skin, like her own magic had turned inward. Her last coherent thought before sliding to the floor was I really wanted to finish those lemon cakes…
Kael found her there, minutes later.
He'd been returning from an inspection when something seized tight in his chest — a weight he didn't understand, only felt. He pushed open the door to her chambers with more force than necessary and saw her curled on the floor, flushed and shivering, lips parted in pained breaths.
"Marin." His voice cracked.
She blinked up at him, unfocused. "I... I think I broke... my temperature."
He was kneeling beside her before she could even try to smile. His glove was off in a second, the back of his hand brushing her cheek. Burning. His ice magic kicked in instinctively, a thin frost dusting his fingers.
"Don't freeze the floor," she mumbled.
His chest twisted. Even now — even now — she made him want to laugh and break something at the same time.
"I'm going to carry you," he said, voice low and steady. "Hold on to me."
"I always do…"
The quiet honesty of her words gutted him more than he expected. He gathered her up, bridal-style, pressing her overheated body to his chest. Her head lolled against his shoulder, and his jaw tightened.
"Nyssa!" Kael barked the moment he reached the infirmary.
The half-dryad looked up from sorting salves, startled. "She's burning up," Kael snapped. "It's not just a normal fever. I think it's magical backlash."
Nyssa was at Marin's side in seconds. "Set her down. Carefully."
Kael did, kneeling beside the bed as Nyssa checked her pulse and eyes. Marin whimpered, twisting slightly. Her skin shimmered faintly — the way it did when she amplified someone. Even unconscious, she was connecting.
"She's trying to link," Nyssa muttered. "Even in her condition."
Kael's breath fogged in the air. The temperature was dropping rapidly.
"Cool her, not the room," Nyssa snapped. "We don't need icicles in her lungs."
Kael gritted his teeth and focused his magic into a steady current of cold that flowed just beneath her skin, soaking into her heat without touching the air. It took control. Precision. The kind he rarely practiced. But he would do anything not to lose her.
Her lips moved. He leaned in.
"…Kael…"
His heart skipped. She was still with him.
"I'm here," he whispered.
Nyssa paused in his mixing. "She's strong. But her body wasn't ready for the power draw earlier. It's a miracle she didn't collapse sooner."
"She always pushes herself," Kael murmured. "Even when she says she doesn't want to be involved."
Nyssa gave him a side glance. "She wants to help. That's the kind of woman she is. You just keep forgetting she's not indestructible."
Kael looked at her — sweat on her brow, lashes damp, breath shallow — and the ache in his chest deepened. She wasn't supposed to look like this. She was supposed to be laughing, rambling about herb carts and broken furniture, or clutching a tray of tea like it was a sword.
He cupped her cheek gently, letting the cold from his palm seep in. He watched the heat retreat from her skin, a subtle flush returning to normal. Beneath his touch, her lashes fluttered.
"Mmm... snowflake…" she whispered.
A laugh escaped him. Choked and quiet. "Yes. I'm your snowflake."
Nyssa smirked but didn't comment. "Keep cooling her. I'll get the tonic. Then she needs rest. Real rest. Or the next time she taps that kind of magic, it won't be a fever that takes her down."
Kael nodded, never looking away. "Has she always—has her magic always drained her like this?"
"She's not like us," Nyssa replied quietly. "She's an amplifier. A natural one. Her magic doesn't just support — it expands. It creates bonds. Connects threads. That's why our spells swell in her presence. But that connection has a cost."
Kael's gaze flickered to her trembling hand, fingers curled inward as if still clinging to a thread unseen. "Then she's more than we thought."
Nyssa glanced over. "No, General. She's exactly who she's always been. You're just catching up."
Later that night, Kael remained by her bedside, sitting in a chair that had long since lost its comfort. Marin stirred faintly in her sleep, and he reached out, brushing her hair back. Her skin was cooler now, her breathing steadier, but he still watched every movement like a man guarding treasure.
"You are more than meets the eye," he whispered. "And more than I ever expected."
She sighed, unconsciously shifting toward the sound of his voice.
"I'll stand by you," he said softly. "Even when you don't ask me to. Even when you push me away."
His hand lingered at her temple, the chill of his magic now a quiet presence between them. He didn't know how much she heard — but when her lips twitched faintly into a smile, he let out the breath he didn't realise he'd been holding.
"I'll keep you close," he murmured. "No matter what it takes."
Somewhere, deep in sleep, she smiled.