Nalin's POV
"Focus!" Kael's voice cut through my panic. "You're letting the magic control you instead of controlling it!"
I tried. I really tried.
But my ice magic kept exploding in wild bursts every time I got emotional. Which was constantly now that I could actually feel things.
Angry at my family? Ice spears shot from my hands.
Scared for Seren? The ground froze solid.
Worried about the mission? Snow started falling from a clear sky.
"This is impossible," I gasped, doubled over and breathing hard. "How do you control something that responds to every feeling?"
"Practice." Kael grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. "And discipline. Your magic isn't separate from you—it's part of you. When you panic, it panics. When you focus, it focuses."
"I don't know how to focus when my best friend is dying!"
Seren lay nearby, her breathing shallow and ragged. Every minute her skin looked paler, the curse spreading through her veins like black poison.
We had ninety minutes left.
"Then use that," Kael said. "Use your fear for her. Channel it. Make it a weapon."
"How?"
He stepped back and created a target of ice. "Hit that. Pour all your fear and rage into one strike."
I stared at the target. Thought about Seren dying. About failing her after she'd risked everything for me. About losing the only person who'd ever really loved me.
The emotions built up like a dam about to break—
I threw my hand forward and screamed.
Ice exploded from my palm in a concentrated blast. It hit the target dead center and shattered it into a thousand pieces.
Then it kept going, freezing three trees behind it solid.
"Better," Kael said. "But too much power, not enough control. Again."
We practiced for thirty minutes straight. Create target. Destroy target. Over and over until my arms shook and sweat froze on my skin.
But I was getting better. The blasts were more focused. More controlled.
"Good," Kael finally said. "Now defense."
He didn't give me time to prepare. Ice spears shot at me from three directions.
I threw up my hands on instinct, and a shield of ice formed. Kael's spears shattered against it.
"Excellent!" He actually smiled. "Your instincts are strong. Now try—"
A memory hit me so hard I stumbled.
A little boy with dark curls and my brown eyes, lying in bed and coughing. "Nalin, it hurts. Make it stop hurting."
"I know, Finn. I know. I'm going to fix this. I promise."
Finn.
My little brother. I'd forgotten about him in all the chaos. No—not forgotten. Pushed the memory away because it hurt too much.
"What's wrong?" Kael asked, catching me before I fell.
"My brother," I whispered. "Finn. He's only ten years old. He was sick when I left. Father said it was a wasting illness that couldn't be cured, but—"
"But now you know your father lies about everything," Kael finished grimly.
"The same kind of curse?" I looked at Seren's blackened veins. "Did they curse my brother too?"
Kael's face went dark. "Describe his symptoms."
"Tired all the time. Couldn't keep food down. His skin got paler every day. And he had these black lines under his skin, like—" My voice broke. "Like Seren has now."
"Blood curse," Kael confirmed. "The same one. Which means—"
"They cursed my brother to control me!" I felt my magic explode outward in rage. The entire clearing flash-froze. "They made him sick. They used him as bait!"
"Nalin, calm down—"
"CALM DOWN?" Ice shot from my hands wildly. "They tortured a child! My brother! A ten-year-old boy who never hurt anyone!"
Kael grabbed my face, forcing me to meet his eyes. "Yes. They did. And they'll do it again to every child they can use as a weapon. So you can lose control and waste time, or you can focus and save the people who are still alive."
His words hit like ice water. He was right. Finn was back in the palace—maybe already dead, maybe suffering. But Seren was here, dying right in front of me. I could save her.
"How do I break the curse?" I asked.
"We already discussed this. Kill the caster—"
"No." I knelt beside Seren, touching her fevered face. "There has to be another way. What if I can freeze the curse? Stop it from spreading?"
"That's not how curses work—"
"You said magic responds to will. To emotion." I placed my hands on Seren's chest, right where the curse was darkest. "What if I will it to stop?"
"Nalin, this is too advanced. You've had your magic for two hours. You can't—"
I wasn't listening anymore.
I closed my eyes and reached for my ice magic. Not to attack. Not to defend. But to preserve.
Seren taught me to laugh. She braided my hair when I was sad. She risked her life to save mine. I will not let her die.
My magic responded, pouring into Seren's body. But gentle this time. Careful. I felt the curse—dark and angry and designed to kill. I couldn't destroy it. Couldn't break it.
But I could freeze it.
Like putting winter around a fire. Not putting it out, just stopping it from spreading.
The black veins in Seren's skin stopped moving. Her breathing evened out. The fever broke.
I opened my eyes, gasping. "Did it work?"
Kael was staring at me like I'd grown a second head. "You just... you froze an active curse. That should be impossible."
"But she's okay?"
"She's stable. The curse isn't gone—it's just dormant. When the ice melts, it'll start killing her again." He checked her pulse. "You bought us time. Maybe six hours instead of ninety minutes."
Six hours. Not much, but better than nothing.
"Can you teach me more?" I asked. "If I have more time, I can learn—"
"No." Kael stood up. "We stick to the plan. Break into the Temple. Kill High Priestess Mara. End the curse permanently."
"But now we have time to prepare better—"
"We also gave them time to prepare defenses." He looked toward the city in the distance. "They know we're out here. They know we need to kill Mara to save Seren. They'll be ready for us."
"Then how do we win?"
A slow, dangerous smile crossed Kael's face. "We don't try to sneak in. We walk through the front door."
"That's insane."
"Exactly. Which is why they won't expect it." He offered me his hand. "Ready for your first real battle, Princess?"
I looked at Seren, sleeping peacefully now. At the frozen clearing around us. At my ice-covered hands that had been empty and powerless just days ago.
"I'm ready."
We started walking toward the city. Toward the Temple. Toward a fight we might not survive.
"Kael?" I asked after a few minutes. "When we kill Mara... will the curse on my brother break too? If she cast it?"
He was quiet for a long moment. "If she cast both curses, yes. But Nalin, you need to prepare yourself. Your brother has been cursed for months. Even if we break it, the damage might be—"
"Don't." I cut him off. "Don't tell me he might be dead already. Let me hope."
"Hope is dangerous."
"Good." I felt my magic pulse in agreement. "I'm dangerous too."
We reached the edge of the forest. The city spread before us, lights twinkling in the darkness. And at its heart, the Temple of Emotions rose like a cathedral, all white stone and stained glass.
"There are protocols," Kael said. "Guards. Magical barriers. Priestesses trained in combat magic. We'll be fighting through dozens of people to reach Mara."
"Will we make it?"
"Honestly? I don't know." He looked at me. "But I know we'll try. And that's more than most people can say."
We walked toward the city gates. Guards saw us coming and started shouting. Alarms rang through the streets. Lights blazed to life as soldiers scrambled to their posts.
"Kael?" I said as we approached the closing gates.
"Yes?"
"Thank you. For saving me. For teaching me. For—"
"Don't." His voice was rough. "Don't thank me yet. Wait until we both survive this night."
The gates slammed shut in front of us. Fifty soldiers lined the walls above, arrows and magic ready.
"HALT!" the captain shouted. "By order of the Emperor, you are under arrest!"
I looked at Kael. He looked at me.
Then we both smiled.
"Together?" I asked.
"Together," he confirmed.
We raised our hands in unison, and ice magic exploded from our bodies like a tidal wave.
The gates didn't just freeze.
They shattered.
We walked through the destruction side by side, two monsters the empire had created, coming home to destroy everything they'd built.
"FOR SEREN!" I screamed.
"FOR JUSTICE!" Kael roared.
The battle for the Temple began.
But as we fought through the first wave of guards, something felt wrong. The resistance was too light. The defenses too weak.
Like they weren't trying to stop us.
Like they were herding us somewhere.
"Kael," I said, ice freezing three soldiers at once. "This is too easy."
"I know." He blasted through a magical barrier. "It's another trap."
"Should we—"
Before I could finish, the ground beneath us exploded.
We fell through darkness, tumbling down, down, down into some kind of pit. We hit stone hard enough to crack it.
When my vision cleared, we were in a chamber deep underground. Torches lit the walls. And standing around us in a circle were twenty High Priestesses, all channeling magic.
At the center stood High Priestess Mara, smiling.
"Welcome," she said sweetly. "We've been expecting you."