L U K E

Elle doesn’t show up to breakfast, and that’s how I know something’s wrong. She’s never been a breakfast person, but she shows up. She lets me shove granola bars into her hand and pretend she wanted them. She lets me hover. I get to fuss. That’s our thing. But this morning, she’s just… gone.And the hallway is loud in that way that means trouble. Girls walking too fast, talking too fast. Whispering behind their hands like they’re afraid the walls will whisper back.

“Her dress.. did you see..”

“It wasn’t frost. Not normal frost.”

“The seamstress almost fainted.”

“I told you. Wrenwood. Freaking cursed.”

My jaw clenches so hard it’s painful. I don’t even catch every detail, but I hear dress and frost and scared and my stomach drops straight through the floor. I try to stop one girl I recognize from Botany. “What happened? Where is Elle?”

She yanks her arm away like touching me might curse her too. “Ask your little witch,” she mutters, then bolts. I want to shout after her. I want to punch lockers and tables and probably Cassian’s stupid face. But yelling never helps Elle. Attention is her enemy here. She hates being looked at like she’s a warning sign.

I find her only when I get to the combat yard. She’s standing near the bleachers with her scarf pulled too tight, shoulders small, like she’s trying to fold into herself. When she lifts her head and sees me, something flickers in her eyes. Not relief. Something brittle, shaky, like she’s trying to hold herself together by sheer force.

“Elle,” I say gently, stepping closer. “What happened?”

She shakes her head fast. “I’m fine. I just… need to get through this rehearsal.” She’s absolutely not fine. And when her sleeve slips a little, I catch the faint shimmer of frost spirals around her wrist. My stomach twists. “Elle..” Before I can say anything else, Korran blows his whistle hard enough to rattle teeth. Elle flinches violently. Not like a normal flinch, like the sound hit her somewhere deeper, somewhere raw.

“PAIR UP!” Korran bellows. “Last Harvest Ball rehearsal before tomorrow. Try not to embarrass me this year!” Everyone starts moving. Weapons clatter. People laugh and shout and shove like it’s all a game. I grab two practice staff and twirl one in a dumb little circle on purpose. Elle watches me with a tiny, barely-there almost-smile.

“Impressed yet?” I ask, trying to keep things light.

“You look like you’re auditioning for a boy band,” she mutters, but she sounds like she’s trying to find normal again. Cassian Veyra chooses that moment to saunter past. “Careful, Hart,” he calls, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Don’t hurt yourself trying to look cool for the cursed one.” I don’t even look at him. I won’t give him the satisfaction. But I move closer to Elle. She notices. So does he.

“You sure you’re okay?” I murmur. She nods, too quickly. Her fingers brush the frost spirals on her wrist. Her eyes flick to the fog creeping along the edges of the yard, like she’s expecting something to crawl out of it. And then it does. Not a thing—a person.

Ashriel. He walks across the yard like he isn’t part of this world. Slow, precise steps, too quiet for someone wearing boots on stone. Students look over without wanting to. Heads turn. Conversations stall. Elle goes completely still, like someone pressed pause on her.

I hate it. How she reacts to him. How she stiffens, then softens, like her pulse doesn’t know which direction to go. Ashriel’s eyes go straight to her. Not scanning the group. Not checking in with Korran. Just.. her. A straight line.m My chest tightens. Elle’s breath hitches, small but sharp.

He stops near the weapons wall, hands behind his back like he’s trying to look normal, even though nothing about him is. Even Korran falters. The air feels wrong. Thinner. A cold gust of wind slides through the yard. Elle’s shoulders tense at the same moment a faint frost spiral forms beneath the toe of her boot. I see it. Ashriel sees it too. His whole expression changes, sharpens, like he’s steadying for something only he knows is coming.

“PAIR UP!” Korran calls again. “HART, YOU’RE WITH VEYRA!”

Great. Cassian grins at me like he’s been blessed by the gods of being an asshole. “Try not to cry this time, Hart.” I ignore him, but only because Elle’s face is going pale. She’s blinking too fast, like the world keeps flickering. Something is wrong.

“Eyes forward!” Korran snaps.

I spin just in time to block Cassian’s first swing, wood cracking against wood so hard it stings. He pushes off me immediately, going too aggressive for a rehearsal.

“Easy,” I bark.

Cassian laughs. “Why? Because Wrenwood’s watching?” I see red for a second, but before I can respond, he pulls a stupid showy move and over-rotates his staff spinning wide toward Elle.

“ELLE!” I sprint. Full speed. No thinking. But Ashriel gets there first. A surge of cold explodes across the sand. Frost spirals bloom outward from Elle’s boots, trapping her feet like frozen roots. She gasps and tries to move, but she can’t. Cassian’s staff is still flying toward her. Ashriel steps between them.

The staff slams into his forearm with a loud splintering crack. The wood breaks.
Ashriel doesn’t. Cassian stumbles back, face white. “What the? Did you..did he..?”

Ashriel lowers his arm slowly, scanning Elle for injuries before anything else. His gaze sticks on the frost rising around her feet.

“You froze,” he says quietly. 

Elle shakes her head. “I didn’t..I didn’t mean..”

“I know.” He says it instantly, like a reflex, like he’s known her longer than I have. It guts me. Cassian tries to laugh again. “Seriously, what is going on? Did she curse the ground? Is she..” Ashriel turns his head with a look that could carve stone. “Take one more step toward her and you’ll regret it.” Cassian shuts up so fast it’s almost funny. Students whisper in terrified little bursts.

“She’s dangerous..”

“She’s cursed”

“She’s not normal”

“She froze the floor”

Elle sways. The frost spreads further. She looks dizzy, unfocused. I step toward her. “Elle, hey, look at me. You’re okay. I’m right here.” But she’s not hearing me anymore. Her eyes are locked on the spirals like they’re speaking a language only she understands. Something ancient.

“Ashriel…” she whispers. And the way she says his name hurts more than it should. The air shifts again, sharp and cold. And then the whisper hits. Not in the air. In Elle. She jerks like someone tugged her spine. Her breath fogs, then crystallizes midair. A voice curls through the frost.

“Elowen…”

Elle’s knees buckle. I catch her shoulders, but the frost shoots up her ankles, cracking under my palm, pushing me back. Another whisper:

“Two flames…” Elle gasps, clutching her head.

“—one must die.” My heart stops. Actually stops.

“No,” she cries softly. “Please.. Stop..stop—” Ashriel steps closer, hand hovering over her back. “Elle. Focus. Don’t listen.” But she’s collapsing. I reach for her, and the frost leaps between us like a barrier.

Ashriel walks straight through it. He catches her before she hits the ground. Effortless. Wrongly effortless. Her head falls against his shoulder. Her fingers curl weakly into his hoodie. Korran is yelling for the medics. Students scatter. Cassian looks like he might puke.

“Put her down,” I say, voice cracking. “I can take her. I’ve got her..”

Ashriel doesn’t even look at me. “You can’t help her right now.” Something in me breaks.

“What did you just say?”

“She’s not safe,” he says quietly. “But she is safer with me.” I step toward him. He angles his body protectively, guarding her like I’m the threat.

“She needs me,” I snapped. Elle stirs weakly. Her eyelids flutter. And she whispers..

“…Ashriel?” Not my name. His.

He tightens his hold. “We’re going,” he says. “She needs distance from the crowd.” And then he carries her away, frost spirals fading behind him like a trail she didn’t mean to leave. And all I can do is stand there, helpless, watching him take her somewhere I can’t reach.