登入Ember Frost’s POVTechnically, Lyra was no longer the theatre club's president. The position had already been passed down to one of the younger members after her graduation.Before she left the academy for good, though, the club asked her to come back one last time. Not as president, but as the director of their farewell performance.To them, it was the perfect graduation gift. They wanted to give her one last standing ovation and, more importantly, let her take the stage as the person they trusted most to lead the production they had worked so hard to bring to life.As the actress playing the ethereal Crystal Lake Maiden glided across the stage, Lyra couldn't help but smile. A quiet wave of nostalgia settled over her, bittersweet and warm, as memories of everything she'd shared with the club came rushing back."I really was lucky to meet someone who loves the same things I do," she said with a smile. "Honestly, when I joined the theatre club, I wasn't chasing some big dream. I only n
Ember Frost’s POVThe academy had decided to split what had once been a single celebration into two separate events. Instead of cramming everything into one day, the graduation festivities would now stretch across two, giving students a little more time to celebrate before saying goodbye to campus.The graduation ball was scheduled for July 30, while the official graduation ceremony would take place the following day, July 31.As always, news traveled fast at Wolfsong Academy. With so many students coming from influential families, especially those connected to the media, rumors rarely stayed hidden for long. Lately, whispers about my true identity had spread across the entire campus. Curiosity only seemed to grow with each passing day. Everywhere I went, I caught people staring, lowering their voices as I walked by, their eyes following me with barely concealed curiosity.I didn't pay much attention to the rumors. Most of them were fueled by curiosity more than anything else. People
Ember Frost’s POVThat was all my mother said, but I understood what she was trying to tell me.I had watched my father make difficult decisions, and witnessed both his victories and his losses. I wasn’t the inexperienced child I had once been. I knew politics was never as simple as it appeared from the outside. Behind every victory, every moment of praise, and every respected name were sacrifices, compromises, and burdens that most people would never understand.But knowing all of that didn't make Amelia's death any easier to accept. A weight settled over my chest, and no matter how hard I tried to reason with myself, I couldn't shake the emptiness she had left behind. For the first time, I found myself questioning everything I thought I understood.If saving countless lives meant sacrificing someone who didn’t deserve to die, could I truly call that the right choice?Was there really a point where one life had to be placed against thousands of others? Or was there a way to protect
Ember Frost’s POVSomeone had to take the blame for what happened, and in the end, everyone pointed their fingers at Amelia.The rumors spread faster than anyone could stop them. Some said she'd been too sure of herself, that her carelessness had let me slip away while I was under her protection. Others insisted she cared more about proving herself than making the right call, claiming none of it would have happened if she'd sent the army in sooner.Then there were the whispers people only dared to share behind closed doors. They insisted the palace's defenses were far too strong for the rogues to break through on their own. The only explanation, they said, was that someone on the inside had helped them. Before long, those whispers turned into accusations, and Amelia became their target. Some even claimed she'd been working with the rogues from the very beginning.The public needed someone to hate, and Amelia became that person. Facts no longer mattered. My parents knew she wasn't resp
Ember Frost's POVI stuck out my tongue sheepishly, suddenly feeling a little guilty."Snacks help me think, Mother," I said with a grin. "Everything feels less exhausting when I have something to nibble on."She looked at me with a mix of amusement and resignation."You're all grown up," she said, "so why does it seem like you're trying to make up for everything you didn't get to eat as a child?"Shaking her head, she turned to Vivian."Could you bring her a few more biscuits?"Vivian nodded and returned a moment later with a small plate.My mother slid it toward me before fixing me with a pointed look."These are the last ones," she said. "After that, no more until dinner. Learning a little self-control is just as important as everything else I've been teaching you."I finished the last biscuit, brushed the crumbs from my hands, and turned my attention back to the stack of reports waiting for me. They were the same routine documents I'd been reading all afternoon, and before long, m
Ember Frost’s POVFreya looked completely overwhelmed by the endless selection of beautiful fabrics. Every time she thought she'd found the one, another design caught her attention. By the time we were ready to leave, she'd somehow narrowed it down to over ten options, yet she still couldn't bring herself to cross a single one off the list.In the end, she decided we'd come back to the House of Elysian the next day to make the final choice."The gown needs at least a month to be completed," Freya said, her tone turning more practical. "If I keep going back and forth, we'll run out of time. I'll look through everything again tonight and make up my mind. By tomorrow, I'll have my final choice, and we should be able to finish everything in a couple of hours."I wanted to believe her, but I wasn't so sure. I'd seen the album on her phone. It was packed with wedding dress inspirations—at least seventy or eighty of them—and she had been obsessed with every single one. Knowing Freya, I had a
Ember Frost’s POVThe feeling was wrong in a way I couldn’t explain.It wasn’t just that something was missing. It was that I knew it was missing, and yet every time I reached for it, my thoughts slipped right through empty space. The harder I tried to remember, the less certain I became. Even the
Ember Frost’s POVThat was how we were supposed to reach them before it was too late.The mark we bear wasn’t just for tracking. It had a crude messaging feature too. If it came into contact with blood, it would light up, sending out a signal that anyone nearby could detect.At first, I thought the
Ember Frost’s POVA sudden burst of pain tore me from my thoughts.I screamed.Harriet glanced at me with sympathy, but her hand never slowed. The blade continued its precise path.“These markings are linked,” she said calmly. “If I stop or slip, everything fails. There’s no fixing it.”The runes o
Ember Frost’s POVThere was only one problem with that theory.If this mysterious father truly existed, his strength had to rival Medina’s. Anything less, and Medina would have already sensed him. A simple concealment spell would be enough to erase his presence completely. So if he really was out t







