LOGINEmber Frost’s POVI knew almost at once that I wouldn’t be able to finish this by myself.What I found inside Henry was far more tangled than I had expected. Every time I thought I had cleared one part of it, something else slipped out of reach. The longer I stayed, the harder it became to keep hold of what I was doing.A sharp ache ran through my head. My breathing turned uneven.Then, suddenly, something tightened around my throat. It felt like an invisible hand closing around my neck. My body convulsed. I heard voices calling my name, but they sounded distant, blurred, as though they were reaching me from very far away. I tried to answer, but no sound came.Then the pressure broke. A violent pull tore me free.I opened my eyes and jerked back.The room felt strangely cold when I came back. For a moment I could only stand there, gasping, trying to steady myself. I was still caught in the memory of what I had seen—and what had happened—the layers, the resistance, the way everything
Ember Frost’s POVThe darkness had spread deep into the void of Henry’s system. It wasn’t just clinging to the surface anymore. It had settled into every part of him, woven so tightly through his being that it felt like it had always been there. One careless move could upset the balance, and that was a risk I couldn’t take. But standing there and doing nothing wasn’t an option either. So I kept going.At first, I thought it would be slow work—careful cleansing, peeling the darkness away little by little. But the deeper I went, the more that plan began to unravel. What I found wasn’t simple. There was intention behind it, something deliberately set in place.The further I went, the clearer it became that everything was connected by a single design. Not broken pieces, but one network spread across different layers, all drawing from the same hidden source. That realization changed how I moved.I stopped treating it as isolated points of corruption.Instead, I let Lunaris expand outwa
Ember frost’s POVElder Anna gave a short nod and stepped closer.For a heartbeat, nothing changed.Then I felt it. A quiet pull, light but steady, settling somewhere deep inside me. The connection had taken hold. “Please step outside. We need room to work.” Eira moved to stand beside me. Axel stopped so suddenly the others nearly stumbled. “Isn’t she coming? Why does she get special permission? Just because of her status?”He jabbed a finger in Eira’s direction, then swept it back toward me.“This isn’t about privilege. We all care about Sir Henry. Don’t act like you’re the only ones trying to save him.”Axel took a step forward again. “If anyone should be here, it’s all of us,” he said. For a moment, no one else spoke.The last bit of patience I had was gone.“I never said anyone cared less,” I replied.My voice stayed even.“If you were willing to sacrifice yourself for him, I wouldn’t argue that.” He went quiet for a moment.But I didn’t give the silence space to turn into
Ember Frost’s POVNot everyone on the team liked me.Some made it obvious. Some challenged every decision I made. A few looked at me as if I had no place standing among them.The old me would have let that get inside my head.I would have gone over every word and every moment. Did I say something wrong? Did I make things harder for everyone? Did I come across as too soft? Was there something I did that made them keep their distance?And then I would have reached the question that used to trouble me most.What do I need to change so they’ll accept me?Not anymore. I had stopped asking myself that. I still asked myself those first questions. They mattered. I needed to understand what was happening around me and whether I had missed something important.But trying to win everyone over?That was no longer something I chased.Henry was lying inside that cabin, and every moment we wasted standing here arguing was another moment he was slipping farther away.There would be time later for re
Ember Frost’s POVNo one argued with me this time. No one even tried. Whatever differences we had, none of us could stand there and watch Henry die.“That might work,” Ellan said, but his tone didn’t match the words. “There’s still something you’re not seeing.”He stepped forward before anyone could respond. “This is exactly why rushing in blindly will get us all killed.”The air around him shifted as he raised his hand. What he’d been showing us—the shape of Henry’s soul—began to change. At first it just trembled, then it twisted in on itself, losing form. It no longer looked whole… no longer looked human.It turned into something shapeless and uneven, like a mass that had lost all structure. Weak. Barely holding together. The room fell silent.Ellan glanced back at us. “That,” he said, “is what’s left of Henry’s soul.”For a moment, no one spoke. I felt my chest tighten.He went on, more serious now. “It’s not complete. What you’re seeing here… it’s only a piece. A small piece.”Th
Ember Frost’s POVEllan hesitated for a second before speaking. “This… isn’t something ordinary,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m not sure it should be discussed in the open. If you want, I can seal the area so only a few of us hear it.”I almost laughed in disbelief.If it was meant to be private, why bring it up like that in front of everyone? He’d basically announced it already.A faint shift in the room made me pause.People had gone quiet.Then I noticed it—one by one, their attention settled on me.I frowned a little, confused at first. Why were they all—“Ember,” Eira said, her tone calm but firm, “you decide. Do we keep this between a few people, or does everyone hear it?”For a moment, I just stared at her.Since when was I the one making that call?But no one else stepped in. No one questioned it.The weight of it sank in slowly, pressing on my chest in a way I couldn’t ignore.At first, it felt strange… then it clicked.This wasn’t just a casual question they we
Ember Frost’s POVA faint voice sounded down from upstairs, soft and tired. “Anything you make is fine, sweetheart,” the woman said gently. “I’ll like it.”The girl carried the meal up carefully. Her mother wasn’t the lively woman she remembered from years ago. Time or something crueler had hollowe
Ember Frost’s POV After days of pleading, my father finally gave in.But that was only the beginning.This was just one mountain among many, and my mother—my gentle, unyielding mother—would never allow me to take such a risk. Not willingly. Not unless she was forced to face the truth.So I told he
Ember Frost’s POVThis wasn’t dark magic meant to harm.It was a cleansing ward, designed to scour our bodies from the inside. A blessing drawn directly from the Moon Goddess.And yet, those glowing runes carved into the machines around me weren’t meant to heal.They were proof.Proof that I might
Ember Frost’s POVNo matter the circumstances, Father would never let Eira venture into the treacherous Stormpire Mountains, and sending me there was out of the question entirely.With nothing more we could do, we left in silence, both weighed down by sadness.Eira’s vision had been deteriorating s







