CHAPTER 77: PROMISE

The room was still when he carried her in.

Cold air breathed through the vast, dim space, walls of deep cobalt and pale silver, veined with frost that shimmered faintly beneath the moonlight spilling through the arched windows.

Soren laid her upon the bed with care that bordered on reverence. The silks hissed softly under her heat, some fibers singeing at the edges before his magic cooled them to safety.

He hovered for a long moment, hands braced on either side of her, studying her face, the faint rise and fall of her chest, the traces of ash at her temple, the red bloom of exhaustion across her skin.

She looked smaller than he remembered.

Or perhaps he was only seeing her truth for the first time, not the Fire Queen, but a woman who had burned herself down to nothing and dared to call it survival.

He sat beside the bed.

And, the Ice Emperor did not move.

His cold fingers brushed against the sheet near her wrist, never quite daring to touch skin. He didn’t need to. He could feel her heat from here, pulsing softly, stubbornly alive. Each breath she took was a silent victory against the madness that had almost consumed her.

Still, the image of her trembling in that ruined chamber would not leave him.

Her voice echoing—No, no, no, please don’t go.

That same tone had once belonged to a child, he was certain of it. He’d heard it in soldiers, in orphans, in those who begged the gods for mercy long after mercy had left the world.

Something inside him twisted, cold and ugly.

He’d seen her fierce. He’d seen her cruel.

But tonight, he’d seen her fragile.

And the knowledge that someone, that Caelen had put her in that state made his hands tighten into fists.

The frost around his boots crept outward, thin filigree patterns blooming across the marble like veins of fury. He forced himself to breathe. Slowly. Carefully. Because if he didn’t, his rage would fill this room the way her fire had filled hers.

He summoned one of his knights through the adjoining door, his tone like breaking glass.

"Get everything ready," he said. "We leave at dawn."

There was no hesitation, no question.

The knight bowed, already moving before the air had time to settle. They knew that tone. The Emperor’s word was no longer discussion, it was decree.

When the door closed again, silence returned.

Only her breathing filled it.

He leaned back in his chair, elbows resting on his knees, and watched her. For hours, perhaps. Time lost meaning in the pale wash of moonlight and ice. Every so often, he reached forward to touch her wrist lightly, ensuring her pulse remained steady, the fever of her magic held at bay.

And when she finally stirred, it was like watching a storm calm to a whisper.

Her eyes opened slowly, lashes fluttering against her cheek before lifting. Confusion flickered across her face, soft and disoriented, and then her gaze found him.

For one suspended heartbeat, neither spoke.

The distance between them felt impossibly fragile built of things neither dared to name.

Her lips parted first. "Where...?"

He didn’t let her finish. His voice was quiet, too even.

"You’re safe your majesty. You’re in my chambers."

Her brow furrowed, as though that word, safe, meant little to her now. She looked around, taking in the cold tones, the frost-etched glass, the faint trace of his magic that clung to every surface. Then her gaze came back to him, searching, wary.

"What happened?" she whispered.

Soren’s jaw tightened. His answer came measured, like each word had been tempered in ice.

"You burned the palace, Eris. Or nearly did. I found you before the fire could finish its work."

A faint tremor crossed her expression, guilt, perhaps, or shame but it vanished as quickly as it came. She turned her face away, staring at the silver canopy above her as though it held answers the world could not.

He watched her silently, that familiar pull in his chest tightening until it almost hurt.

There was so much he wanted to say.

That she didn’t have to do this alone.

That she didn’t need to hold her world together with nothing but pain and pride.

That he would burn a thousand empires to keep her from breaking again.

But he said none of it.

Instead, he rose and reached for the carafe at his desk, pouring cool water into a goblet before offering it to her. When she hesitated, his voice softened, almost imperceptibly.

"Drink. You’ll need your strength."

Her fingers brushed his when she took it, and he almost flinched at the heat, her magic still simmering just beneath the surface. She drank, small sips, her throat moving delicately.

When the cup lowered, he spoke again.

"We’ll leave before dawn."

Her gaze darted back to him, startled. "Tonight?"

"Yes. You wanted to go. I’m honoring that."

The tone was neutral, but there was something in his eyes, something cold, dangerous, aching with restrained emotion. She searched his face for mockery, found none. Only certainty.

Her lips parted, words catching, uncertain whether to thank him or not. In the end, she said nothing.

And he didn’t need her to.

He stood there, watching her sink back against the pillows, her flame flickering low but alive. The moonlight caught the bruises on her neck again, and his gaze darkened.

His voice, when it came, was barely a whisper.

"No one will touch you again."

The frost beneath his feet thickened, his control hanging by a thread.

"Not him. Not anyone."

He turned away before she could see the shadow cross his expression, the quiet vow forming in the pit of his soul.

If Caelen ever dared to lay another hand on her, there would be no fire left to burn him.

Only ice.

But even still...

As Eris fell back into an aching slumber...

The room seemed to breathe with them, slow, fragile, haunted. The moonlight wove itself across her skin, catching in the strands of her hair like threads of of snow.

For a moment, Soren could almost believe that the gods had crafted her from both ruin and mercy, something too human for divinity and too divine for this world. The frost on the floor pulsed once, as though it felt his heartbeat, unsteady, forbidden, alive.