Page 48 of Jilted By Jack Frost

“Stay back.” Gabriel retreats a step, his confident mask cracking. “You don’t understand what you’re dealing with.”

“I understand perfectly.” The words rise from somewhere deep inside, where knowledge I didn’t know I had awakens. “You’re out of balance. Just like this realm. Just like the prophecy tried to warn about.”

Jack rises beside me, his shoulder healed where my touch transformed Gabriel’s ice. Our joined magic creates a sphere of swirling frost and light around us. Where the energies meet, they don’t fight—they dance.

“The prophecy spoke of falls and loss.” Gabriel’s voice shakes. “Of destruction…”

“No.” The certainty rings through me. “It spoke of change. Of trust. Of healing what centuries of isolation damaged.”

My magic—my true healing nature—reaches for Gabriel. Not to harm, but to help. To restore what’s been corrupted by anger and jealousy.

Gabriel backs away, his gray eyes wide with something that looks almost like fear. “Don’t.”

“Let me help you.” I take a step forward, Jack’s strength flowing through our connection. “This isn’t what you really want.”

For just a moment, I see something flicker in Gabriel’s expression—a glimpse of ancient pain, of loneliness that mirrors what I sensed in Jack. Then his face hardens.

“You know nothing of what I want.”

He raises his hands, darkness gathering around them like storm clouds. The temperature plunges so low it burns.

The temperature drop makes my bones ache, but Jack’s warmth through our connection keeps me steady. Gabriel’s magic coalesces into a massive wave of darkness, like a tsunami made of shadow and ice.

This is it. His final play.

“You could have been part of this.” My voice carries despite the howling wind. “Could have helped us make it better.”

Gabriel’s response is a roar that shakes the crystalline walls. The wave of darkness crashes toward us, and for a moment, I can’t breathe through the sheer weight of his hatred.

Jack’s hand tightens on mine. Our magic surges, stronger together than apart. Where Gabriel’s power is jagged and cold, ours flows like a river in spring—powerful but life-giving.

Let me help, I push the thought through our connection. Jack’s energy meshes with mine, winter’s chill softened by healing warmth.

The wave hits our combined shield. His ice crystals form and shatter around us, but they can’t penetrate the swirling barrier of our joined magic. Gabriel’s attack splinters against it like waves on rocks.

“Now, Jack.”

He understands without further explanation. Our power flows outward, meeting Gabriel’s darkness, not with destruction but with transformation. Where our magic touches his, the corrupt ice begins to change—becoming clear, pure.

“No!” Gabriel tries to pull back, but it’s too late.

The transformation races up his arms, turning his dark ice to crystal. He struggles, but each movement only speeds the process. Within seconds, he’s encased in a pristine prison of his own magic, purified by our combined power.

“Is he...” I step closer, studying Gabriel’s frozen form. His eyes are open, aware.

“Contained.” Jack’s voice rumbles with both relief and sadness. “The crystal will hold him until we decide what to do.”

I press my hand to the surface of Gabriel’s prison. Even through the crystal, I can sense the turmoil in his magic, the centuries of pain and bitterness that twisted it into something dark.

“We can help him, eventually. When he’s ready.”

Jack’s arm slides around my waist, pulling me close. “You truly are a healer.”

“Yeah, well.” I lean into his embrace, exhausted but satisfied. “Someone has to keep you frosty boys in line.”

I glance around the throne room, taking in the aftermath of our battle. Jagged ice fragments cover the ground, catching the light like fallen stars. My body aches, but the warmth of Jack’s embrace soothes the worst of it.

Something green catches my eye above us—a sprig of mistletoe hanging from an ice archway.How did I never notice that before?

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