Page 43 of Frostforge: Passage Two

Once the echo of their footsteps faded completely, Thalia released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding."She took the bait," she whispered, excitement threading through her voice."Did you see how she looked at me while I hid the blade?"

Kaine didn't share her enthusiasm.He ran a hand through his short hair, his expression troubled."I'm not so sure."

"What do you mean?You saw how she reacted when I mentioned the workshop.She's hiding something."

"Senna may be many things, but she's not a traitor to the North."Kaine moved back to the forge, stoking the embers back to life with practiced movements."She would never arm Isle Wardens.Her family has been hunting them for generations."

Thalia stared at him, incredulous."Are you defending her?After everything — the secret workshop, the sabotage last year, her constant suspicion of anyone who isn't Northern?"

"I'm saying we should be certain before we accuse anyone."The fire flared, casting harsh shadows across his face."There's more going on here than we understand."

"She was seen lurking around the room where we found the inferior alloys," Thalia insisted, frustration building inside her."The same ones causing golems to malfunction.People could die, Kaine."

Kaine shook his head.“It wasn’t Senna.She said she didn’t do it, and I believe her.”

Thalia felt as though the ground beneath her had shifted.Just an hour ago, they had been working side by side, sharing confidences, their kiss still lingering between them.Now, he was defending Senna — the same woman who looked at Thalia with contempt, who claimed some sort of ownership over Kaine.Did he accept that claim?Did he welcome it?

"You care about her," Thalia said quietly, the realization settling like a cold weight in her stomach.

Kaine's shoulders tensed."It's not about that."

"Then what is it about?Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you're taking her side."

"I'm not taking sides."His voice hardened."I'm trying to see the whole picture.Something you might want to try."

The accusation stung."What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're so determined to blame Senna that you might be missing something important."He turned to face her, the fire behind him casting his face in stark relief."What if she's not the thief?What if she really is tracking someone else?"

Thalia wanted to argue, to point out all the evidence against Senna, but Kaine's expression stopped her.There was something in his eyes — a history she wasn't part of, a connection to Senna that ran deeper than rivalry.

"Fine," she said finally, swallowing her anger."I guess we'll know soon enough.If Senna or someone in her group is involved, they'll come back for the traced weapon."

Kaine nodded, some of the tension leaving his shoulders."And if they don't, we keep looking."

They returned to the workbench, finishing the final touches on the blade in silence.Thalia ran her fingers along the steel, feeling the aluminum threads singing beneath her touch.The metal responded to her magic, warming slightly, the connection clear and strong.

But the comfortable companionship they'd shared earlier had vanished.In its place was a strained silence broken only by the soft sounds of their work.The forge felt colder somehow despite the renewed fire.Thalia kept her focus on the blade, trying not to think about the moment they'd shared before the interruption — the warmth of Kaine's lips against hers, the way his arms had encircled her as though she belonged there.

She pushed the memory away, channeling her frustration into her work.The blade was nearly complete now, its edge honed to lethal sharpness, the aluminum threads invisible to anyone who couldn't sense metals as she could.A perfect trap.

All they had to do was wait for the thief to take it.

Whether it was Senna or someone else entirely, the truth would reveal itself soon enough.Thalia only hoped that when it did, she and Kaine would still be standing on the same side.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Thalia's fingers hovered over the gleaming length of ice steel, feeling the metal's essence pulsing beneath her fingertips like a heartbeat.The forge around her glowed with the dying embers of the day's work, casting long shadows across the polished stone floor.Across the workbench, Kaine hunched over the half-finished hilt, his profile illuminated by the amber light of his smaller forge flame.They hadn't spoken more than ten words to each other since they'd arrived three hours ago, the memory of their interrupted kiss and subsequent disagreement hanging in the air between them like smoke — visible, suffocating, impossible to ignore.

"Pass the tin flux," Kaine said, not looking up from his work.

Thalia slid the small pot across the table, careful not to let her fingers brush against his.The air between them crackled with unspoken tension, as palpable as the heat from the forge.

The blade they'd crafted was beautiful — a masterpiece of metallurgy that would have earned both of them top marks had they submitted it as a class project.Thirty-six inches of folded ice steel, the blade caught the forge light and broke it into a thousand glittering fragments.The edge was so fine it could split a hair, sharp enough to slice through armor yet flexible enough to bend without breaking.What made it truly special, however, was invisible to the naked eye: the thread of aluminum woven through the core of the blade, a magical tracker that only Thalia could sense.

She closed her eyes, extending her awareness into the metal.The aluminum signature hummed beneath her consciousness, distinct from the surrounding steel.She nudged it with her magic, strengthening the connection, making sure she could follow its trail no matter where it went.It was like tuning an instrument.

"The aluminum trace is set," she said, her voice sounding unnaturally loud in the quiet forge."I'll be able to track it anywhere within the academy grounds."

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