Page 12 of Frostforge: Passage Four
Execution.Sometimes public, sometimes private, but always brutal.The North never kept its enemies alive for long.Even if they were children.Even if they renounced their heritage.Even if they offered to help the North’s cause.
Roran nodded, visibly shaken."I know.I'm sorry.It won't happen again."
Thalia wanted to believe him, but doubt nagged at her.Storm magic wasn't like cryomancy — it wasn't structured or disciplined.It responded to emotion, to passion, to anger.
She risked a glance back over her shoulder.Kaine stood where she had left him, his expression unreadable as his eyes moved between her and Roran.There was something calculating in his gaze, as if he were assembling pieces of a puzzle whose final image remained obscure.
Had he noticed Roran’s lapse?Had he seen the small arcs of electricity, the sure evidence of Isle Warden heritage?
And if he had… would he be the one to reveal the secret that Thalia had worked so hard to keep?
CHAPTER SIX
A hiss of steam greeted Thalia as she pushed open the heavy oak door to the Howling Forge, the wave of heat washing over her face like a physical force.Cradled against her chest was Felah's broken blade, wrapped carefully in cloth, each jagged edge a silent accusation.The familiar scent of hot metal and coal smoke filled her lungs, a harsh comfort that reminded her of purpose, of belonging.Here, among the anvils and fires, she understood the language being spoken.
The Forge breathed around her, a living entity of fire and metal.Hammers rang against anvils in rhythmic percussion, sparks dancing through the air like fireflies caught in an updraft.Sweat beaded instantly on her brow as she navigated between workstations, her eyes fixed on the broad-shouldered figure at the far end of the chamber.
Kaine stood with his back to her, muscles bunching beneath his thin linen shirt as he lifted a glowing blade from the coals.Steam erupted as he plunged it into a basin of water, the sharp hiss momentarily drowning out the constant background roar of the furnaces.His movements were precise, economical — a craftsman who had learned that wasted motion meant wasted energy.
He turned, sensing her presence before she announced it.Those ice-blue eyes found hers across the forge, and for a heartbeat, Thalia forgot why she'd come.
"I thought you might be down here soon," he said, setting the newly forged replacement blade aside to cool.His voice carried easily despite the ambient noise, as if the Forge itself hushed to allow his words passage.
Thalia nodded, clutching the cloth-wrapped fragments tighter."I needed to be sure."
He gestured to his workbench, cleared of all but the essential tools."Let's see it then."
With careful hands, she unwrapped the broken blade, laying the shards on the scarred wooden surface.The ice-steel caught the forge light, refracting it in ways that made her eyes ache if she looked too long as she arranged the pieces to approximate their original form, her current-sensing ability stirred within her — an awareness like fingertips brushing across her consciousness.She felt the disruptions in the metal's flow before she saw them, tiny eddies of wrongness in what should have been a smooth magical current.
"There," she murmured, pointing to a section near the hilt where the break had originated."The current's all wrong."
Kaine moved beside her, his presence solid and warm as he leaned in to examine the blade.His brow furrowed, eyes narrowing as they traced the fracture lines.He didn't need her ability to see what she meant — his craftsman's eye had years of experience reading metal like others read books.
"Impurities," he confirmed, voice dropping lower."But not natural ones."His callused fingers hovered over the metal, not quite touching it."See how the crystalline structure changes here?And here?"He pointed to microscopic variations in the metal's pattern."Someone introduced foreign elements during the tempering process."
Thalia's stomach tightened.She'd known it, felt it in her bones the moment Felah's blade had shattered against the golem.But having Kaine confirm it made the sabotage real in a way her suspicions hadn't.
"Just like what happened to me," she whispered, memories of her first year flooding back — the Frost Walk, the imposing bulk of a golem descending on her, her blade shattering when she needed it most.The fear that had gripped her as she'd faced death on the ice.She bit back the name that rose to her lips.Senna.No use reopening that wound, especially not with Kaine, whose relationship with Senna remained a tangled mystery she couldn't unravel.
Besides, she didn't have to worry about Senna anymore.The Northern girl had graduated from Frostforge last year and been assigned to an officer's post in the military.She was gone, likely halfway across the continent, caught up in the war that would soon take them all.
Kaine's gaze sharpened, something unreadable flickering across his features before settling into grim certainty."This wasn't an accident."
He brushed his thumb over the fracture lines, the gesture almost tender."Someone knew exactly what they were doing.These impurities were introduced during final tempering — when the blade was almost complete."His voice held the quiet authority of absolute knowledge."It's subtle work.Deliberate."
"Someone who knows metallurgy," Thalia added, the implications clear between them.Not many at Frostforge possessed such specialized knowledge.Even fewer had access to the forges.
They bent their heads together over the broken weapon, shoulders nearly touching as they examined the evidence of malice.The heat of the forge pressed around them, but Thalia barely noticed it anymore — her awareness had narrowed to the small space she shared with Kaine, to the rhythm of his breathing, to the scent of smoke and metal that clung to his skin.For a moment, Thalia thought about the calculating look on his face as he’d stared at her and Roran.She wondered if she should ask him what he’d seen, make sure Roran’s secret was intact, but mentioning Roran in Kaine’s presence felt like a direct provocation.By now, even though none of them had ever spoken of the tension, Thalia was certain Roran and Kaine were well aware of the split in her attentions, the confused, complicated attraction she felt for each of them.Roran’s jealousy had been obvious from the involuntary sparks of electricity arcing between his fingers.Kaine’s was more subtle, but no less dangerous.
"Your first-year — Felah?"Kaine asked, not looking up from the blade."Has she made enemies already?"
Thalia shook her head."She's too quiet for that.Keeps to herself."She frowned, thinking of the girl's slight frame, her nervous hands."But she's Southern.That might be enough."
Kaine's jaw tightened.He didn't need to voice his agreement; they both knew the tensions between Northern and Southern students had only worsened since last year.The regional antagonisms were like a tight, inward spiral, intensifying with each successive year, heedless of any efforts to stop them.The Command Challenge seemed to have inflamed them further.
"I'll need to warn her to be careful," Thalia said."And the others in my squad."
"Be careful yourself," Kaine replied, his voice softening in a way that made her pulse quicken."Whoever did this might be targeting you throughout your first years."
