Page 13 of Frostforge: Passage Four
He shifted closer, his arm brushing against hers as he reached for a magnifying lens.The contact, brief as it was, sent a current through Thalia that had nothing to do with metal or magic.She became acutely aware of how alone they were in this corner of the forge, the nearest smith a dozen benches away, focused on their own work.
Kaine must have felt it too — the sudden charge between them.His movements slowed, and he set the lens down deliberately, turning toward her.His eyes, when they met hers, held the same intensity she remembered from their last moment alone in the forge.Heat bloomed in her chest that had nothing to do with the surrounding furnaces.With the warmth came a prickle of unease at the thought of Roran, of the look on his face as he’d watched her and Kaine speak on the Crystalline Plateau.
"Thalia," he murmured, low enough that only she could hear him.
At the sound of his voice, her uncertainty began to melt as if thawed by the forge fires.She leaned in slightly, drawn by the gravity of him, by the memory of his lips on hers.The forge seemed to fade around them, the clanging of hammers and hiss of steam receding into distant background noise.There was only Kaine, the warmth radiating from him, the question in his eyes, the slight parting of his lips.
Then came the rush of cold air — a shock to the system that made every smith in the forge look up in irritation.The massive door had opened, letting in a draft from the frigid corridor outside.The intrusion scattered the intimate moment like ash in a gust of wind.
Thalia knew who it was before she turned.Some primal instinct, honed by years of hostility, recognized the presence at her back.She tensed, muscles coiling tight as a spring, as she forced herself to look.
Senna Drake stood in the doorway, silhouetted against the relative darkness of the corridor beyond.The frost seemed to cling to her, reluctant to relinquish its chosen vessel to the forge's heat.She stepped inside, allowing the door to swing shut behind her, and the light caught her properly — illuminating her practical braid of brown hair that ran down one shoulder, her precise posture that spoke of rigid training and rigid belief.
But it was her attire that made Thalia's breath catch.Gone was the standard leather armor of Frostforge students.In its place was something altogether more imposing — high-end armor of tooled leather and ice-aluminum, the metal catching the forge light with a blue-white gleam.Military issue, without question.And not just any rank — the insignia at her collar marked her as an officer.
Thalia's hand instinctively moved to cover the broken blade, a pointless gesture of protection.Senna's piercing silver-gray eyes had already cataloged everything in the room, lingering with particular interest on the narrow space between Thalia and Kaine.
"I should have known I'd find you down here," Senna said, her voice carrying the familiar Northern accent that turned even casual observations into accusations.Her gaze shifted from Thalia to Kaine, warming fractionally."I came looking for you."
Kaine straightened, surprise evident in his expression — but not displeasure, Thalia noted with a sinking feeling."Senna?What are you doing here?I thought you'd been assigned to the Northern Fleet."
Senna's lips curved into something approximating a smile, though it never reached her eyes."I've been reassigned."Pride laced her words as she added, "My squadron has been detailed to reinforce Frostforge's defenses, in light of increased Isle Warden activity."
The implications landed like a physical blow.Senna wasn't just visiting.She was stationed here.Permanently.
Thalia's fingers curled against the workbench, seeking purchase against the sudden vertigo that threatened her balance.After everything — after narrowly surviving Senna's previous attempts to eliminate her as competition — she would now have to navigate Frostforge with Senna as a constant presence.A sanctioned, officially empowered presence.
Kaine moved away from the workbench, from Thalia, crossing the distance to Senna with long strides."Congratulations," he said, and there was genuine warmth in his voice that twisted something in Thalia's chest."You earned it."
Before Senna could respond, he pulled her into an embrace that clearly caught her off guard.Her eyes widened momentarily before she returned the gesture, her armored arms encircling him with what looked like practiced restraint.
Left at the workbench, Thalia busied herself with rewrapping the broken blade fragments, using the task as an excuse to avoid watching their reunion.Her jaw ached from clenching, and she forced herself to relax, to breathe through the complicated emotions churning in her gut.
She couldn't forget what Senna had done — the calculated sabotage that had nearly cost Thalia her life during the Frost Walk.The threats, the intimidation, the clear message that Thalia didn't belong at Frostforge, that she was stealing Kaine's attention from where it rightfully belonged.With Senna.
Yet she also couldn't deny that Senna had twice come to her defense since then, proving a grudging loyalty to Frostforge if not to Thalia personally.Did that erase the attempted murder?The constant undermining?The territorial claim she'd laid on Kaine?
Thalia's fingers traced the cloth-covered edges of the broken blade, feeling the wrongness in its currents even through the barrier.Sabotage.Again.Was it a coincidence that Senna returned now?
She risked a glance upward and immediately regretted it.Kaine and Senna had separated from their embrace, but remained standing close, his hand still resting lightly on her armored shoulder as she spoke to him in low tones.The familiarity between them was a physical ache in Thalia's chest.
Then Senna's eyes flicked over Kaine's shoulder, meeting Thalia's gaze with cold precision.There was no mistaking the message in that silver stare, the silent declaration of intent that had nothing to do with her military posting and everything to do with the man standing between them.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The wind on the Crystalline Plateau tore at Thalia's cloak with vicious fingers, whipping the heavy fabric around her like the wings of a panicked bird.Her eyes watered against the biting cold, frost gathering on her lashes as she squinted through the swirling snow.The distant rumble of an approaching storm vibrated through the soles of her boots, a warning that echoed in her bones — they shouldn't be out here today, not with a blizzard clawing its way across the mountains toward Frostforge.
Before her, the four recruits of her squad struggled against the elements.Felah's slight frame swayed precariously with each new gust, her footwork sloppy and uneven as she parried Sigrid's aggressive strikes.The Northern girl advanced with cold precision, exploiting Felah's instability with ruthless efficiency.Several paces away, Daniel and Rasmus circled each other like wary wolves, the Southern boy's movements hesitant where the Northerner's were confident and assured.
"Felah, widen your stance!"Thalia shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth."Plant your back foot firmly —"
The howling gale caught her words and scattered them across the plateau like dead leaves.Neither recruit showed any sign of having heard her instruction.Frustration bubbled in Thalia's chest as she watched Felah stumble again, nearly losing her grip on her practice blade.
"Sigrid!Less force, more control!"She tried again, her throat already raw from shouting against the wind.The words vanished into the white void around them, as useless as smoke signals in a tempest.
Thalia clenched her jaw.Aside from Roran, who stood fifty feet away directing his own squad, every other fourth year had had the good sense to stay within the fortress walls today, training in the covered courtyards or the cavernous halls.But Thalia’s squad needed the extra practice, needed to learn to move together despite the hostility between them.There wasn’t enough room to drill formations within the keep.
A sudden, strange stillness enveloped her, as if she'd stepped into the eye of the storm.The wind still howled—she could see it tearing at her recruits' clothing, could see the snow dancing furiously across the plateau—but around her, the air had gone eerily calm.
