a's

h step carrying a nervous rhythm that mirrored the pulse of her magic. Since their encounter, Louis' shadow seemed to linger everywhere, even whe

s. Something about the carvings felt alive today, as if the Old Winter beneath the palace had taken note of

ways been rumors in hushed voices, shadows that hid beneath the palace. But now, she felt it in her b

lame and frost danced beneath her skin, responding instinctively to the tension in

is'

surface, the veins of magic were alive, whispering to him. He could feel the stirrings of the Old W

mirrored his own. He could hear it - the subtle resonance of flame meeting frost, instin

untested. Yet

wakens for you as much as it awakens for me," he murmured, his voice low, teasing,

s widened - fear, curiosity, something tende

er of warmth and shadow mingle. "Fear is the fir

king, the immortal, the predator wrapped in elegance and centuries of power. And

a's

t strongly. Flames licked upward from enchanted torches while frost clung stubbornly to flowers and hedges, coiling around petals

pped closer, careful not to touch, yet the magnetic pull between them was undeniable. "Th

and it," she whispered. But her pulse b

of the torch stand, drawing heat and frost into a subtle spiral. "Then let it te

at made her cheeks burn. For the first time, she felt the pulse of something

is'

r beneath their feet, to bind herself to him in ways even centuries of his experience could not predict. But he knew. H

ou are more than you know, Ella," he whispered, letting the promise hang in the cool morning air. "A

ensed the bond - subtle, dangerous, unbreakable. Whispers of rebellion and prophecy b

t, light and dark, love and power