Page 40 of The Enchanted Frost

This decision was about more than just us and our feelings for one another—it was about the preservation of the seasons and the mortals who would suffer under harsher winters. Should Frost choose mortality, the world would be forever changed.

When the vision melted away this mirror also vanished, leaving us with nothing but the cold air between us. I hesitated before slowly turning to Frost, needing to know how he felt in the face of such a choice. His expression was unreadable, his gaze still fixed on the space where the mirror had stood, as if he could still see the life and death it had shown him…along with the dire cost.

"What are you thinking?" I started to reach for his hand but then drew back, not wanting to influence him as he wrestled with such a decision.

He turned to me, his eyes softening as they met mine, the warmth of his gaze cutting through the chill that had settled in my heart. “I see the life I could have with you,” he murmured. “But I also see the burden it would bring…not just for me, but for the world I’ve sworn to protect.”

He said nothing more, but his hand tightened around mine as we moved back down the hallway and faced the final path.

As we took the first step down the corridor, a powerful wind gusted against us and my hand slipped from Frost’s. I gasped as I stumbled into the wall, where the mirrored panels reflected nothing but darkness. Frost reached towards me, but the icy path between us cracked, forming a chasm deeper than I could see and trapping him with no way forward.

Frost extended a hand, summoning his magic, but his features sagged in despair as he remembered that his powers were dormant here in the presence of more powerful enchantment. Clenching his jaw, he crouched and sprang over the fissure towards me. He made it nearly to the other side, frantic fingers catching the edge as he nearly fell. With shaking hands, I knelt to help pull him up, and this time he wrapped his arm securely around me, holding me tightly to his side as we continued forward.

The path offered no further resistance. Our footsteps echoed in the silence as we approached the final mirror. This time, the reflection awaiting us was darker, more twisted, casting a chill even colder than the frozen air around us. As the vision began to unfold, I barely recognized the figure before me—Frost, but not as I’d ever known him.

He sat upon a jagged throne of ice, looming high above a barren wasteland frozen in perpetual winter. His expression had hardened beyond recognition, his once-piercing eyes now cold and empty, devoid of the warmth or compassion that had once flickered there. This was not the Frost who had risked everything to save me and who had learned to embrace the delicate balance of his power—this was a ruler consumed by winter, no longer its protector but its tyrant who allowed the season to devour all within its icyreach, worse even than Borealis’s dispassionate rule would be.

The court surrounding him was filled with what appeared to be a court of frozen statues, standing in silent submission to their icy monarch. My heart twisted in horror when upon closer examination I realized they weren’t statues butpeople—innocent souls Frost’s power had claimed, frozen in time after he had imprisoned them in eternal winter, bound to him for all eternity to fuel his power yet unable to fill the endless void filling his heart.

The vision shifted, showing cities buried beneath thick layers of snow and ice, entire civilizations reduced to ghostly remnants. No laughter or warmth remained, no light pierced the heavy clouds that choked the sky. The inhabitants were frozen where they stood—caught in the streets, huddled in their homes, claimed by the relentless cold. Frost walked among them, indifferent to their suffering as he surveyed his handiwork with cool approval.

A shudder rippled through me as I realized this was the fate of the world should he fulfill his duty and claim my soul after learning to love me—the pain of his grief and the bleakness of an eternity alone wresting away the compassion that had always resided in his heart and had blossomed along with our growing relationship. Without me, his unyielding power would grow unchecked, warping him into this cold, merciless figure who no longer safeguarded the season’s balance he once valued, but instead let winter consume everything in its path…including himself.

As much as I yearned, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the scene, my hand trembling in his. Sorrow clenched my heart and the weight of the vision pressed down on me, a cruel reminder of the fate Frost would face should he lose the love we had forged once my soul moved on as was nature’s proper course—alone, untouched by warmth orlove, his power so absolute that it destroyed the very world he had once sought to protect.

This trial wasn’t just about Frost’s immortality, or even saving or losing me—it would decide whether Frost could hold onto his humanity…or let winter consume him entirely.

CHAPTER 18

The weight of the visions of Frost’s potential futures lingered, pressing against my shoulders like a heavy cloak—the fleeting joy of love and laughter alongside the inevitable cost of mortality, living a life with the man I loved but bound to a life of aging, suffering, and inevitable death.

I glanced at him for his reaction, but his expression remained unreadable, his icy mask firmly in place…even as I caught a glimpse of his unspoken thoughts hidden in his eyes.

“Frost?” I ventured, my voice barely more than a whisper in the frozen silence.

He hesitated, the faintest undetectable flicker crossing his face. For a moment, I thought he might not answer, but then his gaze locked onto mine, intense and unyielding. My heart skipped a beat, unsure if I was ready for whatever he was about to say.

“I didn’t quite realize all that I was risking when I chose not to collect your soul.”

His quiet words barely carried in the cold air, but they hitme like a sudden gust of wind. “But…I thought you were unable to collect my soul.” That anomaly had led him to bring me to his winter realm, allowing us to experience all we had together.

He exhaled shakily. “That was true in the beginning, but no longer…in fact, not for some time now. Your soul was initially tethered by unfulfillment, binding you in a life you subconsciously knew to be incomplete. But now having experienced love and learning to forgive yourself for your past, your existence feels complete, freeing you to move on. I believe the reason my powers have been fading is because I’ve been resisting my duty to claim you despite now being able to.” His voice faltered, and for the first time since we entered the labyrinth, fear filled his gaze. “That choice and what’s followed because of it is the reason the balance is tipping.”

My breath caught in my throat as the truth settled over me. From the moment I entered this realm, I had known I wouldn’t leave it alive, but to realize that the love I had sought my entire life and this beautiful connection we shared now jeopardized the balance left me reeling.

It took a long moment for me to find my voice, and even longer to push past the emotion clogging my throat. “If you’ve had the power to claim me, with all at stake, why haven’t you—”

Heartache filled his eyes as he cradled my cheek, his cool touch featherlight against my skin. “I…couldn’t. Even with the balance at risk, it seems inconsequential to an existence without you.”

A blizzard of conflicting emotions whirled inside me. Sensing my distress, he reached for me, but I instinctively pulled away, overwhelmed by this sudden, crushing realization. Not wanting him to see the tears already spilling downmy cheeks, I turned and stumbled blindly as I tried to distance myself.

As if the magic filling the labyrinth sensed my need to be alone, a gust of icy wind rushed through the corridor, tugging at my cloak and pulling me into a chamber I hadn’t noticed before.

The room was stark and empty, save for a single mirror standing tall against the far wall. I recoiled, remembering the three visions we’d already endured, but unlike the others, this one wasn’t clouded with visions of the future, its clear glass reflecting only me standing alone in Frost’s vast, frozen realm that had become both deeply familiar and incredibly dear to me.

I stared at the mirror for a long moment, torn between curiosity and dread. But drawn to the glass, I finally took a tentative step forward, my fingers trembling as they brushed its surface. The mirror’s contents didn’t shift, but offered clarity as I stared into my reflection. Memories of my life played out in my mind across the stage of reminiscence, allowing me to once more re-experience my life through the lens of the growth I’d experienced since meeting Frost.

I closed my eyes, remembering the way my own heart had changed, releasing the bitterness I’d clung to and learning to care about others. Then my mind was flooded with images of Frost—the curious way he’d first watched me and how this emotion had slowly evolved into the deepest affection I’d ever experienced. His face had transformed from that of a cold immortal to a loving…human. But was humanity his true destiny when it meant losing the abilities that were integral to his identity?

---