Page 42 of Severed Heir

We reached a crumbling boulder, its edges slick with ice, broken branches tangled at the base. One by one, we climbed, boots slipping, hands raw against the frozen stone.

Cully huffed behind me. “When the hell did you get so good at climbing?”

Myla chuckled. “Part of Winter initiation involved scaling an ice wall. Sev did it four times. Once with a broken wrist.”

“You—what?” Cully gaped, scrambling over the ledge behind me.

“Well, I failed,” I said, brushing frost from my sleeve. “In case you’re wondering why I never became Father’s heir. Flame doesn’t exactly pair well with an ice throne. I’d appreciate if you didn’t journal that part.”

Antonia’s hiss drifted up from below. “Gods, you’re dramatic. It’s his job to journal, Blanche. Or are you so self-obsessed you’d risk getting him blacklisted from the Serpent Press over a single footnote?”

“It’s not like that,” I snapped.

Myla shouted. “Stop!”

Then the trees went still. Not a breath of wind, not a whisper of sound. Then came the shriek. Distorted and inhuman. Echoing through the snow-laced trees.

Antonia’s shadow surged to life. “That sounded like a beast,” she said.

The stench hit first. It was sour and metallic, like flesh left to rot beneath frost. Then the beast appeared. Its limbs were unnaturally long, skin pallid and thin over bone. Gray fur clung in patches, matted with old blood. Its antlers weren’t regal, but jagged like twisted roots, splintering from a narrow, skull-like head. It hunched over a carcass, black claws raking through the mess. Blood slicked the snow beneath it, steaming in the cold. Its jaw worked soundlessly, long after the meat was gone.

Then it looked up. Milky, lidless eyes starred at us, hackles raised.

Myla yanked Cully behind her. Frost had already begun to curl around her hands, ready to strike. Kian stepped in front of me, shadows blooming from his palm like smoke.

“Like we practiced—” Myla started.

“Ice beast!” Antonia shouted. “Blanche, where is its weak spot?”

I swallowed hard. “Uh… just attack and hope something works?”

“The other Blanche!” she said.

Cully flipped through his journal, pages shaking in his hands. “Okay, hold on. Wait, there’s a soft spot between the ribs… oh. Go for the heart! What Sev said—just attack!”

The ice beast growled, its hackles flattening. Then a sword sliced through the trees. Suddenly, Fraser crashed into the clearing, grinning like a lunatic.

“What, were you all waiting for me?” he called, launching a second blade into the beast’s hind leg.

Myla didn’t pause. Frost raced down her arm as she struck low, forcing the ice beast to stumble.

“Come on, Severyn!” Antonia called. “Let’s see if it likes a little flame!”

I raised my palm, forcing my power to rise. The ice beast’s head snapped toward me. Then a second one hurtled forward on its hind legs.

It lunged.

Fraser intercepted mid-charge, steel biting into its spine. “Aim for its core!” he shouted. “No second chances out here!”

“Severyn!” Myla yelled. “Roll!”

I threw myself sideways. Its claws tore into the earth where I’d stood, pinning Kian’s jacket into the snow.

The beast loomed over me, breath steaming in the cold. I forced the flame through my veins, but it wasn’t strong enough.

The snow melted as black ash spread across the ground. Then something massive collided with the ice beast, sending it skidding through the trees in a screech of snow and fur.

I looked up and there was Naraic.

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