Page 44 of Severed Heir

“I’ll ride Naraic,” I said quickly, panic closing like a fist around my ribs. “I can’t risk drowning us all.”

But before I could move, the ice groaned. A crack lanced out from beneath my feet, spidering like shattered glass.

I froze, arms outstretched. “Keep walking,” I said, barely breathing. “Don’t stop. Don’t run.”

Antonia’s teeth chattered. “Pathetic,” she hissed. “You’re a beast in your own land. You’ll kill us all.”

“Calm it, Toni,” Fraser snapped.

“She’s panicking, you idiot,” Kian said.

“My bond with my dragon was damaged,” I gasped. “I—I can’t control the flame right now.”

Each step I took sent another fracture through the ice. Unsteady fire flickered at my fingers. The ice gave way beneath Naraic first. With a roar, his talons plunged through.

Antonia bolted for the trees, dragging a stunned Cully behind her. Myla hesitated, then followed.

“Kian, go!” I shouted.

“I can’t leave you,” he said, shaking his head.

Fraser crouched low, examining the thinning ice. “Your flame destabilized your body. Now that you’ve reunited, you can’t control your powers,” he called. “Can you swim?”

“Not well,” I panted.

“Then lay flat. Spread your weight!”

I turned to Kian, panic clawing at my throat. “I don’t care if Archer told you to protect me—leave.”

Kian’s jaw locked. “I think I’m willed to protect you,” he said hoarsely. “It’s not a choice.”

“Like a shield?” I spat.

“No,” he said. “Not like that.”

Antonia turned back, snarling, “Severyn, you need to—”

Then the ice shattered, and I plunged, legs first, into the cold darkness. I thrashed, scraping at the ceiling above me—but there was no opening. No air. Just the crushing silence of below.

The current yanked me sideways, slamming my body into jagged spheres of floating ice. I clawed at the slick surface, fists pounding until blood smeared across the glassy sheen.

Above, through warped shadows, I caught a glimpse of Fraser—his silhouette rising and falling. Sword in hand, he struck the ice again and again, each blow more desperate than the last.

I pressed my palms to the ceiling, begging for warmth, for a flicker of power—anything. My relic sparked weakly, but it was too thick to melt.

“Severyn.”Archer’s voice came distantly through the bond.“I can feel your panic in my heart. What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry,”I sobbed down the bond.“I failed.”

Then the ice split with a thunderous crack. Naraic’s talons slammed down, sending a pillar of water into the air. Through the swirl of bubbles and ash, I saw his eyes, violet and burning.

The last of my strength surged into my relic, searing against my skin. I drove my fist upward, and a burst of black flame erupted from my palm, fracturing the ice like shattered glass.

A hand burst through the surface and clamped around my wrist, yanking me free before the current could drag me under. I collapsed onto the frozen lake, gasping as the silver sky spun overhead.

Antonia knelt beside me, arm soaked to the shoulder, her teeth clenched against the cold. With one huff, she stared at me. “If that leftover Lynch calls me annoying again,” she muttered, “I’m dragging him under and holding him there.”

Kian raised his arms. “I love that attempted murder is your version of flirting. Really makes the psychic bond warm and fuzzy.”

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