Page 36 of Winter's Dragons. Frozen Flames
"It's starting," Oki said tightly, vibrating with an agitation that was unusual to see—or scent—in an undead being. "Quickly. Help her."
We didn't need to be told twice. Praying we had made the right choice, I pressed my hand to the capsule and let the world around me fade into nothingness.
****
Cheimon
Guilt tasted bitter, I thought distantly as I stood in the icy tundra that was a representation of my own mind, facing the ghost of my past and trying to protect the future I had once hoped to have. It tasted bitter and foul, and it made me wonder how I'd ever dared to take in the sweetness of my soulmates' affection when I had been so very aware of everything I should have done, but hadn't.
I stole a look at Emmerich's pale face and wished for the first time since I had met him that he had never come here. My dragons deserved better. Had they not ended up on Chronikos, they would have undoubtedly found mates who would've been able to give them good lives. Hatchlings, as Emmerich's parents had said. I had no idea if that was possible now, but I hoped that they would eventually find their way home.
Maybe everything did indeed happen for a reason, and that was why their parents had arrived in my realm, to give them the support they would need once I was gone. That was a comforting thought. Almost.
Shaking myself, I pushed back my melancholy and focused on my enemy. Now was not the time to get distracted by my foolish emotions, not when Snegurka was right in front of me, emanating demonic magic. "You know," I told her, "believe it or not, I never did agree with my father. I hated the idea of imprisoning you in that pit. In that sense, maybe you are right, and I am too soft, too weak.
"But even so, I am still strong enough to do what I should've done all those years ago and take from you what you should've never had."
The truth was a little more complicated than that. Had I not stepped up to absorb Snegurka's powers, she would've stayed cognizant while in her metal capsule. My mother had promised that once Snegurka's powers faded, that would no longer be the case, and it had helped anchor me during those first days when the alien magic I'd taken from her had scared me so very much.
Naturally, Snegurka did not care about such things, nor did she feel in any way grateful toward me. Then again, I had not expected it.
"You're a fool, little half-breed," she spat back, baring her teeth at me. "You could never really beat me. The first time was just luck, and after that, it was your father who kept me trapped. You are not him. You cannot hope to contain power like mine."
"Probably not, but that doesn't mean I won't try anyway."
Up to a point, she was right to be skeptical about my chances. I was at a significant disadvantage, more than I had been when I had faced her in the amarok caverns. Her repertoire of mind magic was far more extensive than my own, if only because her less than inspired choices in life had mutated her original skills into something so very twisted and cruel. In fact, if not for my natural connection to my Yuki-Onna, my spirit might have completely lost its hold on my body after that first attack.
But I was back now, and I refused to let her take what did not belong to her. I might not have terrifying powers of possessing people, but I still had my soulmates, the soulmates she believed were hers.
Anger exploded through me at the memory of her trying to convince Emmerich to discard our bond. The space around us responded to my tempestuous emotions so fiercely that I almost feared I would turn into a version of my own enemy. A harsh blizzard rose around me, and ice bloomed at my fingertips and beneath my booted feet."I think now that I'm not so different from my father. He might've been selfish and cruel, but so am I."
Yes, guilt tasted bitter, but fear was even worse, and I could not be afraid anymore.
"What you are is a liar and a thief," Snegurka snarled, "and I will claim my retribution from your carcass if I have to."
The sky above us darkened, the demonic nature of her powers clouding the mindscape the three of us now shared. I didn't flinch away from it. When Snegurka summoned her magic, ready to do exactly what she had said, I stood my ground once again, but this time, with the complete and utter knowledge that I could not afford to fail.
The bright ice-blue of my power struck the dark force Snegurka emanated, and the impact sent us both reeling back. I staggered but did not fall. All I needed was a chance, an opening that would give me the opportunity to go through with my plan.
It was a little easier said than done. Snegurka was powerful and determined, and while my mind had rebelled against the dark hold of her possession, I was still feeling the aftereffects of my earlier decision to heal the amarok pup.
I had no choice but to throw all caution to the wind and pretend I was indeed as weak, foolish and helpless as she had deemed me to be.
As that decision settled in my heart, Snegurka's magic began to push my own back. The corrupted tendrils of her accursed abilities reached out to me and threatened to consume me whole, mimicking our confrontation in the cave.
"Cassia!" I heard Emmerich cry out. With the corner of my eye, I caught sight of him trying to get up but failing. His strength and abilities would not help him here, not when Snegurka still controlled so much of this space, so much of me.
I ached for him, for the fact that I was forcing to watch something so horrible, but I could not shield him from it. I could only hope that I'd succeed in the rest of my plan, and give him the future I would never have.
As Snegurka's dark power made contact with my ethereal hand, she started to laugh, the insane chuckles echoing in the space around us like thunder. "I told you, you don't have a chance to beat me. You're mine now. Everything you are is—"
"I don't think so," my fifteen-year-old self said from behind her, interrupting her mid-sentence.
Snegurka's eyes widened as she finally understood what I had done. She tried to turn and focus on the new threat, but it was too late. By the time my other self finished the sentence, a thick vine had already pierced Snegurka's chest. Letting out a choked gasp, she collapsed, her dark magic rushing away from me and returning to her as she desperately attempted to keep her consciousness from fading away.
"Y-You tricked me," she stammered, clutching the wound and trying to stem the blood flow. Distantly, I couldn't help but wonder how it was even possible for someone to bleed if we weren't in the real world.
"You yourself said that I am a liar and a thief," I replied, allowing my magic to smooth down the parts of my mindscape that she had attempted to destroy. The dark clouds vanished altogether, and the temperature in the tundra settled into something calmer, less vicious.
