Chapter 24 CHAPTER 24
Why? Why does she keep fighting me? She should have broken. She should have...
"Bitch!" I roared as pain shot through my vision In a sharp, blinding sting.
A sound ripped from my throat as I jerked back, her thumbs pushing into my eyes hard enough to force me away. My grip broke instantly, my hand flying to my face as I blinked through the sting.
“Fuck!” I snarled, the word coming out raw and loud as the pain burned through me.
She moved, heading straight for the door.
I barely registered it before she was gone, and something darker surged through me, pushing past the pain, past the control I had already lost.
Of course she ran. “Damn it,” I growled, already moving. I followed behind her, not because I needed to, and not because I had to. But because something in me refused to let her go.
The castle blurred as I moved, my body shifting easily into the hunt, faster, sharper, built for this in ways she could never be. I could hear her ahead, her steps uneven, desperate, echoing through the halls.
She would not make it far, not like this.
Then the doors opened, vold air hit, and she ran straight into it. “You stupid—” I muttered under my breath, but I didn’t finish it.
The courtyard with the ice was dangerous. I knew what would happen before it did, and still
she ran.
The crack echoed through the night, loud and final, and my body went still for half a second as the surface broke beneath her, and then she disappeared.
"No!" The word hit harder this time, deeper, but I was already moving.There was no hesitation.
No thought. I hit the ice and broke through it, diving straight into the freezing water after her as if the cold did not exist. It slammed into me, sharp and biting, but it meant nothing. I pushed through it, swimming faster, harder, until I saw her.
She was sinking with no movement. She was too still.
Something in my chest tightened in a way I did not understand, something sharp and sudden that drove me forward faster.
Not like this.
I reached her and pulled her in, my arm wrapping around her as I forced us upward, breaking through the surface as I dragged her out onto the ice and then onto solid ground.
Her body was freezing, shaking uncontrollably.
I lifted her without thinking, holding her close as I moved, her head falling against me, her breath weak and uneven.
I didn’t understand why I cared, why I had followed her. Why I did not let her disappear beneath the ice and be done with it.
She was trouble. Defiant. A fire that refused to go out no matter how hard I tried to crush it. And still… I could not let it burn out. “Damn you,” I muttered under my breath, tightening my hold as I carried her back toward the castle.
Because for some reason I could not explain,
I was not ready to lose her.
She felt too light in my arms.That was the first thing I noticed as I carried her through the halls, her body barely holding any weight against mine, her head resting limply against my chest. Water dripped from her clothes, from her hair, leaving a trail behind us as I moved quickly through the castle, my steps steady but faster than usual. I glanced down at her more than I should have, my eyes were drawn to the way her long red hair clung to her face, damp and tangled, the strands sticking to her pale skin.
That color, It stood out too much. Bright, like fire. The only thing in this cursed, frozen place that carried any warmth in it at all.
Everything else here was cold. Stone. Ice. Shadows that never lifted. But her… she burned in a way that did not belong here, and no matter how many times I tried to crush it, it never went out.
I tightened my hold on her slightly, my jaw clenching as I forced my gaze forward again.
I did not take her back to her chamber, it was too large, and way too cold. It would not hold the heat she needed, not in the state she was in now. Instead, I turned down a different corridor, one I rarely used for anyone but myself, and pushed open the doors to my own chambers.
The room was smaller.Still stone. Still cold, but not like hers.
The fire still burned here, low but steady, enough to fight back the worst of the cold that clung to everything else in this place.
I crossed the room quickly and lowered her onto the thick fur rug in front of the fireplace, the heat already reaching her, though it was not enough. Not yet.
She was freezing. I could feel it through my hands. I didn’t waste time. My grip moved to her dress, and with one sharp pull, I tore through the soaked fabric, ripping it away from her without hesitation. The material gave easily under my strength, falling apart in my hands before I tossed it aside, my focus already shifting back to her.
That was when I noticed it... her pants, still on.
A small, unexpected smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth, it was brief and gone just as quickly as it came.
“Stubborn in more ways than one,” I muttered under my breath.
I didn’t linger on it. The cold had already taken too much from her. I grabbed hold of the fabric and tore it away just as easily, pulling it free and discarding it with the rest. I left what little remained, not out of hesitation, but because it was enough.
Her skin was pale. Too pale. A faint blue tint had settled over it, her body trembling weakly even now, caught somewhere between fighting and giving in. The sight hit sharper than I expected, something in my chest tightening in a way I did not like. Like a blade.
I reached for one of the heavier fur blankets from my bed and wrapped it around her quickly, pulling it close around her body, securing it tightly as if I could force the warmth back into her. She looked smaller like this, swallowed by the thick fur, her form barely visible beneath it.
She is too still. I lowered myself beside her, pulling her closer without thinking, my arms wrapping around her to trap what heat I could give. Her body was cold against mine, the chill seeping through even my own warmth, but I did not pull away. I held her there instead, steady, firm, as if letting go was not an option.
My head lowered slightly, my breath brushing against her damp hair as I inhaled her scent.
She smelled of strawberries, sweet and out of place. Nothing in this land smelled like that. Nothing here carried anything close to warmth or life, and yet she did. Even now, even like this, that scent lingered, soft but there, pulling something from me I did not understand.
It warmed something in me. Something buried deep down, and had long since learned to ignore.
My gaze settled on her face as she lay there in my arms, still, quiet, her lashes resting against her cheeks, her lips parted slightly as her breath came weak and uneven.
She should have broken.
She should have given in.