Chapter 16 The Cost Of Kindness.
“So, hear me out,” I say, pacing along the edge of the rock shelf. “What if I give her my powers?”
Serel blinks, head tilting slightly, that glowing hair drifting in the dark water. “Give her… what?”
“My powers.” I gesture vaguely at my hands, which are already sweating from nerves and condensation. “The frost, the storms, whatever this cursed mess is. I give them to Vasra. You get free. She gets stronger or whatever she wants, and I—well, I get to be normal for once.”
Gilfred squeaks loudly from his perch on my shoulder, like absolutely not, you lunatic.
I point at him. “Don’t start with me. It’s not like I’ve exactly mastered any of this. Every time I feel something, someone nearly loses a toe to frostbite.”
Serel watches me carefully. “You would… give up what makes you who you are?”
“What makes me unwelcome,” I correct. The words slip out too quickly, bitter and small. “Maybe people would like me better if I wasn’t—” I flex my fingers, a faint shimmer of frost forming before I shake it away. “This.”
She drifts closer, studying my face. “It might work,” she murmurs, almost to herself. “If Vasra takes what binds you, she could unspool the threads tied to me as well. It’s dangerous, but… yes. It might work.”
“Danger’s kind of my brand lately,” I mutter.
Gilfred glares. I ignore him.
Serel hesitates, her voice dropping. “But you understand—she won’t give without taking more than you offer. That’s how she works.”
“I know,” I say softly. “But maybe that’s the point. If it ends this, it’s worth it.”
Serel closes her eyes for a long moment. When she opens them again, there’s sorrow there. “Then we’ll go.”
The way to Vasra’s lair feels colder than before. The water thickens, becoming heavier and darker. Serel's that hums through the deep is softer now, slow and sweet, but it presses against my skull like pressure in the air before a storm. I can feel Gilfred trembling beneath my collar, his tiny claws digging into my skin as if he’s trying to hold me back. “It’s okay,” I whisper. “I’ve got this. Sort of.”
When we reach the chamber, it’s like swimming into a cathedral. Massive columns of coral rise from the ocean floor, twisted and pale, glowing faintly with bioluminescent veins. In the centre, she waits. Vasra. The Kraken Queen. The thing beneath the stories. Her body is vast and terrible—half woman, half endless, her tendrils coiling lazily through the dark like smoke. Her eyes are the colour of oil on water, shifting and alive. When she smiles, the current stirs.
“Well,” Vasra purrs, voice echoing like thunder rolling through a cave. “What have we here? My little songbird brings me a gift?”
Serel bows her head, shoulders stiff. “A trade,” she says quietly. “Her power for my freedom.”
Vasra’s smile widens, revealing too many teeth. “Ah, how quaint. You finally found someone foolish enough to bargain with me.” Her gaze slides to me, sharp and curious. “Tell me, frost child, do you even know what you’re offering?”
“I know exactly what I’m offering,” I say, lifting my chin even though my knees are trembling. “Take it. Take it all. Just free her.”
For a heartbeat, she studies me. Then she laughs, a deep, rippling sound that shakes the walls. “So eager,” she murmurs. “So naïve. Very well.”
Her tendrils move with eerie grace, coiling around us in a loose spiral. One brushes my cheek, and I flinch at the touch; it’s cold and slick, like ice left too long in salt.
“Come closer,” Vasra says, voice soft as velvet. “Let me taste what you bring.”
I glance at Serel. She nods once, a tight, hopeful motion. I swim forward. The water hums around me, vibrating with something that feels...really bloody dangerous. Vasra lifts a hand—if you can call it that—and her fingers hover just above my heart and the world seems to narrow to a single pulse.
“Do you give it freely?” she asks.
“I do, but only for Serel's freedom. Oh, and mine, and Gilfred's.” I point out quickly, because it's best to be sure in situations like this.
“Then be still.”
Her palm presses against my chest. It’s like being struck by lightning made of winter. The cold rips through me, deep and sharp, and I feel something being pulled. My power. My frost. The thing that hums beneath my skin like a heartbeat that is entirely part of me. It unravels in threads of light, streaming out of me and into her. It feels...wrong, all wrong. My body is screaming at me that it's mine, that it shouldn't be taken, that it doesn't want to leave me. It's as if my power has a mind of its own.
Vasra shudders, eyes rolling back. “Ah,” she sighs. “So sweet. So pure. The cold of the first storm—”
But then her voice cracks, and that wicked smile falters. The light doesn’t stop. It changes. Instead of fading, it sharpens—becoming shards of ice bursting from my chest, slicing through the water like spears, and one strikes her square in the heart. The shockwave knocks me backward, and I crash into the cavern wall, lungs burning. The water fills with blood, dark, inky clouds spreading fast. Vasra’s body convulses, tendrils thrashing, the sea roaring with the sound of something ending, with the sound of her ending. She's...she's dying...because of me.
And then…there's silence. She goes still. Her body drifts, heavy and weightless all at once, the light fading from her eyes. The bond on Serel’s wrist shatters like glass. She gasps, clutching her arm, eyes wide with disbelief.
“It’s done,” she whispers. “She’s gone.”
I can barely move. My chest aches like it’s been hollowed out. My hands tremble as I look at the still figure before me—the monster, the queen, the thing everyone feared. And me. I did this.
Whether I meant to or not, I killed her. Whether she was good or evil, I killed her. I killed her...I...Killed...Her.
Serel swims to me, gripping my arms, her face a mix of joy and grief. “You freed me,” she breathes. “You freed all of us.”
Gilfred floats between us, eyes enormous, his tiny mouth opening and closing like he can’t decide if he should be horrified or proud.
“I didn’t—” My voice cracks. “I didn’t mean to.”
Serel squeezes my hands gently. “Intent doesn’t matter to the sea. Only the result does.”
I stare past her, to where Vasra’s form is already beginning to sink, the darkness swallowing her whole. The water feels colder now. So much heavier. I can still feel the hum of power in my veins, wilder than before; it's angry.
“I just wanted to help,” I whisper.
That's all I wanted to do...I just wanted to help, and I did...but at what cost?