The wind whispered through the jagged peaks, carrying with it the scent of snow and something older, a memory of storms that had raged before either of them was born. The ice beneath their boots groaned softly, as if aware of their trespass.
"You speak as though you've been waiting for this crack," Seraphira said, her voice barely more than a breath. She didn't want to disturb the vast silence of the frozen pass.
Kaelreth's cloak stirred in the wind, black against white, the fabric seeming to drink in what little light the moon offered. His lips curved faintly, but there was no mirth in it. "I have waited far longer than you can imagine. But not for the ice."
Her brows knit. Then what is it you've been waiting for?
He turned, the shadows curling toward him like faithful beasts. "For a breach in the order. For something that could unmake what was bound too tightly."
His words made her uneasy. She wanted to ask if he meant her, but something in his gaze told her she might not want the answer. Instead, she looked down at the lake below them, its frozen surface reflecting the moon in sharp, perfect clarity.
A tremor whispered through the ground faint, but enough to make her knees lock. Beneath her feet, the perfect reflection fractured. Lines of white spiderwebbed out from where she stood.
She stumbled back, but Kaelreth's hand shot out, catching her wrist. His grip was unyielding, the warmth of his skin startling in the frozen air. "Do not fear it," he said, his voice low, steady. "Sometimes, the first crack is the beginning of freedom."
The ice shifted again, a groan deep in its belly. She swallowed hard, her pulse drumming in her ears. "And sometimes it's the beginning of drowning," she whispered.
A faint shadow of a smile touched his mouth. "That depends on whether you've learned to breathe in the depths."
They stood there, locked in that strange tether between them, as the wind swept across the lake and the sound of shifting ice echoed far below. Seraphira's heart was a storm, part fear, part something she refused to name. And somewhere, deep under the ice, she thought she heard water moving, restless and waiting…