The frost on Aveline's window did not melt, even when the noon sun climbed high. She ran her fingertip across it, but the pattern was too deliberate,spirals and sigils that almost looked like calligraphy.
Leora hovered at her shoulder, eyes wide. "It's spreading, my lady."
Aveline nodded. "Don't tell anyone. Not even the maids who bring food."
"But if His Majesty finds out"
"He'll destroy whatever this is before I understand it."
Aveline pulled her hand away from the glass and turned to the mirror beside her bed. For a moment, her reflection was still, not following her exactly. It blinked a fraction slower, lips parting when hers didn't.
Her chest tightened. "Who's there?"
The reflection smiled faintly, but her own face did not move. Then, as quick as a heartbeat, the mirror turned normal again.
Leora dropped the tray she was holding. "My lady" She shivered
"It's fine," Aveline said, but her voice trembled. She forced herself to sound calm. "Clean it up. Make sure this doesn't spread "
She waited until the girl left before whispering again to the mirror. "If you can hear me… who are you?"
No answer. Only the faint shimmer at the corner, like breath.
In the temple spire, High Priest Seran knelt before a basin of black water. The reflection that stared back was not his own.it was King Roderic's.
"She's being touched by it already," Seran said. "The girl is not ordinary, Your Majesty."
Roderic's image frowned. "She's my daughter."
"That's exactly why the veil reacts. The bloodline remembers what you did."
A shadow rippled across the basin's surface. Roderic's voice came out colder. "Keep her from learning the truth. If she awakens that blood, none of us will survive it."
Seran bowed. "Then the mirror will have to be sealed again."
Across realms, Maeric sat on the edge of his war table, maps scattered beneath his hands. A circle of mages stood behind him, their palms glowing faintly with silver fire.
"The mark has awakened in the girl," one said.
Maeric's golden eyes flickered. "I felt it too. The frost sigil."
"It means the curse is shifting. The Silverbane no longer lies dormant."
He leaned forward, voice low. "Tell me where."
The mage hesitated. "We can't yet. It's bound to her life thread. If you reach her again before the next moon, the worlds will tear."
Maeric closed his eyes. The Bind inside his chest throbbed painfully. "Then I'll find another way."
The eldest mage spoke softly. "Your Majesty, you don't even know what she is yet."
Maeric looked toward the dark horizon, toward where the veil shimmered faintly like a wound in the sky. "She's the one who can end us all. Or save us. Either way… I'll find her."
That night, Aveline dreamed again. Only this time, she wasn't standing by the frost ring. She was inside it.
A figure appeared in the mist. Tall, half-shadow, half-firelight and her gold eyes locked with hers.
He spoke one word she didn't understand. The frost flared into light.
When she woke, a single word had burned itself into the mirror's surface.
"Lunareth."