Caelan's POV
"Brother?"
Lyanna's voice is weak and raspy, but it's the most beautiful sound I've ever heard.
I'm across the room in three strides, dropping to my knees beside her bed. "Lyanna. Gods, Lyanna, you're awake. You're actually awake."
She blinks slowly, confused. "Why are you crying?"
I touch my face. I am crying. I didn't even realize.
"You've been asleep," I tell her, taking her hand carefully. My curse doesn't affect her anymore—it can't make things worse than they already were. "For thirteen years."
Her eyes widen. "Thirteen—what? No. That's not possible. I just closed my eyes for a moment when that witch—" She stops, memory flooding back. "The curse. Mother and Father tried to fight her, and then everything went cold and I couldn't move and—" She looks around frantically. "Where are Mother and Father?"
My heart shatters all over again. "Lyanna—"
"No." She's shaking her head. "No, don't say it. Please don't say it."
"They died trying to break the curse," I whisper. "Ten years ago. I'm so sorry."
She makes a sound like a wounded animal and starts sobbing. I pull her into my arms, letting her cry against my shoulder. The healer hovers nearby, looking worried, but I wave him away. She needs this. She needs to grieve for the parents she lost while she slept.
"It's my fault," I say into her hair. "All of this is my fault. If I'd just agreed to marry Morganna's daughter—"
"Stop." Lyanna pulls back, wiping her eyes. Even crying and weak, she's fierce. "You were fifteen years old. She tried to force a child into marriage. This is not your fault, Caelan. It's hers."
But it is my fault. I've carried that guilt for thirteen years.
"How am I awake?" Lyanna asks suddenly. "If the curse hasn't been broken, how—"
"I don't know." I glance at Silas, who's standing by the door. "Something changed tonight. Something impossible."
"The girl," Silas says quietly.
Lyanna's head swivels toward him. "What girl?"
I hesitate. How do I explain Aria? How do I explain that a exiled nobody from the Summer Court showed up and started melting ice and waking sleeping princesses?
"Her name is Aria," I finally say. "She arrived tonight, nearly frozen to death. But she creates warmth, Lyanna. Real warmth. The ice melts around her. And apparently..." I gesture at her sitting up in bed. "You started waking up the moment she entered the palace."
Lyanna stares at me. "That's impossible."
"I know."
"Brother, nothing warm survives your curse. You've tried everything. Every healer, every mage, every ritual—"
"I know!" The word comes out harsher than I intended. I take a breath. "I know it's impossible. But it's happening anyway."
Lyanna is quiet for a moment, thinking. She always was smarter than me.
"I want to meet her," she finally says.
"Absolutely not." I stand up. "You just woke up after thirteen years. You need rest, food, time to—"
"I want to meet the girl who saved my life," Lyanna interrupts firmly. "Now."
There's no arguing with her when she uses that tone. There never was.
"Fine," I sigh. "But if you collapse, I'm blaming you."
Ten minutes later, we're outside Aria's room. I made Lyanna eat something first and let the healer check her. She's weak, but stable. Thirteen years of sleep should have killed her or left her unable to move. Instead, she's walking with only a little help.
Another impossibility courtesy of Aria.
I knock on the door. "Aria? Are you decent?"
"Yes?" Her voice sounds uncertain.
I push the door open. She's sitting on the bed, looking small and worried. When she sees me, her eyes widen. When she sees Lyanna, her mouth falls open.
"This is my sister, Princess Lyanna," I introduce them. "She just woke up from a thirteen-year cursed sleep. Apparently because of you."
Aria looks terrified. "I didn't mean to! I don't know how I—"
"Thank you," Lyanna interrupts, moving forward despite her weakness. "Thank you for saving me."
She pulls Aria into a hug before I can stop her.
I tense, waiting for something terrible to happen. For the curse to react. For frost to spread. For Lyanna to freeze.
Nothing happens. Except Aria hugs her back, and Lyanna's smile grows wider.
"You're warm," Lyanna says with wonder. "Actually warm."
"I don't understand what's happening," Aria admits. "I'm not trying to do anything. I don't even have magic—"
"You absolutely have magic," Lyanna corrects. She pulls back but keeps holding Aria's hands. "I can feel it. It's like... like sunshine trapped inside you."
Aria looks at me helplessly. "Is that possible?"
"A week ago, I would have said no," I admit. "Now I don't know what's possible anymore."
Lyanna sits on the bed beside Aria, studying her with curious eyes. "Tell me everything. Where you're from, why you're here, how you found us."
Aria glances at me, uncertain.
"It's alright," I tell her. "Lyanna needs to know what's happening."
So Aria tells her story. The engagement party. The betrayal. The false accusations. The exile. Lyanna's face grows darker with every word.
"Those absolute monsters," Lyanna hisses when Aria finishes. "They sent you here to die because they were jealous? Because you had real gifts instead of flashy tricks?"
"I'm starting to think my family might have been terrible," Aria says with a weak smile.
"Terrible doesn't begin to cover it." Lyanna squeezes her hand. "But their loss is our gain. You're safe here, Aria. Right, Caelan?"
She looks at me with a challenge in her eyes. She knows exactly what she's doing—making me promise to protect this girl before I've figured out if she's dangerous or not.
But looking at Aria's hopeful expression, I can't say no.
"You can stay," I tell her. "As long as you need. Until you're strong enough to..." I pause. Where would she even go? She's been exiled. She has no family, no home, no friends. "You can stay," I finish simply.
"Thank you," Aria whispers.
"Now," Lyanna says briskly, "tell me about this curse-breaking. Do you know you're doing it? Does it hurt? Can you control it?"
"I don't know, no, and I don't know," Aria answers honestly. "It just happens. My hands were glowing earlier, and I heard something crack, and apparently the fountain is melting?"
"The fountain, the ice in this room, and my curse-sleep," Lyanna lists. "That's a lot of accidental magic."
"Which is exactly why we need to be careful," I say. "If Aria really is breaking the curse, we need to understand how and why. Because curses don't just break. They either need specific conditions met or—" I stop, not wanting to finish that thought.
"Or what?" Aria asks.
"Or they're being transferred to someone else," I say quietly. "Some curses work like that. They can't be destroyed, only moved."
The room goes silent.
"You think I'm going to get cursed?" Aria's voice is small.
"I don't know." And that's what terrifies me. "But until we understand what's happening, we need to be cautious."
Lyanna yawns suddenly, trying to hide it.
"You need rest," I tell her. "Real rest in your own bed."
"But I just woke up," she protests weakly.
"And you need to recover properly. Come on." I help her stand. "Aria will still be here tomorrow."
As we move toward the door, Lyanna looks back at Aria. "I'm really glad you're here," she says softly. "Even if we don't understand why yet. You gave me back my life. I won't forget that."
Aria smiles, and something in my chest tightens at how genuine it is.
I escort Lyanna back to her chambers, making sure she's settled before leaving her with the healer. When I return to Aria's door, I pause.
I should go to my own room. Study my curse books. Try to figure out what Aria is and what she's doing to my kingdom.
Instead, I knock again.
"Come in," Aria calls.
She's still sitting on the bed, looking lost and alone.
"Are you alright?" I ask.
She laughs, but it's bitter. "I don't know what I am anymore. Useless healer? Curse-breaker? Walking disaster?"
"How about just Aria?" I suggest.
She looks up at me with those warm eyes. "Just Aria. The girl with nowhere to go and no idea what she's doing."
"Welcome to the club." I lean against the doorframe. "I've been living that life for thirteen years."
We share a small smile. For a moment, it's almost comfortable.
Then her hands start glowing again.
Not just a faint shimmer this time—bright, golden light that fills the entire room. Aria gasps, staring at her palms in shock.
"What's happening?" she asks frantically.
"I don't—" I start, but then I feel it.
Heat. Real heat, spreading through the palace like wildfire. Ice cracking everywhere—walls, floors, ceilings. The sound is deafening.
And outside Aria's window, something impossible is happening.
A frozen tree in the courtyard is blooming. Actually blooming, with pink flowers erupting from dead branches.
In the middle of winter. In a cursed kingdom where nothing has grown for thirteen years.
"Aria," I breathe. "What are you?"