The ride back to the Valerius Tower was the quietest Caspian had ever experienced in his three years of marriage. Silas, who usually spent every car ride complaining about Caspian's cheap clothes or lack of ambition, sat as rigidly as a wooden board in the corner of the luxury sedan. Every time the car hit a small bump, Silas flinched, his wide eyes darting nervously toward Caspian.
Caspian sat comfortably by the window, watching the city lights of Oakhaven blur past. Resting on his lap was the glowing crystal box containing the Frost-Soul Lotus. He did not say a word, simply letting the heavy, terrifying silence completely break his brother-in-law's nerves.
When the car finally pulled into the damaged courtyard of the Valerius Tower, Silas scrambled out of the door before the driver even put the vehicle in park. Instead of running inside, Silas practically sprinted around to Caspian's side of the car, quickly opening the door and bowing his head in total submission.
"After you, brother-in-law," Silas said, his voice trembling slightly. He kept his eyes fixed firmly on Caspian's cheap canvas shoes. "Please, watch your step. The cobblestones are still broken from last night."
Caspian stepped out of the car, suppressing a laugh. "Thank you, Silas. You are being unusually polite tonight. Did the auction teach you some manners?"
"Yes! I mean, no! I mean, I just have a new appreciation for family," Silas stammered, sweating despite the freezing night air. "I will be upstairs in my room. If you need absolutely anything, please do not hesitate to ask someone else to get it for you, because I will be very busy... staying out of your way."
Silas turned and scurried into the tower like a frightened mouse, desperate to put as many walls as possible between himself and the man who could casually drop fifty million spirit stones.
Caspian smiled and walked into the tower at a much slower pace. The grand foyer was quiet. Lord Valerius had gone straight to his study to desperately recalculate the family's finances. Caspian made his way down the quiet, dimly lit hallway toward his dusty guest bedroom on the lower floor.
He locked the thin wooden door behind him and closed the old blinds.
The time for playing games was over. His body was failing. He could feel the Fourth Bone, the Abyssal Heart, thrashing violently inside his chest like a trapped sea monster. The raw, heavy energy of the deep ocean was constantly leaking out of his cracked core, sending waves of burning pain through his delicate meridians. The golden, molten lines of the Nine Dragon Lock pulsed hotly beneath the skin of his chest, fighting a losing battle to keep the energy contained.
If he did not stabilize his core tonight, he would not survive the week.
Caspian sat cross-legged in the center of the simple, creaky wooden bed. He opened the crystal box. Immediately, a thick, freezing mist poured over the edges, spilling down onto the floorboards. The temperature in the bedroom dropped so fast that a thin layer of white frost instantly bloomed across the walls and the windowpanes.
The Frost-Soul Lotus looked like it was carved from a glacier. It radiated a pure, ancient spiritual chill.
Caspian took a deep, steadying breath. He reached into the box and carefully plucked three of the glowing, icy petals. Without hesitation, he placed them onto his tongue and swallowed.
The reaction was instantaneous and violently explosive.
It felt as though he had just swallowed a liquid blizzard. The pure, freezing energy of the lotus slammed directly into his stomach and rushed violently into his meridians. The agonizing, burning pain in his veins was immediately met with a shocking, numbing cold.
Inside his core, the Abyssal Heart roared in defiance. The heavy, dark oceanic energy crashed against the invading ice. Caspian's body became a brutal battlefield between two supreme forces. His skin flushed a deep, terrifying red as the ocean power spiked, and then instantly turned a sickly, pale blue as the frost energy fought back.
"Hold," Caspian commanded his own body, speaking the ancient language of the Shadow Command.
He forced his mind into a state of absolute, unbreakable focus. He began to manually guide the freezing energy of the lotus, weaving it carefully into the jagged cracks of his broken core. The frost acted like a magical mortar, sealing the leaks, cooling the boiling ocean water, and stabilizing the violent pressure.
But the sheer amount of energy leaking from his body was impossible to hide.
Outside the bedroom, the hallway began to freeze. The temperature in the lower level of the Valerius Tower plummeted drastically. The wooden floorboards creaked and popped as ice rapidly spread across them.
Upstairs in the main living room, Lyra was wrapped in a thick wool blanket, reviewing the damage reports from the High Regent attack. Suddenly, she saw her own breath puff into the air as a cloud of white mist. She shivered, pulling the blanket tighter.
Silas walked into the living room, rubbing his arms vigorously, his teeth chattering loudly. "Is the heating system broken? It feels like the Northern Wastes in here!"
"It is coming from downstairs," Lyra said, her brow furrowing in confusion. She stood up, walking toward the grand staircase. She could see a faint, chilling mist creeping up the steps. "It feels like spiritual energy. Wild, uncontrolled spiritual energy."
Silas peeked over the railing, saw the frost creeping up the walls, and immediately stepped back, his eyes wide with absolute terror. He knew exactly whose room was down there.
"Do not go down there, Lyra!" Silas hissed, grabbing her sleeve. "Just leave it alone! Let the basement freeze! If we interrupt whatever is happening, we might all die!"
Lyra looked at her brother, highly confused by his sudden, extreme cowardice. Silas was usually the first person to march downstairs and yell at Caspian for leaving a window open. "Silas, what is wrong with you? Someone could be attacking the tower again. I am going to check."
"No, no, I forbid it!" Silas squeaked, hiding behind a large velvet armchair. "I am the heir, and I say we stay upstairs and pretend we are asleep!"
Lyra rolled her eyes, shaking off his grip. She summoned a small amount of her Silver-Tier energy to keep herself warm and slowly walked down the freezing staircase. The closer she got to the guest hallway, the colder it became. The walls were completely coated in a thick layer of solid ice.
She stopped in front of Caspian's closed bedroom door. The wood was entirely frosted over, and a faint, pulsing blue light was shining through the crack beneath the door.
Lyra's heart hammered against her ribs. She remembered the man in the Frost Jade mask. She remembered the way the air had shattered around him. She gently placed her hand on the freezing doorknob. It was so cold it burned her skin, but she ignored the pain and slowly, quietly pushed the door open.
The sight inside took her breath away.
Caspian was no longer sitting on the bed. He was hovering a full foot in the air, his legs crossed in a perfect meditation posture. The cheap grey sweater he wore was heavily frosted, but beneath the collar, the golden, molten lines of the Nine Dragon Lock were glowing brilliantly, illuminating the dark room.
A massive, terrifying aura filled the space. Swirling around Caspian was a visible hurricane of deep blue oceanic energy and brilliant white frost. It was beautiful, ancient, and undeniably deadly. His eyes were closed, his face entirely relaxed, but the sheer, crushing pressure radiating from his body made Lyra's Silver-Tier core tremble in deep submission.
Suddenly, Caspian's brow twitched. The hurricane of energy instantly snapped back into his body, absorbing directly into his chest. The golden lines of the Nine Dragon Lock flared one final time before fading back beneath his skin. Caspian slowly floated down, landing softly on the wooden bed.
He opened his eyes. The electric-white stars that belonged to the Shadow Commander glowed fiercely in the dark room for a single second before melting back into his normal, dark brown color.
Caspian exhaled a long, heavy breath, his shoulders slumping slightly. The air in the room immediately began to warm, and the frost on the walls slowly started to melt into water droplets. He had done it. The Frost-Soul Lotus had successfully sealed the cracks, and the Abyssal Heart was no longer threatening to tear him apart.
However, the violent healing process had completely drained him. His core was perfectly whole again, but his spiritual energy tank was practically empty. He felt a deep, heavy exhaustion settling into his bones. To get back to one hundred percent power, he was going to need serious, uninterrupted rest.
He looked toward the doorway and saw Lyra standing there, perfectly still, her eyes wide with shock and awe.
Caspian did not panic. Looking at the intelligent, knowing expression on his wife's face, he realized she had probably known since the courtyard. A slow, genuine smile spread across his tired face.
Lyra stepped inside the room, quietly closing and locking the heavy wooden door behind her. She walked over to the bed, her boots splashing softly in the melting frost on the floorboards. She stopped right in front of him, looking down into his dark eyes.
"You are freezing the entire house, hubby," Lyra whispered softly, a small, playful smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
"I apologize, wife," Caspian replied, his voice a low, smooth rumble, though it carried a hint of his fatigue. "The plumbing in this tower is terrible. I was just trying to fix a leak."
Lyra let out a soft, breathy laugh, shaking her head. She reached out, her fingers gently grazing the collar of his sweater where the golden tattoo had just faded. "You bankrupt billionaires in three minutes. You swat down Gold-Tier masters like flies. You spend fifty million spirit stones on a flower just to freeze my floorboards."
She leaned down slightly, her face just inches from his. "How long were you planning to let me think I was married to a coward?"
"I never thought you believed it," Caspian said softly, reaching up to gently tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "You are the only person in Oakhaven who ever treated the coward with respect. The mask is for the rest of the world, Lyra. Never for you."
Lyra's breath hitched. A rush of warmth flooded her chest. To finally hear him admit it, to see the man she had blindly defended for three years was actually a legend hiding in the shadows, felt like a massive weight lifting from her shoulders.
Before she could speak another word, Caspian's cheap smartphone buzzed loudly on the wooden nightstand.
The romantic tension broke. Caspian sighed lazily and picked up the phone. It was a secure text message from Thorne, completely encrypted.
Commander, the text read. Desmond Caldwell just hired the Blood-Axe Pirates to burn the Valerius supply warehouses at the eastern docks. They are moving into position now. Awaiting orders.
Caspian read the message, but his expression did not change. His energy was far too low to go fighting pirates tonight, but more importantly, he did not want to ruin this rare, peaceful moment with his wife by causing her to panic over the family business.
"What is it?" Lyra asked, her eyes searching his face.
Caspian quickly locked the screen and tossed the phone back onto the nightstand, offering his easiest, most innocent smile.
"Nothing important," Caspian lied smoothly. "Just an appreciation message from Manager Voss at the auction house. He wanted to thank me again for my generous purchase and wished me a good night."
Lyra raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical, but she didn't push it. She looked at him sitting on the bed, realizing how exhausted he looked beneath the calm smile.
Caspian reached out, his warm fingers gently cupping Lyra's cheek. He stroked her skin softly with his thumb, a teasing glint returning to his dark eyes.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Caspian teased, his voice dropping to a playful whisper. "Are you finally falling for your useless husband?"
Lyra's face instantly flushed a brilliant shade of red. She swatted his hand away and playfully shoved his chest, though she was careful not to push too hard.
"Shut up, Caspian! You are unbelievable," Lyra huffed, though she couldn't hide the wide smile breaking across her face. She turned toward the door, trying to hide her blushing cheeks. "You might be some secret grandmaster, but you are still sleeping on the squeaky guest bed tonight. Get some rest. You look terrible."
"Goodnight, wife," Caspian chuckled as she unlocked the door and slipped out into the hallway.
The moment the door clicked shut, Caspian's smile faded. He let out a long breath and fell back onto the mattress, staring up at the ceiling. The Blood-Axe Pirates were moving on the eastern docks. His energy was at rock bottom, meaning he couldn't just teleport over and wipe them out himself without risking his newly healed core.
He picked up his phone and typed a quick response to Thorne.
My core is sealed, but my energy is depleted. I am resting tonight. Intercept the Blood-Axe Pirates at the docks. Do not let a single warehouse burn. Teach Desmond Caldwell what happens when you touch what is mine.
Caspian hit send, tossed the phone aside, and closed his eyes. The Shadow Commander was finally going to sleep.