CHAPTER 134: ICE [PART 1]

I leaned closer to the mirror to confirm. I lifted my hand to the glass, pressing a finger on the smooth surface before tapping against it. Was the mirror cold?

I tilted my head when I heard a sharp cracking sound, and I moved my eyes to my finger. I gasped seeing ice flowing from it, through my veins, spreading over to the glass, and turning it into ice.

I watched with shaky eyes as the mirror froze over, not stopping. In panic, I pulled my hand away and stepped back as the entire mirror, dresser, and everything down to the floor were encased in ice.

I screamed when I felt a hand grab me from behind.

"Hey, it’s alright."

"No!" I screamed, hitting my hand against a solid chest.

"Eloise, it’s me!"

I halted my movements, raising my gaze to Drevon, finding relief.

"It..." I looked over my shoulder, the ice reversing slowly to the exact spot my finger once was. It suddenly seemed as if that area hadn’t been touched by ice.

My eyes rolled to the back of my head.

• DREVON •

I caught Eloise when her body went limp. My mind was in a state of alarm, she was cold, and I don’t mean cold, her skin was ice!

I picked her up and placed her on the bed, attempting to use my body heat to warm her up, but I backed away when her skin emitted enough ice to freeze the entire headboard, spreading over to the wall.

I tried to get close, but cold pain unlike anything I had ever felt stormed my body, starting from my leg where the ice rested, splintering through my skin and invading my blood.

I leaned down in pain, gripping the cold sheets and grunting. "Eloise!"

I was almost brought down to my knees when it got to my heart, but I broke through the ice as my moonblood burned hotter than a volcano. I rose to my full height, and the ice was reversed.

My chest heaved, face contorted in disbelief at what just transpired. There was a chill in the air, and it wasn’t from the weather. It was Eloise.

~•~

"So you were almost a popsicle," Ravyn reasoned.

"That’s one way to put it. I’ve never seen anything like this before. The ice was in my blood."

"Can snowbloods do that?"

"Is Eloise like any snowblood?"

She sighed, folding her arms, and we both faced Garrick, checking Eloise’s pulse.

"Well?" I asked, getting impatient.

"I might as well be an unfit healer, I can’t feel her pulse at all. At least the last time it was all messy, but now nothing." Garrick shivered, placing her hand back and stepping away.

He looked at his trembling hand. "She’s too cold."

"So is the entire castle, it’s like we’re in winter, I’ll not be surprised if it starts snowing," Ravyn said, sighing out cold air from her mouth. "Goddess!"

"What else did you diagnose?" I asked Garrick.

"She’s not in pain or any discomfort, but the ice is too much, I don’t know what will happen if she stays in this state for too long."

"Maybe her powers are awakening," Ravyn said. "Snowblood use the ice from their blood. This could be it."

"I have fed her my blood. Shouldn’t that have happened the first time I did?"

"True..." Ravyn murmured with narrowed eyes. "Unless there was something that triggered this? Something that might have made the ice in her blood come to life."

My entire body went still. "I marked her."

"You what?" Garrick said in shock, looking back at Eloise, stretching his head so that he could see. "Goddess! You did!"

"What were you thinking?" Ravyn uttered, not pleased. "She may be part snowblood, but she’s still human!"

"She’s my wife, the mate I chose, and it’s about damn time she bears my mark."

"Is this because of what happened yesterday? You were so angry about her encounter with Damon that you forced your mark on her?"

"I didn’t force my mark." I pulled down the collar of my linen shirt so that she would see. "It was mutual."

"Goddess! She marked you, too?" Ravyn said, shocked. "H-How?"

"My liege, we need to stop the ice. It’s getting worse." Garrick interrupted us, taking cautious steps backwards, as her ice spread all over the bed.

"I used my moonblood to expel heat, but I’m not sure it will work again," I said, getting worried.

"I think you need to feed her your blood," Lucan said from behind, and we faced him.

The ancient texts were scattered on the table as he rummaged through for anything that would help.

"It says here snowbloods need blood to warm the ice in their veins. Hence their constant need for blood," Lucan read through. "How come we never thought of this? This explains why they live off blood."

"Is it the same for hybrids?" I asked just to be sure. Under normal circumstances, I’d have done so without a moment’s hesitation, but this wasn’t about her thirst.

"Um... hold on..." Lucan went through the parchments.

"I thought I told you to cover everything about hybrids a week ago," I said, getting frustrated with his delay.

This was not the time to be going through texts.

"I did! But the elders who wrote this had little understanding about hybrids."

"He’s right," Ravyn said. "I went through it with him for days, and we noticed a pattern."

"What pattern?"

"What is written there about hybrids is just the elders’ assumptions about what could be birthed after a union between a human and a snowblood; it’s better off calling it baseless research."

The Ancient texts were useless because, in the end, they only told us what Eloise was and not how to attend to it.

Suddenly, we heard loud cracks as the ice spread more, covering half of the room.

"I think the best course of action is to feed her moonblood. Yours," Ravyn said.

"All of you leave."