CHAPTER 84: PUSHING TO THE LIMIT

The swoosh of flame made me flinch. Too big. I took a deep inhale to steady my pounding heart.

"I shouldn’t panic... or else I’m doomed," I whispered to myself.

Slowly, I gathered the heat in my chest and let it slip down my arms.

A small flame flickered into life in my palm.

Shaky at first, then steadier.

I tightened my focus, letting the flame grow just enough. "Good... that’s it..." I whispered, motivating my own self as I inching closer to the ice coffin.

My reflection wavered across the frozen surface as I lifted my hands.

"Let’s melt the ice first..." I pressed both palms against the ice.

The reaction was immediate. A soft hiss and a curl of steam appeared.

The ice began to glow faintly under my touch, thin cracks of gold spreading like veins under the surface. My flame warmed, pulsing against the resistance.

The ice began to glow faintly under my touch, cracks spreading fast.

CRACK.

Without warning, the entire front of the coffin shattered in one sharp burst of steam and frost.

"Ah—!"

Lady Arienne’s frozen body flopped forward, collapsing straight toward me.

I quickly stepped in and caught her, her weight soft and cold in my arms.

"Got you... I got you..." I whispered, trembling.

Her skin was icy, her breath weakly coming out from his lips.

Carefully, I lowered her down onto the cold floor, supporting her head so it wouldn’t hit the ground.

"Lady Arienne... please hold on..." I murmured, brushing her hair away from her stiff, pale cheek.

I knelt beside her, chest rising and falling too fast, "Okay... now I will try to heal you..." I whispered, placing my palm over her heart.

At first, nothing happened, then golden light seeped from my palms, soft at first... then stronger... brighter... pushing into her frozen skin.

My breath hitched.

"What is—" I groaned under my breath as the heat pulled itself out of me, not gently, but like it was taking what it needed.

My arms trembled.

I tried to steady myself, leaning forward, forcing my breath to stay even but then the draining sensation hit me all at once.

"Ah—" A sharp gasp escaped me.

My pulse raced as the warmth grew heavier, dragging something deep from my core.

Panting now, I pushed harder, my body shaking with the effort.

"C-come on... please work..." I whispered, breath unsteady.

"Seraphina!"

My head snapped up the moment I heard my name being called.

Lucian’s voice.

I froze, my hand still pressed over Lady Arienne’s heart, flame leaking out of me in shaky pulses.

Heavy and fast footsteps pounded down the stairs.

Panic surged through me. I needed to do this right. I needed to finish it.

If something bad happened to his mother, I—

My breath stuttered.

"Seraphina!"

Lucian’s voice echoed again, closer now.

"No, no, no—"

I wasn’t done. I could feel it.

Lady Arienne’s chest was cold, but not as cold as before.

My flame was reaching her or maybe even waking her.

I just need a few more seconds, just a little more time.

"Please..." I whispered desperately, pushing more warmth into her. "Let me save her... let me fix this..."

The flame inside me surged again, heavier and hotter than before, and a sharp pain shot straight through my ribs. It was so sudden and violent that it knocked the breath out of me, forcing a strangled sound from my throat.

"Ackk—!"

My vision blurred at the edges, but I didn’t stop.

I couldn’t.

Lady Arienne’s skin was still icy beneath my palm, and the thought of failing now, after coming this far, terrified me more than the pain tearing through my body.

I pushed harder, drawing from whatever strength I had left. The flame reacted badly, flaring too fast and too bright, crawling up my arm like it wanted to escape my skin entirely. My chest tightened with a crushing pressure, and suddenly a metallic taste coated my tongue.

Before I realized it, blood spilled past my lips.

It wasn’t a trickle. It was a violent burst, splattering onto the ice in a sharp, ugly smear of red. My body lurched at the shock of it, crumpling forward as I instinctively clutched the tearing pain that wrapped around my ribs like something inside me was pulling apart.

My hand shook violently, barely managing to stay in place on Lady Arienne’s chest despite every instinct in me screaming to let go. The flame in my palm flickered erratically, no longer smooth or controlled, but desperately wild, like it was feeding off my breaking body.

"What the hell are you doing?!" My eyes snapped toward the voice.

I could see the terror in his eyes as he stood frozen at the doorframe, his chest heaving, his pupils wide with panic. I had expected anger or rage even, at the sight of what I was doing to his mother. But what I saw instead was pure horror. Not at her.

At me.

"Just stay there," I managed, my voice cracking as I forced myself to look at him. "I promise you... I will save her..."

A sharp jolt of pain twisted through my ribs again, and I winced, my brows tightening.

"Just... be—believe me..." The words trembled out of me, my lips shaking, breath cutting in jagged, uneven pieces.

"Seraphina," he breathed, and the sound of my name felt like a plea.

"No—" He took a step forward, "Seraphina, stop—"

"This is not about believing you!" Lucian’s voice broke as he shouted, fear and pain tangled together. "You are bleeding! Stop now! Stop!"

His voice echoed sharply against the icy walls, and I felt it... his panic, his helplessness, like it was its own force slamming into me.

He wasn’t worried about losing his mother. He was terrified of losing me.

But I shook my head, tears burning at the corners of my eyes even though none fell.

"I can take it," I whispered, even though my body was already collapsing piece by piece beneath me. "I can... I can save her..."

Lucian stepped forward, reaching for me, but the moment I sensed his closeness, his fear and his intent to pull me away, panic slammed through me.

"No—!" I gasped.

My flame reacted before I did.

A violent burst tore out of me, swallowing the air with a roaring heat that didn’t belong in an ice chamber. The surge ripped upward, lifting me off the ground as if the flame itself had taken control of my body.

My feet left the floor and my back arched.

My head dropped back as the golden flame wrapped around me like a cocoon.

I wasn’t doing this anymore. The flame was. It took over.

"Seraphina!" Lucian shouted, stumbling back as the heat exploded outward, forcing him to shield his face. "Stop! You’re hurting yourself—!"

But how could I stop?

I wasn’t even conscious enough to choose anymore.

The flame poured into Lady Arienne in a constant, terrifying stream, light and warmth, everything inside me flooding into her frozen body. I could feel myself draining, piece by piece, like water slipping through cupped hands. My breaths grew silent. My heartbeat faint. My limbs are numb.

But I held on.

Because beneath my hand, beneath all the ice, I finally saw Lady Arienne’s chest rise. Lucian’s mother... her chest moved, and her pale face slowly gained color. The breath she took was tiny, barely there, a fragile, struggling inhale.

But it was enough.

A soft light bloomed across her skin, warm and gentle. Her eyelids twitched, fluttering weakly, like someone waking from a very long dream.

She was breathing.

"I... did it..." I whispered, the words barely forming. "Lucian... she’s... breathing..."

The flame around me flickered, dimming like a candle fighting against the wind.

And then the strength left my body all at once.

I fell forward, but Lucian caught me before I hit the ground. His arms wrapped around me instantly, pulling me against him, his voice cracking open completely.

"Seraphina—Seraphina, look at me! Stay awake—please, please stay awake—!"

His hands trembled as they cupped my face, as if by holding me tighter he could stop whatever was happening inside me. He pressed me against his chest, as though he could anchor me back into the world by sheer force of will.

But I couldn’t feel his coldness anymore.

I couldn’t feel anything.

My vision blurred, fading slowly at the edges. The room darkened, and all the sounds, the crack of ice, Lucian’s panicked breathing, the tremble in his voice, grew faint and distant.

I tried to speak.

To tell him I was okay.

To tell him not to cry.

To tell him not to blame himself.

But nothing came out.

My eyes drifted toward Lady Arienne, lying on the floor... breathing softly. And I confirmed it. She was alive.

A gentle peace settled over me.

’Worth it.’

My vision dimmed to black.

The last thing I heard was Lucian’s broken whisper against my forehead...

"Don’t leave me... please don’t leave me..."