The first dawn of summer clawed through Frostspire's lingering frost, sunlight fracturing the ice into rivulets that wept down the mountainside. Aurelia and William rode in silence, their horses' hooves splashing through slush and mud. The air hummed with the drip of melting snow and the distant cry of a hawk.
"Summer is coming," Aurelia said, her voice cool as the retreating winter. Her breath fogged faintly in the chill.
"Yes," William replied, scarlet eyes scanning the pine thickets. "It is."
Aurelia's gaze sharpened. "Who are these bandits? Mercenaries? Spies?"
William's hand drifted to Stormrend's hilt. "We'll ask them."
The ambush came in a flurry of snapping branches and guttural shouts. Fifteen figures erupted from the trees—faces masked, blades rusted, stinking of stale ale and desperation.
Aurelia dismounted in one fluid motion, her boots barely crunching the snow. Her dagger flashed, ice magic crystallizing its edge into a jagged shard. The first bandit lunged; she sidestepped, slashing his throat. Blood sprayed, freezing midair into crimson hail.
William watched, still atop his stallion, as she moved—methodical, brutal. A bandit swung an axe; she shattered it with a flick of her wrist, driving her dagger through his eye. Another charged, only to slip on ice she conjured underfoot. His scream died as her blade found his heart.
When only one bandit remained, trembling against a pine, Aurelia pressed her bloodied dagger to his throat. "Speak," she said, frost creeping up his jaw. "Or I'll let the cold finish what I started."
The man's whimper echoed through the thaw.
The bandit's breath hitched as frost crept toward his pupils. "W-we're from the neighboring kingdom," he stammered.
William's eyebrow arched, scarlet gaze sharpening. "Renalia?"
Aurelia's dagger pressed deeper, ice pricking blood. "How many?"
"H-hundreds!"
William crouched, Stormrend's hilt glinting. "Renalia's rebellion… two years back. The people turned on their generous queen when her 'benevolence' proved a lie." His voice hardened. "Scams, empty coffers, hollow promises."
Aurelia scoffed. "And now her failures spill into our lands?"
The bandit nodded frantically.
William stood, snow crunching under his boots. Rebellion refugees turned bandits. Or pawns? The thought coiled in his chest, sharp and restless. "I'll ride to Renalia."
Aurelia's ice-blue eyes narrowed. "Alone?"
William paused, studying her—the frost clinging to her lashes, the precision of her grip on the dagger. "No," he said finally. "Come with me."
Aurelia stilled. "Why? You've never needed help before."
"Renalia is a den of vipers. Even ice melts in the wrong heat." His tone was casual, but his gaze held hers. "Unless you're afraid of a little politics."
She sheathed her dagger, frost dissolving. "Afraid? I'll carve their lies into their skulls. But don't slow me down."
William's smirk was faint. "Wouldn't dream of it."
The bandit whimpered. Aurelia withdrew her blade, frost sealing his wound. "Run."
He fled, his footsteps swallowed by the thaw.
Aurelia's ice-blue eyes narrowed. "Do you want to leave now?""No," William murmured, his scarlet gaze tracking the bandit's stumbling retreat. "Not yet. We follow."
Aurelia arched an eyebrow. "You want to stalk a rat?
William's smirk was knife-thin. "Rats lead to hideouts."
They trailed the bandit silently, boots sinking into half-frozen mud, breath held to mist. The man staggered into a narrow cave mouth, its shadows reeking of damp moss and rusted iron. William slipped inside first, Aurelia close behind, her dagger glinting like a shard of moonlight.
"What happened to you?" growled a voice deeper in the cave.
"Got jumped by two brats. Strong ones," the man panted, clutching his frost-sealed wound.
"You lost to brats?" another sneered, sparking uneasy laughter.
"They weren't just brats!" he snapped. "White hair, ice-blue eyes—that was Aurelia von Einsbern."
The laughter died. "The Ice Empress?!"
"And the other?"
"Black hair. Scarlet eyes. Never seen him before—"
A woman emerged from the shadows, her voice slicing the silence. "You attacked Aurelia?" Her cloak, stitched with foreign sigils, swept the floor as she strode forward. "Are you mad?"
The survivor cowered. "Forgive me, my queen. I didn't recognize her!"
Aurelia stiffened, her ice-blue eyes narrowing. Elara Thorne. Renalia's disgraced queen, hiding in a cave.
Lightning crackled faintly as William materialized before Elara, his scarlet eyes cutting through the gloom. The bandits staggered back, blades
trembling—none had seen him move. "Long time no see, Elara," he said, voice smooth as a whetted blade.
Elara's gaunt face paled. "William?" She raised a hand, halting her men. "Why are you here?"
"I should ask you," he said, scarlet eyes glinting. "Hiding in caves now? How far the mighty queen has fallen."
Aurelia stepped from the shadows, frost creeping across the cave floor. "You didn't mention you were acquainted," she said, an ice-blue gaze locking onto Elara with lethal chill.
Elara's gaze flicked between them. "Aurelia…" Her tone softened, frayed with regret. "How are you?"
Aurelia tilted her head, frost crystallizing her dagger's edge. "Alive. Unlike your reign."
Elara flinched.
She sank onto a jagged rock, the cave's dampness seeping into her threadbare cloak. Aurelia loomed over her, ice-blue eyes glacial. "Working with bandits now, Elara? How noble of a queen."
"They're not bandits," Elara hissed, her voice fraying. "They're loyal servants. Heroes who saved their queen when the world turned its back." A tear traced the hollow of her cheek, glinting like betrayal.
Aurelia's laugh was a shard of frost. "Heroes? You sold your people to slavers to fund your indulgences. When they rebelled, you fled like a thief. Now you skulk in caves, deluding yourself into martyrdom."
Elara shot to her feet, her fists trembling. "A lie!" The word ricocheted off the walls, sharp as a dagger. "I burned myself to protect them. But those cultists spun honeyed lies, and my people believed them over their own queen!" Her voice cracked, raw and ragged. "I gave everything—and they called me a monster. Do you know what that does to a soul?"
The cave fell silent, save for the drip of water and the echo of her anguish.
Elara turned to William, tears glistening like fractured starlight against her cheeks. "Will you help me?" Her voice splintered, raw and fragile, as if the plea cost her every shred of pride.
William's gaze lingered on her—a heartbeat too long—before he replied, voice low but unyielding. "Yes. I will."
Elara swayed into him, her arms looping around his shoulders in a desperate embrace, her face buried in the storm-gray fabric of his cloak. Aurelia watched, her ice-blue eyes narrowing. "You believe her?"
William's hand hovered over Elara's trembling back, not quite touching. "Yes."
Aurelia's dagger slid into its sheath with a hiss. "Then I'll see this 'truth' myself. But if she's lying…" Frost spiderwebbed across the cave floor, creeping toward Elara's boots. "I'll carve her lies into her bones."
William met Aurelia's glare, a ghost of a smile playing at his lips. "Wouldn't expect anything less."
Elara's grip tightened, her breath warm against his neck—a silent, unspoken gratitude.