Page 137 of Iron Beneath the Snow

“Why?”

The question remained open.

“Because I don’t think it is finished,” he said at last.

She watched him more closely.

“And if it finishes?”

He did not step away, but something in him tightened.

“It will not do so without control.”

The certainty in his voice remained.

Beneath her palm, the thread shifted faintly.

She could not tell whether it answered the words or merely the closeness between them.

Outside, the courtyard had already begun to stir, the distant clash of steel carrying through the stone, steady and familiar, the rhythm of morning drills reasserting itself.

The world had not paused for them, and it showed no intention of doing so now.

She was the one who moved first, not in retreat, but in a subtle shift that restored balance where closeness had unsettled it.

“I should return to my wing.”

“Yes.”

The answer came without hesitation, yet neither of them acted on it immediately.

When he finally moved, it was toward her, not away.

He reached for her cloak and settled it over her shoulders with quiet precision. The gesture was controlled, almost routine in its execution, yet his fingers adjusted the fabric with more care than the motion required before withdrawing.

Neither of them spoke.

There was nothing to acknowledge that had not already been understood.

As she turned toward the door, she became aware that the thread did not loosen with distance as it once had.

When she stepped into the corridor, it remained.

Quiet. Steady.

By the time she reached the turn toward the east wing, two things were clear.

Frostvein would not wait.

And whatever had changed between them in the cold the night before would not return to what it had been.

Chapter 37: False Stability

Eira

Eira sat before the mirror while Mara moved behind her in practiced quiet, fastening the last clasps at her back and smoothing the fabric of her dress with the same steady precision as always, as though nothing in the world had shifted since the day before.

Mara’s hands slowed at her shoulders, lingering just long enough for the pause to register.