Kael's POV
The air changed as they crossed the invisible border.
It wasn't marked by signs or walls, but Kael felt it in his bones. The way the wind shifted. The taste of the frost. The unnatural stillness in the trees. This was the northwestern reach of the Warden territory—his homeland. And it did not welcome him back.
Eira stood beside him, her cloak drawn tight, flame-muted and wary. Her Mark pulsed once against her throat. Faint. Watchful.
Kael didn't reach for her hand this time.
He couldn't afford to.
If any of the patrols saw them—a fireborn woman walking at the side of a traitor prince—they wouldn't get the chance to explain. They would be cut down first, questioned later.
They traveled by night, weaving through pine-covered ridges and iced-over streams. Each footfall reminded Kael of what he'd left behind. The stone roads. The silence of the frost halls. The way his father's eyes had frozen over the day he defied the crown.
And now he was returning.
Not to kneel.
But to confront.
Eira's POV
They made camp in the hollow of an abandoned outpost, tucked into the spine of the Frostfang Hills. Kael had said nothing for hours. His eyes remained fixed northward, jaw set, as though bracing himself against the inevitable.
Eira sat across from him, feeding dried roots into a tiny fire. It barely warmed her fingers. This was frost country, and flame was a foreign tongue here.
"Tell me about him," she said softly. "Your father."
Kael didn't look away from the dark. "He was a Warden in every way that mattered. Cold. Controlled. Unyielding. He taught me that love is weakness. That the bond between a man and a fireborn was the greatest sin a Warden could commit."
Eira's throat tightened.
"And your mother?"
Kael exhaled. "She loved me. Quietly. Until he broke her spirit. She died long before her body did."
Silence settled. Heavy. Sharp.
"Kael... if this is too much—"
"No," he said. "I have to face him. But you…"
She looked up.
"If anything goes wrong, you run. Don't stay for me."
She stood, crossed the distance between them, and sank into a crouch in front of him. Her hands cupped his face, fingers cold against his cheeks.
"I didn't come this far to run. I didn't give you my heart to abandon it."
He leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers.
"Then whatever happens," he whispered, "we survive it. Together."
Kael's POV
They entered the Warden Citadel by midday.
It loomed like a glacier carved into the mountainside—massive, silent, gray. Snow fell in lazy spirals as they approached the main gates. Kael wore a deep blue cloak pulled over his head. Eira's flame had been dimmed, her pendant hidden.
But the moment they passed under the outer arch, Kael felt it.
Recognition.
A dozen spears met them.
"Prince Kael," one of the guards said, voice tight. "You were declared dead."
"Then bring me to the man who ordered the mourning feast," Kael replied. "I want to see if he'll say the same when I'm standing in front of him."
Eira stayed silent beside him. Tense. Watchful.
They were escorted through stone corridors lit by cold lanterns and guarded by silence. No one bowed. No one spoke his name.
He was not a son here.
He was a problem.
They entered the great hall, where Lord Warden Tharein sat on the Frost Throne.
His father.
And he did not rise.
Eira's POV
She felt the tension rise like a blade from the floor.
Tharein was every inch the man Kael had described—sharp-eyed, glacial, a relic carved from iron and pride. His gaze cut across the room, landing on Kael first, then Eira.
"You return with fire at your side," Tharein said. "Do you expect forgiveness or execution?"
Kael stepped forward. "Neither. I expect truth."
Tharein rose, slow and deliberate. "Then speak it."
Kael's jaw clenched. "You knew the bond was forming. You tried to suppress it with poison, pressure, exile. You knew I wasn't just drawn to flame—I was meant for it."
Tharein's face did not change. "You were meant to lead, not burn."
Eira felt her own fire pulse in her veins.
She stepped forward, standing beside Kael. "You fear fire because you cannot control it. You tried to control him. You failed."
For a moment, the old lord's mask cracked.
Then he nodded once to the guards.
"Take them."
Kael reached for his blade.
And chaos erupted.