Serin's breath came in ragged gasps as her eyes suddenly flew wide open in the dead of night. The air inside the penthouse felt unnaturally dense, freezing her lungs every time she inhaled. Her own breath turned into thick white mist in the air.
The room's temperature suddenly plummeted to the low teens below zero.
The thick panes of glass lining the penthouse walls groaned sharply, threatening to shatter under the pressure of the ancient ice spreading rapidly from outside. On the bedside table, a glass of water had frozen solid into a mass of fractured crystals.
Serin threw off her thick blanket. Her bare feet touched the oak floor, now coated in a thin layer of icy frost, sending a stabbing pain straight through her nerves. But the cold in the room wasn't coming from outside the penthouse—it was centered in the living room.
With quick but cautious steps, Serin slid open her bedroom door.
In the middle of the dark living room, bathed in the faint blue neon glow of the city's dimming skyline, a body lay rigid on the marble floor.
"Kaelen?"
Serin's voice caught in her throat.
Kaelen Vance lay curled up in a defensive position. His black tactical uniform had been torn open across the chest, revealing skin now covered in a layer of blackened ice. His body trembled violently, convulsing in the grip of an invisible force.
Every time the man groaned in pain, the bluish veins in his neck and jaw stood out tautly, radiating destructive pulses of freezing magic.
He was enduring the side effects of the curse freezing the city all alone—absorbing part of the ice meteorite's radiation as it crept toward the apartment so it wouldn't harm Serin.
"Agh..." A deep, hoarse groan escaped through Kaelen's pale-blue lips. His eyes were squeezed shut, his fingers digging into the marble until his nails bled.
Serin's heart stirred violently. The hatred that had burned in her chest for decades suddenly collided with her human instinct. She could simply let this man freeze to death right here. It would be the perfect revenge, without having to dirty her hands.
But when she saw that powerful body trembling in unbearable pain, the image of the city's destruction and the same despair from twenty years ago suddenly darkened her thoughts.
"Idiot..." Serin whispered, her chest rising and falling sharply. "Do you think you're some kind of hero?"
Serin knelt beside Kaelen's body. The chill radiating from his skin was so searing that the skin of Serin's fingers prickled as though burning. Beneath her nightgown, the Peach Blossom Tattoo on Serin's chest suddenly reacted, emitting a warm, intense golden glow.
The Peach Blossom magic in Serin's blood awakened, responding to the pain radiating from Kaelen's body.
Serin extended her trembling hand, intending to press her palm directly against Kaelen's frozen chest and channel warm magic capable of burning away the curse.
But before her fingers could touch Kaelen's skin—
GRAB!
Kaelen moved with lightning speed. His large hand, covered in ice and blood, suddenly shot upward and clamped around Serin's wrist with enough force to crush bone.
Kaelen's eyelids flew open.
His gray irises now radiated a wild, icy-blue glow, unfocused and trapped between consciousness and the torment of magical illusions. His breath blew cold against Serin's face.
His grip tightened, forcing Serin's wrist away from his chest.
"Don't... touch me..." Kaelen's voice sounded dry and desperate, trembling violently between his tightly clenched teeth.
"Let go, Kaelen! Ice is rotting your body from the inside out!" Serin snapped, trying to pull her hand free despite the pain spreading through her wrist. "My magic can neutralize this radiation!"
"No..." Kaelen slowly shook his head, his eyes fixed on Serin with pain that pierced to the depths of his soul.
"The curse in your chest... is bound to your life. If you force your warmth through the ancient ice in my body..."
Kaelen coughed violently, spraying bloody, freezing vapor into the air. He stared into Serin's face, tightening his grip only to make certain she wouldn't touch the Ice Core in his chest.
"...your magic will reverse its poison and kill you instead if you take pity on me!"
Why could Serin's magic kill her? Find out in Chapter 6!