The final stretch toward the summit was brutal enough to make Isabella question every decision she had ever made. She stepped forward carefully, boots crunching across the frost that glittered like crushed diamonds under her feet.
The light changed first.
A strange white glow settled around them, soft and hazy.
Then came the breeze—sharp, biting, whispering against her cheeks like needle-thin fingers.
And when Isabella took the last step onto the summit plateau…
She froze.
Literally.
Her whole body stiffened at the sudden slap of icy wind. Everything in her peripheral vision turned white. Snowflakes drifted lazily from the sky, landing on her hair and eyelashes.
It was snowing.
Heavily.
On a mountain inside the Beast World.
"Oh, hell no," Isabella whispered, hugging herself immediately.
Glimora squeaked angrily at the cold and buried her face inside Isabella's collar like a tiny ball of despair.
