They slept tangled together.
Soren and Eris. Bodies pressed close under frost-woven blankets that insulated rather than froze, that trapped warmth between them despite being made of ice magic. Her bare skin against his, her back curved into his chest, his arms wrapped around her waist with the kind of possessive grip that suggested even unconscious he refused to let go.
Peaceful.
For a while, anyway.
The first sign something was wrong came in the form of light.
Faint at first. Barely noticeable against the cave's ambient glow from the river beyond. But it grew steadily brighter, blue-white luminescence emanating from Soren's skin where the runes marked him.
They had always been there.
