Chapter 3

The beast tide had nearly bled me dry.

I lay in the frozen snow for three full days before I could drag myself back to my feet.

My wounds hadn't healed. The cold had frozen them shut.

I hauled my broken body along and kept patrolling the edges of Niflheim.

On the fifth day, Lucas and Claire showed up again.

Claire's complexion looked healthier than before, but she still leaned against Lucas, playing the fragile little thing she always did.

She said, "Lucas, the Frost Core suppressed the poison in my body, but my energy channels are badly damaged. Without a pure fire essence to restore them, I'm afraid I won't—"

She trailed off and let out two soft coughs.

Lucas rubbed her back, his face tight with concern. "Don't worry. I gave you my word, and I intend to keep it."

He lifted his gaze and locked onto me, standing alone in the blowing snow. "Evelyn. Come here."

He spoke to me the way someone would call a dog.

I stopped walking and turned around. Through my blurred vision, the two of them were nothing more than shadows, and the sight of them made my stomach turn.

But I felt nothing.

"What can I do for you?" I asked, my voice flat.

Lucas frowned. My casual tone seemed to grate on him.

He sneered, "Drop the act. Claire needs your fire essence. That scrap of primal fire left inside you is useless to a broken husk like you. Hand it over, and I might let you walk out of Niflheim."

I had drained my own power core dry to save Lucas when he lost control of his abilities. A hundred years I spent sitting in molten rock, and all I managed to forge from it was a single thread of primal fire.

But now, that memory read like words on a blank page. No warmth. No meaning.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, but that flame is the only thing keeping my body alive. If I give it up, I die, and my mission requires me to survive."

Lucas' face went dark. "You're refusing me? Evelyn, don't push your luck. Do you really think I'm asking?"

He let go of Claire and strode toward me. A crushing wave of power slammed into me and pinned me where I stood, locking every muscle in place.

He reached out with his fingers curled like claws and drove them into my core without hesitation.

Blue energy tore through me like a series of jagged ice blades, ripping through flesh and blood as it searched.

Agony flooded my entire body in an instant, but I didn't make a sound. I just stared at him with dull, clouded eyes.

"Lucas, go easy on her. Evelyn looks like she's in so much pain," Claire called out from behind him, her voice dripping with fake concern.

Lucas scoffed, "She's faking it. This is nothing to her."

His fingers finally hooked around the faint red flame, and he ripped it free.

Blood surged up my throat and splattered across the front of Lucas' shirt.

The moment my essence was ripped from my body, I felt the last trace of warmth drain out of me.

Every energy channel inside me shattered, one after another, and I was left with nothing. I wasn't even as strong as a mortal anymore.

My body went limp, and I collapsed into the snow.

Lucas held the stolen fire essence in his hand and looked down at me. He was waiting for me to scream, to beg, to throw myself at his feet the way I used to and cry until I couldn't breathe.

But I didn't. I just rolled over with whatever strength I had left and lay on my back in the snow.

Blood kept spilling from the corner of my mouth. I raised my hand and wiped it away with fingers that had turned purple from the cold, cleaning the stain bit by bit.

Then I spoke into the empty air, my voice perfectly steady. "Thank you for the lesson. The essence has been handed over, so leave. Niflheim is a restricted zone, and you shouldn't linger here."

Lucas froze. He stared at my unfocused eyes and listened to my flat, emotionless tone, and something about it unsettled him. A sudden wave of irritation and unease surged through his chest.

He clenched his jaw. "Evelyn, you're still playing hard to get? Fine. I'll give you exactly what you want. Stay here with that dead look on your face and rot in Niflheim."

He turned away and channeled the Fire Essence into Claire's body. Then he took her and left without looking back.

I lay in the snow and felt my life force draining away.

The system alert chimed again. "Host vital signs declining. Emergency repair protocol initiated. Repair progress 1 percent—"

I closed my eyes. As long as I didn't die, I could keep guarding the Niflheim.