Chapter 2
Matthew shot to his feet, panic flashing across his face. “Marietta? What are you doing here?”
For one brief, damning moment, he forgot Linda existed.
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Linda lay twisted on the bed behind him, barely holding together. Pain tore through her body, grinding through bone and muscle until it felt like her insides were being torn apart piece by piece.
Even her soul felt cracked, splintered under the strain. She curled inward, shaking, each breath scraping raw through her
chest.
She wanted to scream. She wanted them gone.
‘Get out. Both of you. Just get the hell out, Linda shouted inwardly.
At the sound of Matthew’s voice, Marietta forced a smile. It didn’t quite land. She clutched the bowl of medicine with both hands, voice soft and hesitant.
“I heard Linda went down the mountain earlier, so I thought I should come check on her,” she said.
Matthew exhaled, his tone gentle, almost indulgent. “You’re still recovering yourself. You shouldn’t be pushing this hard. She’s not alone. She’s got people looking after her.”
Marietta bit her lower lip and glanced toward the bed. “I was worried she might still be upset with me.”
“She’s not,” Matthew said immediately.
He took the medicine from her hands, lowering his voice as if soothing a frightened child. “You’re thoughtful. You didn’t do anything wrong. There’s no reason for her to blame you.”
Marietta hesitated, then looked at Linda again. “Then why won’t she even look at me?”
Matthew followed her gaze. Linda had turned her back to them, curled tightly beneath the blankets. Every line of her body screamed rejection. She didn’t want Marietta near her.
Tears filled Marietta’s eyes. She pressed her lips together, tried to hold it in, and failed. “She does hate me. I knew it. I know this is all my fault.”
Her shoulders shook as she cried, “But the Gilded Core, I swear I didn’t know. I never meant to take hers. I didn’t even know my father came here until I woke up afterward. If I’d known, I would have stopped him. I would have.”
Her voice broke completely. “I’ll give it back. I’ll return the Gilded Core. Linda, please don’t hate me. Please.”
Matthew couldn’t take it anymore. He stepped in at once, awkwardly patting her shoulder, words tumbling out too fast. “I know. I know. None of this is on you. Professor Ferrell already ruled on the Core. It’s done. You don’t need to keep beating yourself up.
“She’s not angry with you. She wouldn’t be.”
One cried. One comforted. The room filled with sobs and soft reassurances, dragging on until the air itself felt heavy.
Then it happened. A sharp metallic hiss sliced through the silence.
Both of them froze and turned.
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4:32 pm PPD
Chapter 2
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Linda’s face was colorless, her skin stretched tight over sharp bone. Somehow, she had pulled a dagger free and was holding it out toward Marietta.
“Take it,” she said.
Marietta stared at her, stunned. “Take it? What are you talking about?”
Linda’s lips moved. “Cut open my belly.”
For a split second, Matthew’s mind went blank. Then rage hit him full force. He slapped the dagger aside, his hand crashing into Linda’s wrist and driving it hard into the mattress.
Metal clattered across the floor.
Linda’s face went even paler.
Matthew recognized the blade instantly. It was the dagger he had given her.
His anger exploded. “You’ve lost your damn mind. You’d force her to carve out her Core right in front of me? Who knows what kind of sick shit you’ve pulled when no one was around.
“That weapon wasn’t meant for this.”
He kicked the dagger away and loomed over Linda, his voice sharp, unforgiving. Linda didn’t look up: She didn’t argue. She took every word in silence.
Then she spat out, “Get out.”
Her voice was weak, barely more than a whisper, yet she kept repeating it. “Get out.”
A dull red light flickered behind her eyes, slow and dangerous, like something waking up after a long sleep.
Linda clenched her left hand. Her fingers trembled as they began to move, stiff and deliberate, tracing the outline of a Severing Sigil in the air.
Each motion was slow, dragged out by pain and fury.
‘Kill them. Kill every last one of them. Even if I die, I’ll take them with me,‘ Linda seethed, rage boiling inside her.
Then Marietta stepped forward.
She grabbed Matthew’s arm, sobbing, “Please, stop fighting. This is my fault. All of it. I’ll leave. I’ll go right now and leave the High Sanctum. Just please, don’t fight anymore.”
“Marietta, wait.” Matthew didn’t get another word out.
She had already turned and run, tears streaming down her face as her footsteps echoed down the corridor.
Voices followed, startled and sharp. “What happened? Why are you crying?”
“I’m leaving the High Sanctum, Toney,” Marietta choked out.
“Hey, slow down,” Toney Pennington called after her. “Why are you crying? Who did this to you? Don’t tell me it was Linda. Yeah, I knew it. I’ll deal with her myself.”
Both Matthew and Linda heard the sound at the door.
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Chapter 2
Moments later, Toney stormed back inside, gripping Marietta’s wrist and dragging her with him.
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The second his eyes locked onto Linda, his face twisted with naked hostility. He crossed the room in a few strides and hauled her straight off the bed.
The Severing Sigil Linda was tracing collapsed instantly.
Linda laughed. The sound cut through the room, loud and jagged, so wrong that everyone froze where they stood.
As Linda was dragged off the bed, blood gushed from her mouth, splattering everywhere.
It did not stop. Blood poured from her mouth again and again, splashing onto the floor, spreading dark and thick as if it meant to drown the room.
And still, she laughed. The sound rang on, relentless, cruel, as though she were mocking her own previous life.
‘How stupid,‘ she thought. ‘How disgusting that it took dying once just to finally see them clearly!
All three of them went pale.
Marietta collapsed into tears. “Is she… is she dying?”
Linda coughed again, blood spraying from her lips. Panic finally hit Toney. He staggered back and released her.
The air in the room turned heavy, tight enough to choke on.
Rayford Valenzuela from the Oaken Chamber finished checking Linda’s pulse and exploded.
“Didn’t I make myself clear before I left?” he thundered. “She needed absolute rest. What the hell is this? Do that much? Are you really that desperate to see her dead?”
you
hate her
“You’re all from the same order,” he snapped, eyes blazing. “Toney, you used that much force. What were you trying to do, kill her?”
Toney muttered, shaken but defensive. “How was I supposed to know her spell circuits were actually destroyed? I thought she was putting on a show.”
Rayford let out a harsh, incredulous laugh. “Fine. I don’t care what grudges you’re carrying. But right now, she is under my
care.
“If she dies because of you, then don’t bother stepping into Oaken Chamber ever again.
“And don’t expect me to come anywhere near Azure Spire either.”
Matthew and Toney stiffened immediately and rushed forward.
Marietta was frail by nature. All these years, it had been Rayford who treated her and kept her alive.
‘If he refuses to come to Azure Spire, what will happen to Marietta after that?‘ The question lodged in their chests like a splinter.
They apologized over each other, voices overlapping, one trying to smooth things over, the other practically begging.
“But Marietta still needs you,” Matthew said quickly. “Her condition isn’t stable yet. You can’t just walk away.”
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4:32 pm
Chapter 2
Rayford shot a complicated look at Linda, lying there on the bed.
Back then, these people would have worried about Linda first, every single time.
But that was before things changed.
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He prescribed several doses of extremely rare restorative elixirs and charged Matthew and Toney without mercy.
Then he repeated his warning again and again. Linda was not to be disturbed. Not for any reason.
Even he was shaken. With injuries this severe, the fact that Linda was still alive bordered on the impossible.
Her will to survive was terrifying. It was so strong it demanded respect.
Linda had no idea what he was thinking. If she did, she would have laughed again, and said, “Of course I want to live. I didn’t claw my way back just to die a second time.
“Not a chance.”
Because of Rayford’s intervention, Linda was spared the punishment meant for Glacial Overlook.
Instead, her sentence was changed to one year of complete isolation. Aside from Rayford himself, no one was allowed to see her.
Which suited her perfectly. It was just the break Linda needed to heal up.
A month later, her condition finally stabilized. Rayford examined her again and let out a slow breath.
“You’re the toughest patient I’ve ever treated,” he said quietly. “Recovering this much in a single month shouldn’t be possible.
“But your spell circuits were destroyed, and your Core was torn out. From here on, you might…”
Rayford trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid.
But he knew Linda got the message.
That path was closed.
Seeing Linda lower her gaze in silence, Rayford softened his tone. “Don’t cling to what’s gone. Being alive is what matters.”
He left behind several more doses of elixir and instructed her to rest. Alone, Linda slowly pushed herself upright and began walking the length of the room.
One day passed. Then another, and yet another. Only after her body fully obeyed her again did she sit down, breathing steady.
Every last trace of her power was gone. Her body was empty. And yet, Linda felt no fear.
She had never been ordinary. She had been born with Celestial fivefold affinities.
Magical affinities were ranked from common to refined, exalted, supreme, and the rarest of all, celestial,
That ranking determined how efficiently a person could draw Ambient mana from the world itself.
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4:32 pm
Chapter 2
Linda’s affinities were celestial. Almost unheard of.
The problem was that she had five of them.
With all five active, growth became painfully slow.
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That was why, before she ever entered the order, the man who raised this body sealed four of her affinities, leaving only fire.
Because of that decision, once she joined the High Sanctum of Archmagi, her rise had been unstoppable. She formed her Core at fifteen.
And then everything stopped.
In her previous life, Linda had nearly driven herself mad trying to understand why.
It took years to realize the truth. Her magical affinities were never meant to be sealed.
Remove one, and the entire structure collapsed.
Linda drew in the faint ambient mana around her and began flushing her damaged spell circuits.
Every movement felt like her body was being torn apart from the inside, pain so intense it made her hands shake.
She endured it anyway. Bit by bit, she forced it through.
A month later, she shattered the fragile seal inside her and felt something snap free deep within.
She opened her palm. Five streams of light coiled above her skin, alive and restless. Her innate fivefold affinities.
She closed her hand slowly.
‘It’s done, Linda thought, triumph swelling inside her.
Against her pale face, her eyes burned bright and feral, lit by a hunger that refused to die.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
