Thalia's hand trailed along the wall as they descended, fingers finding familiar grooves and cracks in the stone.How many times had she taken this path during her years at Frostforge?How many nights had she slipped down to the forge when sleep eluded her, seeking comfort in the honest labor of the hammer, in the predictable behavior of metal under heat and pressure?In Kaine's quiet company, his silent understanding of her need for space to breathe beyond the relentless demands of the academy?
They made their way down the final curve of the stairwell, where it opened onto a narrow corridor lined with rough-hewn stone.At one end, a simple archway framed a rectangle of flickering orange light—the entrance to the Howling Forge.
The heat struck Thalia like a physical blow as they stepped through, a wall of scorching air that seared her lungs and brought instant sweat to her skin.After days in the bitter cold of the Northern Reaches, the forge's atmosphere was almost overwhelming—thick with the smell of hot metal, coal smoke, and sweat, vibrating with the rhythmic clang of hammers on anvils, the roar of the great furnaces, the hiss of steam rising from quenching baths.
The forge spread before them, a cavernous space carved into the granite, named for the constant, low moan produced by the wind rushing through ventilation shafts—a sound that underpinned all others, a resonant hum that seemed to emanate from the mountain itself.Furnaces lined the far wall, their maws glowing with the white-hot heat of their fires, tended by figures whose features were lost in shadow and soot.Anvils stood in ordered rows across the central floor, each at the center of its own constellation of tools, workbenches, and more portable furnaces.
And there, at his usual workstation, stood Kaine.
He worked alone at an anvil set apart from the others, stripped to the waist to fight the heat, a leather apron tied around his neck, protecting his skin from stray embers.His broad shoulders and muscled back gleamed with sweat in the firelight.Soot streaked his pale skin like war paint, emphasizing the sharp angles of his shoulder blades, the defined muscles of his arms as he brought a hammer down upon a glowing length of metal with practiced precision.His dark hair had grown longer than she remembered, falling across his forehead in a way that softened the hard planes of his face without diminishing its intensity.
As if sensing her presence, he looked up mid-swing, the hammer freezing in the air as his gaze locked with hers across the forge.For a heartbeat, the world seemed to narrow to that single point of connection—his ice-blue eyes widening in recognition, the blade forgotten on the anvil where it hissed and cooled, his lips parting in a silent exclamation she couldn't hear over the roar of the furnaces.
"Thalia," he finally said, her name barely audible over the ambient noise yet somehow cutting through it all to reach her.He set the hammer down with deliberate care, as if afraid any sudden movement might cause her to vanish like a mirage.
Luna busied herself examining a nearby rack of finished blades, her back turned in a show of tactful withdrawal that didn't fool Thalia for a moment.She knew her friend would be listening to every word.
Five quick strides brought Thalia across the scorched floor to where Kaine stood, close enough now to see the fine lines that had formed at the corners of his eyes, the new scar that bisected his left eyebrow, the way his attempt at a smile cracked his dry lips.
"Where is he?"The words burst from her before she could think better of them."What have they done with Roran?Is he—"
Kaine flinched as if she'd struck him, his expression hardening into something guarded, remote.The shift was subtle—a tightening around his eyes, a slight flaring of his nostrils—but to Thalia, who had spent countless hours studying his face in the intimate glow of the forge fires, it might as well have been a shout.
She stopped abruptly, belatedly recognizing the jealousy that flashed in his eyes.After months apart, the first words from her lips had been about Roran.The realization twisted in her chest, sharp with guilt.She swallowed, faltering under his stare, then cleared her throat.
"I'm sorry," she said, forcing herself to meet his gaze."I should have—it's good to see you, Kaine."The words were inadequate, but they were true.Despite everything, despite Roran, despite the complications between them, seeing Kaine again settled something within her that had been restless since leaving Frostforge.
His soot-blackened fingers clenched around the tongs he'd been using, knuckles whitening with the force of his grip before he deliberately set the tool aside.
"Roran hasn't been allowed visitors," he said, his voice hard-edged, each word carefully measured."No one has seen him since they took him to the cells beneath the north tower.No one has spoken to him.So I would have no way of knowing how he is."
The news hit Thalia like a blow to the chest, driving the air from her lungs.Months of isolation.Months of solitary confinement in the cold darkness of the north tower cells.The thought of Roran—vibrant, cheerful Roran—locked away from all human contact made her heart ache with a ferocity that surprised her.
"They can't just—that's not—" She struggled to form coherent thoughts, her mind racing with images of Roran, alone, forgotten by all save his jailers.
Something in her expression must have reached Kaine, because his face softened fractionally, the rigid set of his shoulders easing."I've tried," he admitted, quieter now."To get information, at least.The guards change every six hours.They bring food once daily.That's all I know."
Luna drifted back toward them, her casual posture belied by the intensity of her dark gaze."Have they set a date for his trial?"she asked, her voice carefully neutral.
Kaine's eyes flicked to her, then back to Thalia."It begins one week from tomorrow," he said."On the Crystalline Plateau.They've constructed an amphitheater for it."
"An amphitheater?"Thalia repeated, confusion momentarily displacing her concern.
"They built it just after the end of last term," Kaine continued, running a hand through his sweat-dampened hair."Massive thing.Seats for the entire academy.Every student, every instructor, every staff member."
"A spectacle," Luna said, her tone flat."Not a trial."
Kaine grimaced, a muscle jumping in his jaw."Based on the talk I’ve heard at instructors’ meetings, the academy leadership wants to send a message.Storm magic is Isle Warden magic.Using it anywhere on the continent is treason, and they want everyone to see the consequences."
A cold weight settled in Thalia's stomach, dread coiling through her veins like frost spreading across glass."The verdict is already decided, isn't it?"she asked, though she knew the answer before Kaine's grimace deepened, before he looked away, unable to meet her eyes.
That was answer enough.
CHAPTER FIVE
Metal struck metal, the ring echoing through the Howling Forge like a heartbeat.Kaine's hammer fell in a steady rhythm, each strike sending sparks dancing across his workbench.Thalia watched the muscles in his forearms flex and release with each blow, the orange glow of molten metal painting his face in stark relief.The forge's familiar heat wrapped around her like an embrace, so different from the biting cold of the Northern fortress she'd abandoned.Behind her, Luna shifted from foot to foot, uncharacteristically quiet in the presence of Kaine's focused intensity.
He finished a series of precise strikes before looking up, meeting Thalia’s gaze briefly.
