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The frost refused to spread, retreating from the metal almost as quickly as she could summon it.It was like trying to paint a masterpiece with water on hot stone — any progress evaporated before it could take shape.

"Breathe," Luna instructed, her voice surprisingly firm."Like Ashe taught you this morning."

Thalia looked up, startled."I thought you were asleep for that.”

Luna's smile was mysterious."I notice things.Now breathe.In through your nose, hold, out through your lips.Find your center."

Thalia obeyed, drawing air deep into her lungs and holding it, feeling the cold burn and then normalize.As she exhaled slowly, some of her panic receded.She tried once more, placing her damaged gloves on either side of the blade, summoning cold not from fear but from the quiet core of herself where winter had begun to take root.

The cold was a living thing at Frostforge, a relentless adversary that demanded respect and yielded only to those with the strength to command it.And in this moment, Thalia felt anything but strong.

CHAPTER TEN

The dining hall at Frostforge Academy stretched before Thalia like a battlefield dressed as a banquet.Wooden tables, scarred with years of knife marks and frost burns, filled the cavernous space while the high windows let in thin streams of waning daylight that did little to warm the perpetually chilled air.Thalia hunched over her tray, eyeing the gray mound of what the servers had claimed was venison stew — though she'd yet to discover actual meat beneath the congealed surface.Across from her, Luna poked at her meal with the distracted air of someone who'd forgotten food's purpose, her gaze drifting around the room in that unfocused way Thalia had recognized as carefully practiced.

They'd claimed the farthest corner of the hall, a spot that had become their unofficial territory over the past weeks.It offered the twin advantages of a wall at their backs and a clear view of the entire room — not that Luna ever seemed to be watching.At least, not obviously.

A group of Northern students passed by, their trays piled high with extra portions.One of them — a stocky boy with a shock of white-blond hair — cast a dismissive glance at Thalia's half-eaten meal.The corners of his mouth twitched into a smirk before he moved on.

"They still get better food," Thalia muttered, pushing a gelatinous chunk to the edge of her bowl."I swear the cooks serve us the scraps."

Luna didn't respond.Her spoon hovered over her forgotten stew as her eyes fixed on a point across the room.Thalia followed her gaze to where Instructor Maven stood, conferring with another teacher, their heads bent close together.

"It's strange," Luna said abruptly, her voice sharper than her usual dreamy tone.

Thalia was startled, her spoon clattering against the edge of her bowl."What's strange?"

"That blade."Luna's eyes, suddenly clear and focused, flicked back to Thalia."In cryomancy class yesterday.The way it shattered."She lowered her voice though no one sat within earshot."It didn't strike me as...accidental."

A chill that had nothing to do with Frostforge's perpetual cold slithered down Thalia's spine.The memory flashed before her: the frozen blade fracturing, deadly shards flying toward Joren and Emir — both Southern students like herself.She'd assumed it was poor craftsmanship or bad luck.

"You think it was deliberate?"Thalia breathed, leaning forward.

Luna's eyes darted around the room again with unmistakable purpose."The trajectory," she said, making a sharp gesture with her fingers."The shards didn't scatter randomly.They shot in one direction."She tilted her head."Only in Joren and Emir's direction."

Thalia set down her spoon, appetite vanishing entirely."But who would —" She stopped herself, the answer obvious.Several Northerners made no secret of their disdain for Southern students.The hierarchy at Frostforge mirrored the wider world's power structures, with those from the ice-bound Reaches looking down on those from the warmer regions.

Luna shrugged, but the gesture lacked her usual airy dismissiveness."Who benefits if there are fewer Southern students to compete with?"she asked, eyes dropping back to her untouched food."Or perhaps someone simply enjoys causing harm."

The dining hall suddenly felt colder.Thalia scanned the crowded tables, seeing potential threats where she'd only seen fellow struggling students before.Her hand moved unconsciously to her pocket, fingers brushing against the frayed edge of her frost gloves.

After a moment of hesitation, Thalia reached into her cloak and withdrew the gloves.She placed them on the table between their trays, the stitching along the sides visibly unraveled — just enough to compromise their insulating properties without being immediately noticeable.

"I found these like this," she said quietly."After the survival exercise."

Luna's gaze sharpened, transforming her face from vague to predatory in an instant.She picked up one glove, examining the damage with clinical precision, and her finger traced the separated threads.

"This wasn't an accident," Luna said, her voice flat."Someone knew exactly how much damage to do.Enough to make the gloves fail during intensive cryomancy, but not so much that you'd notice immediately."

Thalia's throat tightened."I thought I was being paranoid."

"Paranoia at Frostforge is just good sense."Luna returned the glove, her movements deliberate and controlled."You should be careful who you trust."She glanced around the hall again, this time making no effort to disguise her vigilance."Not everyone sees Frostforge as an ordeal to survive.Some students are here for glory.They see the academy as a competition, and in a sense, they’re right.This place is designed to weed out the weak.If most of us won’t survive, and you’re looking to boost your own chances… well, why not thin the herd?Not to mention the fact that better class rankings correlate directly to better placements in the war effort.”

Thalia studied Luna, bemused.Since their arrival, Luna had maintained her distracted, harmless persona so consistently that even Thalia — who shared a room with her — sometimes wondered if there was anything beneath the act.But moments like this revealed glimpses of someone else entirely: observant, calculating, sharp.

"What about you, then?"Thalia asked."Whenever you’re around other people, you act like you don't care about any of this.Like you're just...drifting along.But I know that's not true."

She expected Luna to deflect with her usual vacant smile or nonsensical comment.Instead, annoyance flickered across Luna's face — brief but unmistakable.