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Instead, Thalia climbed.Up spiral staircases hewn straight from the cliffside, through hallways lined with statues of stern-faced Northern war heroes.The higher she climbed, the colder the air became, crisp and sharp in her lungs.It felt cleansing somehow, burning away the fog of confusion that had settled over her thoughts.

When she finally pushed through the heavy iron door that led to the plateau, the wind slapped against her face with stinging force.Thalia gasped, the shock of cold momentarily driving all other thoughts from her mind.Perfect.Exactly what she needed.

The Crystalline Plateau stretched before her, a vast expanse of blue-white ice that seemed to glow with its own inner light.From here, at the highest point of Frostforge Academy, she could see all the way to the fjord where the supply ships would normally dock — empty now, thanks to the Isle Warden attacks.The sun was just beginning to crest the jagged mountain peaks to the east, painting the snow-covered landscape in hues of pink and gold.

Thalia walked to the edge, her boots crunching across frost-encrusted ground.She took care to avoid the patrolling golems.The constructs were under control, but the Golem Fields, a valley just to the east of the plateau, were a constant reminder that control was tenuous, and ice magic could be every bit as unpredictable as the Isle Wardens’ storm magic.Since her arrival at Frostforge, Thalia had been wary of the golems – wary enough to stay out of the Golem Fields entirely.The shelter provided by the scraps of refuse that punctuated the blanket of snow below the Crystalline Training Grounds would be the perfect place for herbs to grow, but Thalia didn’t dare risk the wrath of the failed constructs that wandered that wasteland.They’d been abandoned there for a reason.

At the plateau’s edge, a sheer drop of several hundred feet separated her from the frozen river below.The wind that buffeted her seemed determined to test her resolve.She planted her feet firmly and leaned into it, feeling alive in a way that had nothing to do with magic or metallurgy or the complicated politics of the academy.

Breathe in.Hold.Breathe out.She practiced the centering technique Roran had taught her during their combat training.The cold air filled her lungs, pure and clarifying.For a moment, she managed to focus solely on the sensations of her body — the bite of wind against her cheeks, the solid ice beneath her feet, the steady rhythm of her heart.

But her traitorous mind circled back to Kaine like a compass needle finding north.The intensity in his blue eyes when he'd finally confirmed what Senna had told her.I spent five years in prison.No excuses, no elaborate explanations.Just a simple statement of fact, delivered with the same direct honesty he'd always shown her.Had she been a fool to trust him?To feel that spark of connection when they'd discovered those ancient sigils together?When they'd nearly —

"You've been avoiding me."

Thalia jumped, spinning so quickly she nearly lost her footing on the slick surface.Kaine stood a few paces away, his broad shoulders wrapped in the same leather and furs he always wore, his dark hair dusted with frost.He must have followed her up the winding staircases, yet she hadn't heard a single footstep.Or perhaps she'd been too lost in thoughts of him to notice.

"Kaine, I —" Her voice cracked, and she had to swallow before trying again."I've just been...busy.Everything's been chaotic since the storm."The lie felt hollow even as she spoke it, and from Kaine's expression, he didn't believe it either.

"That's not it."His tone was steady but strained, like ice under too much pressure."This is about what I confessed last time we spoke."

Thalia didn't respond, which Kaine seemed to take as confirmation.He sighed, the sound nearly lost to the wind, and took a step closer.Not close enough to touch, but close enough that she could see the weariness etched into the lines around his eyes.

"What else have you heard?"he asked finally.

Thalia hesitated, then decided honesty was the only path forward."Senna told me you killed your father."She searched his expression, looking for confirmation or denial, but his face remained closed off, unreadable.

"And you believed her."Not a question.A resigned statement.

"I don't know what to believe," Thalia admitted, wrapping her arms around herself, not from the cold, but from the weight of the conversation."I just know that you were in prison, and that Senna thinks —"

"Senna thinks many things," Kaine interrupted, a hardness entering his voice."Not all of them accurate."

The wind changed direction, sending a spray of ice crystals dancing between them like miniature daggers.Kaine turned slightly, positioning himself to shield her from the worst of it.Even now, even amid suspicion and doubt, his instinct was to protect her.The realization made Thalia's chest ache.

"Then tell me," she said quietly."Tell me what is accurate."

Kaine was silent for so long that Thalia thought he might refuse.Then, with a deep breath that clouded the air between them, he began.

"I come from a noble clan.Once powerful, fallen from grace two generations ago when my grandfather backed the wrong side in a succession dispute."His voice was flat, reciting facts rather than telling a story."Restoring the family's honor was everything to my father.The only thing that mattered."

He turned away, looking out over the vast expanse of ice and sky."When I failed to meet his standards — which was often — he had ways of expressing his disappointment.At first, it was just harsh words.Then, when I was about twelve, it became more...physical."

Thalia's stomach twisted.She thought of her own mother — stern at times, but never cruel, never raising a hand in anger.She thought of the sailors who sometimes visited their herb shop in Verdant Port, men with haunted eyes and scars they wouldn't explain.

"You don't have to —" she started, but Kaine shook his head.

"You wanted to know.So I'm telling you."His jaw tightened."By the time I was sixteen, I was almost as tall as he was.But he was stronger, more seasoned.A warrior of the old school.And I was...just his disappointment of a son."Kaine's hands clenched into fists at his sides."Until the night he turned his anger on my mother."

Thalia's breath caught.She had not expected this turn.

"She'd tried to defend me earlier that day.Said maybe his expectations were too high, that maybe I had different talents than the ones he valued."A bitter smile twisted Kaine's lips."He didn't take the suggestion well.He'd been drinking at a clan gathering that night, and when he came home..."Kaine trailed off, his eyes distant."I found them in the great room.She was on the floor, blood on her face….”

The wind seemed to still around them, as if the very air was holding its breath.Thalia waited, her heart pounding in her chest.

He turned back to her, his blue eyes sharp with pain and something else — a challenge, perhaps, or a plea for understanding.

“I’m not a murderer,” he said.Thalia’s heart pounded against her ribs.She wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him.