Page 63 of Frostforge: Passage Two
"Are you going to keep searching?"The question came out softer than she'd intended, laced with concern that surprised her.It wasn't her business, not really, but the thought of Roran out there alone, hunting killers, made something cold and heavy settle in the pit of her stomach.
Roran was quiet for so long that Thalia thought he might not answer.When he did, his voice was steady again, resolved."No.Not for now."
"No?"Thalia couldn't keep the relief from her voice.
He shook his head, and a few of his wild curls fell across his forehead."I'm going home.To my village."The corner of his mouth lifted in a half-smile."I still have friends there I want to see.People who knew my family.It feels like...like the right thing to do right now."
The depth of emotion in his voice made Thalia's throat tighten.She nodded, not trusting herself to speak immediately.After a moment, she managed, "I'm glad."
"Are you?"He looked at her with a hint of his usual teasing glint returning to his eyes.
"I am," she confirmed, surprising herself with how much she meant it."Chasing vengeance is—" She stopped, realizing how presumptuous she sounded.
"Dangerous?"Roran supplied."Stupid?A good way to get myself killed?"
"All of the above," Thalia agreed, relieved he didn't seem offended.
Roran laughed softly, the sound mingling with the howl of the wind outside."Yeah, well.Maybe I'm learning to be slightly less reckless."
"Only slightly?"
"Let's not get carried away."His grin flashed bright and genuine in the dim light.
“You’d better make it back here in one piece,” Thalia said, feeling heat rise in her cheeks.“I don’t want to hear more stories about how you were imprisoned at a checkpoint.I was worried about you.”
Their eyes held.The space between them felt impossibly small.And then his fingers brushed hers — deliberate, slow, testing.Her skin prickled at the contact as though there was electricity in his touch.
“You worry about me, Greenspire?”he teased, but his voice had gone low, quiet.
“I do.”The admission surprised her.So did how much she meant it.
“Huh.”He let out a low chuckle, swaying back against the wall.His fingers retreated from hers, and Thalia had to resist the urge to lean forward and capture his hand again.His smile remained, but it had lost its sharp edges.Now it was softer, almost reverent, as he gazed at her.“Well, that’s good to know.”
The air between them seemed to shift, as though charged with static.Thalia felt the change like a current, the same kind she could sense in metal — subtle, powerful, impossible to ignore.
They fell into another silence, the only sounds the crackling of the torches and the persistent whisper of snow against glass.Thalia, suddenly reluctant to meet his steady gaze, turned her attention to the delicate snowflakes clinging to the windowpane — each one a fragile, intricate design that lasted only moments before melting away, undone by the subtle warmth of the storm that brewed between them.
After a moment, Roran cleared his throat, the casualness in his voice barely hiding the subtle shift between them.“It’s late.You should get some rest — I know your ship leaves early tomorrow.”
Thalia blinked, the words taking a moment to settle.She nodded slowly, uncurling from the window seat and stretching muscles that had stiffened without her noticing.
“See you next term, then,” she said softly.
“Try not to miss me too much, Greenspire,” he replied, his teasing tone carrying an unexpected warmth.
Thalia rolled her eyes but couldn’t help the faint smile that tugged at her lips.“I’ll do my best.Goodnight, Roran.”
"Goodnight, Thalia," he replied, and the sound of her name in his voice followed her down the corridor like a whispered secret.
Back in her room, Thalia slipped beneath her furs, which had grown cold in her absence.She pulled them tight around her shoulders and curled onto her side, gazing out at the snowstorm that had intensified to a swirling white vortex beyond her window.
Her mind still turned to the mysterious symbols, to the strange message Kaine had uncovered — "The Founder's Price" — but the anxious edge had dulled.In its place was a curious anticipation, a hunger to uncover more when she returned to Frostforge next term.
As sleep finally began to claim her, Thalia's thoughts drifted between Kaine's ice-blue eyes and Roran's deep brown ones, between faith in her comrades and uncertainty over their secrets, between memories of violence and moments of peace.Next term, she knew, would bring more of both the calm and the storm — and she would navigate them both with a quiet resolve that no tempest could break.