To Melt A Frozen Heart | ONC 2024

Chapter 14 | A Revelation

We had indeed started training the next day, just as Cassian said. And we had done so every morning for the last few weeks. He was relentless. Even more than Wrynn had been and a small part of me was beginning to regret ever having asked.

But having said that, the improvements in my skills wielding a sword were drastic. And while I still couldn't beat Cassian without using some underhand tactics, I could tell he was slightly impressed.

"That was good, Aurelia," he said one day after we'd finished a particularly vigorous training session.

Glancing over to the stables, I caught Wrynn's eye – he smirked at me. He'd taken, having not much else to do, to watching Cassian and I as we practiced. I still sparred with Wrynn on occasion but usually I was far too worn out to do much of anything.

"Indeed. You are impressed with my skills, then?" I smiled sweetly at him.

"You have certainly improved."

That was about the most expressive praise I would ever get from him.

Despite the fact that I'd been at Evenspire Palace now for a couple of months, he was still no warmer toward me. Occasionally, I'd think I was making a breakthrough, but then he'd slam his walls back up – reinforcing them more securely than before.

It was almost as if he was determined for this marriage not to work.

I fell into step beside him as we walked over to Wrynn.

Cassian met Wrynn's gaze and turned to me. "You should go and get some rest, Aurelia. I have something I must discuss with the captain."

His tone was dismissive; I rolled my eyes at the back of his head.

"Very well."

Wrynn smiled over Cassian's shoulder. "I will come and find you later, Aure."

I returned his smile and set off.

But I didn't go far.

Instead of walking back up to the castle, I crept silently around the side of the stables and waited. Hushed voices sounded.

"How long?"

"About a week. That's what she said anyway. But who knows. It wouldn't be the first time she's told me something purely for the enjoyment of watching me suffer."

Wrynn's voice. "And do you think that is the case this time?"

"No."

A sigh and someone shifting their feet in the snow.

Cassian spoke again. "It is too late, Wrynn. I am sorry. I have failed me and you and Evenspire. It is too late."

"She may love you yet."

"She does not. There is no way to force love. And if you could, would it still be love? Love that is not free, is not really love at all."

"Are you sure?"

"You must get her out of here, Wrynn... before everything. She does not deserve to be caught up in this. Take her home. Evenspire may fall, and we may die, but she will live."

"You have really given up hope then? Can you honestly say you tried?"

"To love with a heart that is frozen is a hard thing indeed. I tried. It seems the odds always were stacked against me. Maybe I was never supposed to win."

Silence and then:

"Maybe not."

***

Still reeling from the strange conversation, I hurried back to my rooms.