He turned to Nik, swallowing hard. “What about your arm?”
Nik held it up—the skin clear of frost, only the North Wind’s ice-blue Mark shimmering faintly. “All good.”
Leukos let out a breath, the knot in his chest loosening just a fraction.
The healer bent over Alena, her hands glowing with soft light that pulsed against the creeping frost. “The ice hasn’t reached the bone. We can help her—but only if you let us work.”
The words hit him like a lifeline. For the first time since she collapsed, his lungs filled with air. Shoulders sagging, he raked a trembling hand through his hair and forced himself to step back.
“Please,” he whispered, voice strangled. “Save her.”
He lingered on her face for one more heartbeat, then turned away. The ache of leaving her sliced through him, but with Nik at his side, he stumbled out of the room, his body moving on instinct until he reached his quarters.
Nik closed the door behind them, the weight of the moment pressing heavily on them both. He took a tentative step forward, his brow furrowed. “Leukos, you heard the healer. She’ll be fine.”
But Leukos barely registered the words. Helplessness rose like a tide, threatening to pull him under.
He’d almost killed her.
The realisation crashed over him in waves, suffocating. He’d just found her again—had just begun to understand the depth of his feelings—and he’d almost lost her.
Just like his family.
The thought struck with brutal clarity. The same helplessness, the same crushing weight. He’d lost them all—his mother, his father, Aegeus—because he hadn’t been able to protect them. And now, when the Fates had finally handed him something precious, he’d nearly lost her, too.
The ache in his chest spread like wildfire, consuming him whole.
His gaze fell on the basket of apples the Cyprian had brought for his wedding—its bright colours a stark contrast to the storm building inside him. Without a thought, he shoved it aside. The fruit spilled across the floor, rolling and bouncing in the chaos of his fury.
Fuck the gods and their Gifts!
How dare they let this happen to her? She was their chosen one, the Omega.
And he’d nearly destroyed her with his own hands.
A pulse of raw, violent fury ignited in him. His fists clenched until his knuckles whitened, a flicker of ice-blue magic shimmering over his skin
“Nik,” he growled—harsh, low, the only warning he could give.
Nik’s steady reply came without hesitation. “I’ll be fine.”
That was all the permission Leukos needed.
He let out a roar—raw, desperate, shattered—and his magic exploded outwards in a violent surge. The walls glazed over with frost, the floor fractured beneath creeping ice. It was as if his soul itself had shattered and frozen in endless torment.
Nik stayed pressed against the door, arms crossed, jaw tight. Ice snaked up his bare arm, reaching his neck, but he didn’t flinch, watching Leukos unleash the storm of fury and fear.
At last, Leukos collapsed to his knees at the centre of the room, chest heaving, raw emotion still clawing at him. The cold surrounding him matched the emptiness inside.
Nik’s approaching footsteps crunched across the frozen ground.
Leukos couldn’t meet his friend’s eyes, couldn’t look at anything but the wreckage.
“I can’t lose her, too,” he breathed. “I love her.”
The confession fell from his lips like a desperate prayer.
A surrender.
