Chapter One: Chains & Frost
358 Words
Chains clinked softly in the silence. The dungeon of the Ice Kingdom was always cold, but tonight, it felt cruel.
Zira's wrists ached where the iron cuffs dug into her skin. Her breath formed small clouds as she exhaled, curled in the corner of her cell like a wounded fox. Her knuckles were bruised—evidence of the fight that landed her here.
She hadn’t meant to cause trouble. She only stepped in when the guard raised his hand against the younger girl, a fellow slave who couldn’t have been more than twelve. Zira saw the fear in the girl’s eyes, and before she could stop herself, her fists flew. One guard went down, the others retaliated, and now here she was.
A traitor. A defiant one.
A problem.
The stones beneath her were slick with frost. The ice never melted in this cursed place—it crept into her bones, into her memories, into her dreams. She closed her eyes and tried not to shiver.
Then, footsteps.
Measured. Calm. Too elegant to belong to a guard.
She looked up.
A figure stood outside her cell, cloaked in midnight-blue lined with white fur. Pale silver hair framed a face carved from winter itself—sharp, cold, beautiful. His eyes, like shards of frozen sapphire, fixed on her with quiet calculation.
Prince Kale.
Zira didn’t move. Neither did he.
For a heartbeat, the dungeon seemed to hold its breath.
“You fought back,” he said at last, voice low and smooth.
Zira clenched her jaw. “She was a child.”
“Slaves don’t get to choose justice.”
“Then maybe justice is broken.”
A flicker—almost like amusement—touched his mouth, then vanished. “Interesting,” he murmured.
He stepped closer, the ice beneath his boots whispering with power.
“Your spirit doesn’t match your chains, girl.”
Zira met his gaze, fire blazing behind her frostbitten stare. “Neither does your crown.”
Something unreadable passed through his eyes.
And just like that, she knew—
This wasn’t the last time their path
s would cross.
Not by fate.
But by fire.
- Writer
