Cold hit me first.
Cold sharp enough to burn. Cold that clung to my lashes and seeped through my clothes. Cold that tasted like fresh snow and something metallic beneath it. I gasped and my lungs filled with icy air that cut all the way down.
My eyes flew open.
White sky. Snow drifting above me. Branches coated in frost. The faint glow of dawn through a misty haze.
I was lying on my back in the middle of the forest.
Alive.
Barely breathing, but alive.
A soft moan came from somewhere to my right. I pushed myself up, coughing on the cold.
“Ember?” My voice cracked. “Ember?”
A weak groan answered me.
I crawled toward the sound, slipping on the snow. Ember lay half buried in it, hair spread like dark ink across the white ground. Her breathing was shallow but steady. Her lips twitched
