FOUR: BREAKING HER
926 Words
The next morning came.
Princess Ember woke up cold, where there were no blankets and no fire. Just the bite of mountain air cutting into her skin.
Her eyes snapped open.
Bright stood over her.
“Get up.” he said. No hesitation.
But Princess Embre didn’t move. Not out of weakness. But out of defiance.
“I said, get up.”
“And if I don’t?” she asked, voice steady despite everything.
His expression didn’t change.
“Then you freeze,” he said simply. “Or starve. Or both.”
The mountain didn’t negotiate. Neither did he.
Slowly, Princess Ember pushed herself upright. Every movement hurt less than yesterday. But still, this is too much, for survivable, she's feeling unwell but trying hard enough to control her strength. Even the process is too slow, at least she tried.
Of course he did.
“Good,” he said shortly. “You’ll need that.”
“For what?”
Bright turned, grabbing something from near the cave wall and tossing it at her. A rough fabric hit her chest, now she has new clothes. Simple. Practical. Nothing like what she had worn before.
“You’re going outside.” Bright said.
Her gaze snapped to him. “No.”
“Not optional.”
“I’m not trained for something..."
“That’s the problem.” His tone sharpened, just slightly.
“Out there doesn’t care what you were trained for. It cares what you can do.”
Princess Ember’s fingers tightened around the fabric.
“I am not weak.”
“Then stop acting like it.”
The words struck deep to Princess Ember. Because they echoed her own thoughts. She looked at the clothes.Then at him, then back again.
Slowly... she stood.
The cold hit like a blade. The moment she stepped outside, it stole her breath. The snow stretched endlessly across the mountainside, blinding white beneath a pale sky. The wind howled, unforgiving, tearing at her hair and skin.
Princess Ember staggered.
Bright didn’t help. “Stand,” he said.
“I am standing.”
“Barely.”
Her teeth clenched. "Watch me.”
Princess Ember took a step forward. Each step felt like walking through resistance, her body fighting conditions it had never known.
Bright circled her slowly, observing and assessing.
“Your balance is off,” he said. “Your breathing’s wrong. You’re wasting energy.”
“I didn’t ask for instructions.”
“You don’t have a choice." he said
She spun toward him, anger flaring. “I am not one of your subordinates.”
“No,” he said coolly. “You’re worse.”
The insult hung between them, it's heavy and intentional.
“Explain,” she demanded.
“You don’t know what you are out here,” he said.
“That makes you dangerous.. to yourself.”
Her eyes darkened. "And you think you do?”
“I know enough to stay alive.”
Princess Ember makes another step forward. Her foot slipped. She caught herself.
Bright moved in a blur. He grabbed her wrist, steadying her before she could fall. Their actions repeated many times, she fell, he catches her, always there. It infuriated her.
“Let me go.” Princess Ember reacted and felt tired.
He didn’t. But his grip tightened slightly, his gaze locking onto hers.
“You’re going to fall,” he said quietly.
“Then let me.”
A heartbeat almost catch the moment. Something shifted, warmed, dark, and intense.
“It will not happen” Bright said.
The words came out lower than before. But it shows his being possessiveness, and control in the situation.
Princess Ember felt it. but she didn't understand it, above all, she didn't trust her emotions now.
“Why?” she asked.
And for the first time, Bright hesitated. His jaw tightened. Then he released her abruptly, stepping back like the contact burned.
“Because I don’t clean up corpses,” he said coldly.
But that was a lie. They both knew it.
Their training didn’t stop. It got worse from time to time. By midday, Ember could barely feel her hands.
By evening, her legs threatened to give out with every step.
And Bright? he didn’t let her quit. “Again.”
“I can’t.”
“Again.” Bright insist.
Then her vision suddenly blurred. "I said I..."
“Again.” Bright urged her again.
Something snapped.
Princess Ember turned on him, fury blazing through exhaustion. “I am not your prisoner!”
“No,” he shot back instantly. “You’re your own worst enemy.”
Silence crashed her down. Her chest rose and fell sharply.
“You think I chose this?” she demanded. “You think I wanted to lose everything?”
Bright’s expression darkened. “Everyone loses something.”
“Not like this.”
His eyes flashed. “You don’t know anything about ‘like this.’”
The air shifted again. Bright stepped closer to her.
“You had power,” he said in low voices. “Protection. A place that couldn’t be touched.”
His gaze hardened. “I had that too.”
The words hit differently, not his anger, not just bitterness, but something deeper and broken.
“And it still wasn’t enough,” he finished.
Princess Ember stunned for a moment. She saw it, not just the hostility. But the man who had been betrayed. Just like her, the realization unsettled her more than anything else. Because it made him understand. And that made him dangerous in a completely different way.
- Writer
