Word spread rapid: Astraea had been known as returned to the Frostbound Courts. Old alliances were fraying. The rebels had made touch inside the north.
She discovered close to the brink of the Academy’s southern lawn, in which frost clung unnaturally to the grass.
"I’m being recalled," she said bluntly.
I nodded. "I heard."
"They want to surrender the Frost Nexus. Declare neutrality."
"You won’t, will you?"
Her breath misted. "I don’t realize. My loyalty is to this Academy... however they’re my people too."
"You don’t should choose one or the alternative," I said quietly.
She tilted her head. "Don’t I?"
We stood in silence. Then she took sothing from her sleeve: a blade-shaped appeal carved from crystal ice.
"Take it," she stated. "If I don’t co back... this’ll let you attain the Frost Nexus with out ."
"You’re no longer coming returned?" I asked.
She smiled—but it didn’t reach her eyes. "You taught that braveness ans walking into the hurricane, no longer round it."
Then she turned, cloak snapping in the wind, and walked into the frost.
I didn’t forestall her.
Because I knew Astraea had already made her desire.
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