The carriage jerked to a stop with a rough creak, Jasmine hands gripping the wooden bench beside her until her knuckles ached. A second later, metal clinked then the sharp sound of boots crunching dirt. The guards.
The door flung open with a clang.
"Step out, you all," the head guard barked. His voice was iron cold. They weren't shackled, no. No chains, no collars. But Jasmine felt it anyway. The same weight and tightness around her throat. She hadn't chosen this. it was their king who had ordered it.
Jasmine stepped down, her legs stiff from the ride. The air hit her immediately and she shivered. She blinked at what stood before them.
The cold from the mouth of the cave breathed out in pulses. It licked over her skin, prickling like needles, sinking into her bones. She shivered. Not from fear no, not just that but from something deeper.
The nobles' daughters stood apart, their silks fluttering uselessly in the wind, too fine for this kind of place. One of them sniffled, high and tight, but no one turned.
"Move." The head guard again. Rougher this time, like he was tired of pretending to be patient. The line inched forward.
Andriana pressed close to her, her hand brushing Jasmine's as they walked, silent and clinging like shadows. Neither of them wanted to be here. Both of them had been chosen and neither had been asked.
Jasmine leaned closer, barely daring to whisper. "Where do you think they're taking us?"
Andriana's eyes darted sideways, lips trembling. "I—I'm not sure..." Her voice cracked at the end, small and quick. She didn't meet Jasmine's eyes.
They stopped again. Right in front of the cave now.
It loomed taller here. The chill was stronger, deeper, like it was leaking from the stone itself. Jasmine's toes curled in her shoes, and she felt something uncoil low in her gut.
Just inside the cave, something pulsed blue and gold, flickering against the dark stone. But Jasmine didn't care about that, not really.
What made her stomach twist was the person sitting up on the wall like he belonged there. He looked calm like he was a tourist, waiting to watch the drama that he wants to unfold.
Then something snapped one of the guards suddenly turned and stabbed the man beside him.
"What are you doing?!" the head guard yelled, but it was already too late. The guards had lost it. They were attacking each other like they'd gone mad.
Jasmine froze, her heart kicking hard against her ribs. What the hell was going on?
Then her eyes locked with his the guy on the wall. He was dressed all in black, and something about him made her skin crawl. He didn't flinch, didn't even seem surprised but he was eerily familiar, the kind you knew but can't quite point a finger at.
He just tilted his head and smiled like it was all some sick joke.
The hostages scattered just like that, like someone snapped a thread and the whole thing unraveled. Some of the maids screamed, skirts bunching in their fists as they bolted like deer, feet crunching hard into the snow. One even tripped and didn't get up right away.
Jasmine stood frozen for a second.
The guards were on each other like rabid dogs. Even the head guard he was shouting, yelling something, but his voice got lost in the mess. No one was listening anymore.
"Come on, Jasmine!"
It was Andriana, her voice right next to her ear, grabbing her arm and tugging. Jasmine stumbled forward.
"Let go!" Andriana yelled again sharp, panicked and Jasmine almost lost her grip. Their arms nearly tore apart when someone shoved past them.
Jasmine's head whipped around her eyes caught him, he still leaned against the cave wall like he was watching a show. That same unreadable face, those dark eyes locked on her like he'd knew her.
She didn't care. Whatever the hell he wanted, whatever he was here for, thank God he showed up.
She turned and ran.
The cold slapped her skin like open palms. Her boots sank with every step into the snow, her breath coming out in broken clouds. Andriana was right behind her, but Jasmine didn't look back. Not once.
All she could think about was putting space between her and whatever the hell that cave just became. Her legs burned, her lungs ached. The wind cut against her face, sharp and biting. She didn't stop.
They reached the other side of the icy slope, the mountain wall curving like a giant frozen shoulder. Jasmine stumbled forward, heart pounding, trying to catch her breath, her hand slamming against a rock to steady herself—
Then someone was there.
Right in front of them.
She skidded to a stop, her foot almost slipping on a patch of ice, arms flailing to keep balance.
"Shit—" she breathed, chest heaving.
"Look what we have here!"
His voice rang out like he was happy too damn happy. he sounded like someone who just found something fun to break.
Jasmine froze mid-step, her grip on Andriana's arm going stiff. She didn't have to look around to know there wasn't any clean way out of this. They were boxed.
Three of them.
Men who sh too well were apart of the supernaturals. Her eyes flicked between them fast, her whole body screaming to move.
She stepped back.
She started backing up, dragging Andriana with her. Her boots sunk into the snow, deep, heavy. One wrong step and they'd fall flat.
And then BAM they were in front again.
Jasmine's breath caught in her throat. They didn't run, didn't move like normal people. One blink and they were just... In front of them.
"Oh my God…" Andriana whispered it, voice tiny, like the sound couldn't get past the shock in her chest. Her face went pale.
Jasmine swallowed hard. Her mouth was dry. "We.....we don't want trouble. Just let us go."
She tried to sound firm, but It came out thin and choked.
The second guy tilted his head. His smile didn't reach his eyes.
"That's the issue," he said, voice low and too calm, sounded like a joke was sitting behind every word. "You can't go. You walked into our turf by yourself. We didn't bring you here."
His hands were in his coat pockets it seemed casual. As if they weren't trapped, while things was turning bad real fast.
Jasmine took another step back, arm still tight around Andriana, her mind racing with no plan.
"We're sorry if any.....ahhh!"
Andriana's words snapped into a scream. Jasmine whipped around just in time to see it.
The third guy had grabbed her. His hand clamped around Andriana's wrist, too tight, he was claiming her. His eyes lit up, no, burned with a reddish-orange glow, like there were tiny coals behind them flickering to life.
"This looks like it's gonna be fun," he said, voice low and twisted with excitement.
And then it started.
Jasmine blinked and almost threw up. It wasn't just a touch. He was pulling something from Andriana. Not yanking her by force. No, this was worse.
A soft golden light like smoke was rising off her skin, streaming straight into his grip like he was sucking her dry. Her body twitched once, then slumped a little. Her arm started going limp, thinning out somehow her muscles just gave up. Her face…
"No! Stop!!" Jasmine screamed. The words tore out of her it was raw and cracked.
And like the wind heard her.....
It moved.
The air around them snapped into motion. She felt it swirl fast and hard, the cold biting her cheeks, the pressure like a punch. It slammed into the third guy outta nowhere, lifting him off his damn feet and hurling him backwards like a doll.
He hit a snow-covered rock with a loud crack and rolled over, groaning.
Andriana dropped to the ground like a puppet with cut strings.
Her body folded in on itself, the glow gone, her skin looking way too pale.
Jasmine stumbled toward her, hands shaking. "Andriana hey, hey wake up—" her voice cracked again. She dropped to her knees in the snow beside her, barely noticing how cold it was now.
"You bitc—"
The first guy's voice cracked out like a whip, sharp and pissed. His ember-lit eyes locked on her, glowing hotter as they focused in. Jasmine didn't move. She couldn't, she was still crouched in the snow, one arm around Andriana's body, her other hand shaking with leftover panic.
He stormed forward fast now, there wasn't time to think he flung something at her. It was a blazing inferno it lit up the space between them like a flash of sun.
Jasmine flinched, arm jerking up like it had a mind of its own. She waited for the pain to settle in, for her to be burned to crisp. But it didn't hit her, the fire didn't burn, it didn't lap at her like a dog.
Her hand caught it and absorbed it. The glow died down, sucked into her palm like it had found a home.
Her eyes went wide. So did his.
"What the…" she muttered, staring at her own hand, still trembling, but no longer cold.
Something shifted in the air.
All three of them went stiff. The way animals do when they sense something way too big for them. Their faces changed into what Jasmine assume to be fear.
They bolted away, running from whatever was after them, they were a blur across the snow.
Jasmine blinked. It all happened too fast.
She dropped her gaze back to Andriana, heart pounding again but for a different reason now.
"Andriana?" she called, low, desperate. Her fingers brushed her friend's cheek cold. Her skin was too cold. But her heart… It was still beating faint and weak. But it was there.
"Oh God, what do I do?" Jasmine whispered, her voice cracked, raw. She looked around. Nothing but snow and rock, not a soul in sight. Her fingers pressed against Andriana's wrist again, her chest tightening, she needed help.
She tried pulling Andriana up but the lady was too heavy it was pointless joggling her around in this area. The only option she had was to go back and seek help from the guards, which didn't sound very appealing. She stood on her feet ready to leave but was startled by the man who had his hand in his coat lazily staring at her.
He was the same guy from earlier the one she believed had caused the chaos earlier. Good or bad she wasn't sure what he wanted.
"Leave from here and your friend dies" he didn't take a step forward by his presence was enough to threaten her.
"Go away I don't need your help" that sounded stupid even to her but what could she do, "a man offering help in the middle of a deserted ice mountain wasn't something that sounded right, and not to talk about how he seemed to walk out from a otherworldly cave or something sinister.
His abyssal eyes seems to swallow whole if one stare too much.
"I don't mind if you both die here though....." he said casually like it a normal chant. "But seeing as you absorb a death flame from a corrupt rogue am sure you aren't far from death either, or probably on your way to corruption." He leaned down now on a eye level to her, his eyes seemed to taunt her as he spoke. "Because you...." His voice dropped, words soft but mean. His eyes didn't blink neither did he look away. "You yourself will continue from where they stop and believe me it wouldn't be all sweet and savor"
Something twisted in her chest.
It wasn't just the words. It was the way he said them, it unnerves her.