The frozen heart

Chapter 45: Breaking the Cycle

The castle was too quiet.

Anne sat in the corner of the grand bedroom, her legs tucked beneath her on the chaise. The once-vibrant fire in the hearth had dwindled to a faint glow, but she didn't move to stoke it. She was cold, but the chill was nothing compared to the weight pressing down on her chest.

Kaiden was gone again.

He'd left at dawn, his dark cloak billowing in the pale light as he turned back to her one last time. His expression had been unreadable, a mask of determination that barely hid the desperation in his eyes.

"I'll find a way," he'd said, his voice a low promise.

Anne hadn't replied. She couldn't. Her throat had felt too tight, her thoughts too tangled, to say anything that wouldn't break him further. She'd simply nodded, watching as he disappeared into the mist beyond the castle walls.

Now, hours later, she was still there, her fingers absently tracing the seams of the book in her lap.

Her hands trembled as she brushed them over the title, her mind replaying the revelations she couldn't escape.

The realization had clawed at her for days, sinking its teeth into every corner of her mind. Kaiden knew. He wouldn't have been able to handle it—he was already carrying so much, running himself ragged as he searched for answers.

Anne pressed her forehead against the cool surface of the book, closing her eyes. She couldn't stop the thoughts from spiraling, no matter how much she tried.

If she was the hero, then the story's end hinged on her.

Kaiden had sworn he'd find a solution, a way to break free of the book's grasp and finally put the story to rest. But with every passing day, her faith in that promise dimmed. He came back each time with new ideas, new plans. The plot continued, relentless and unyielding, like a tide they couldn't hold back.

Anne felt a sharp pang of guilt as she thought of him out there, fighting so hard for a future they might never have.

He won't find it, a small voice whispered in her mind. He can't.

Her heart clenched at the thought. She hated it, hated the hopelessness that crept in, but she couldn't deny it any longer. The story wasn't something Kaiden could fix. It wasn't something either of them could outmaneuver or outrun.

It needed an ending.

And she knew what that ending had to be.

Her fingers tightened around the book, her nails digging into its edges. She'd tried to ignore it, to push the thought aside each time it surfaced. But now, as she sat alone in the cavernous silence of the castle, it consumed her.

If she was the hero, then her death would finish the story.

Anne swallowed hard, her breath hitching as the weight of it pressed down on her. It made sense, in the cruel, unyielding way of stories like this. The hero's sacrifice. The ultimate resolution.

She thought of Kaiden, of his touch, his voice, the way he looked at her as if she were his entire world. The idea of leaving him, of breaking the fragile happiness they'd built together, was unbearable. But wasn't it worse to keep dragging him through this? To force him to fight a losing battle, over and over again?

Tears welled in her eyes, and she wiped them away hastily, her breath coming in shallow bursts. She didn't want to die. The thought terrified her, chilled her to her core. But she wanted Kaiden to live. To be free.

The sound of the wind howling through the stone corridors made her flinch, pulling her from her thoughts. She glanced toward the window, half expecting to see Kaiden's shadow in the doorway. But the room remained empty, the echoes of the wind her only company.