Fire burned in Cage's cupped hand. He watched it intently, sweat dripping down his forehead. It took all the concentration he was capable of, but after more than a full week of constant effort, he could finally call it at will.

At first, he burned on the inside, worse with every attempt. The magic didn't want to give him this. Only after he realized that he didn't want it either did he manage to push through the mental wall and allow the flames to flicker.

Despite everything, he didn't want to hurt Kat. Didn't want to step on Jinx's toes. Didn't want things to change. Oftentimes, as he tried to hone his magic, he found himself longing from the time his bones would break and he would turn into a murderous beast.

Surprisingly enough, he didn't ever want to return to a time before the curse, even if he'd been carefree then, enjoying his life and his status to the fullest. Adventures, affairs and great company all paled before the light that was Kat. And yet, his feelings for her remained muddled and broken, powerful enough to impair his use of magic.

The flame flickered one more time and died, taking every bit of energy he had left. With a heavy sigh, he let himself slouch in his seat and close his eyes.

The exhaustion settled over him like a heavy, wet blanket. Maybe now he'd actually be able to get some proper sleep. It was hard when visions of ice and fire haunted him whenever he closed his eyes. With every passing day in which he was forced to do nothing but plan, he resented Cecille more.

The air shifted, filled with an electrifying energy. His eyes still closed, Cage frowned. He knew what it meant. As if summoned by his disdain, the High Fairy had appeared.

"You look horrible," she said by way of greeting.

"Which is saying something." Even if he didn't want to, he opened his eyes.

Cecille was as stunning as ever with her dark hair flowing over her shoulder and her stormy-gray dress. There was a small crease between her eyes as she surveyed him.

"What have you been doing? Your magic is chaotic."

Cage raised his hand and forced the tiniest flame into it. "Your vision shows me fire and ice. It became fairly obvious that I needed to be the fire."

The High Fairy regarded him with what looked very much like suspicion. "You do know that those visions aren't always literal."

He didn't, but it didn't matter. "She's frozen our fields, summoned winter much sooner than natural. I need to combat it in some way."

"Yes, you need to defeat her, not melt her ice."

He disagreed. Melting her ice sounded like the best way to defeat her.

"I need my feelings back."

"Cage..." Cecille sighed as if she was the one exhausted from magic overuse. "You don't need your feelings back."

"Yes, I do. I feel hollow."

"So you'd rather feel crushed?"

"I can handle crushed." Hell, he'd been crushed before. Both physically and emotionally.

"Can you now? Have you ever been heartbroken before?"

He hadn't. It was his lack of heart that had caused Cecille to curse him in the first place.

"It's nothing like what you've suffered so far," the fairy continued. "Your body has suffered, I'll give you that. But you don't yet know the real meaning of pain."

"Oh, but I do." He stood and clasped his hands behind his back. "I lost my brother and blamed myself for it. I saw Kat slipping away from me and did nothing about it. I know all about failure and loss. I can still feel those things, you know."

Cecille faltered, probably trying to assess how much those feelings resembled a broken heart. By now, Cage knew it was no use. Fairies weren't human. They didn't process feelings the same way and couldn't relate to the experiences of mere men.

"I will not risk the outcome of this war in any way," she finally said.

"You're risking it by not lifting the spell."

"No. If I do, you could fall at her feet. You could put her above your dedication to your kingdom."

Cage scoffed. "That's not going to happen. You underestimate me."

"I'd rather underestimate you than be right." She floated closer, stopping next to the map placed on the table in the center of the tent. "This doesn't look good."

He joined her. "It doesn't. This is not playing out like anyone expected."

"She split her army. You could crush her."

It was hard for him not to huff in disdain. "I wasn't aware you were a tactical genius."

She threw him a glare before returning to the map. "It's common sense."

"It's much harder to move an army than smaller strike forces. We can't just chase her. We'd always be one step behind."

"So what are you doing instead?"

"Sending our own squads against hers." He moved a few of the violet markers on the map against the silver ones. They looked like carved obelisks, made out of the smoothest marble. "This doesn't ensure victory because, just like ours, her forces are diverse in size." Because she really was smart and put everything he'd ever taught her to good use.

"I hoped we'd have a clearer view by now," Cecille mumbled. She wiggled her fingers and the markers flew around the map, placing the violet one in direct opposition of the silver ones right on the border between the northern and southern lands.

Even if maybe unintentional, the prospect gave Cage the creeps. It looked too much like what Kat was trying to achieve. Did Cecille know something? Were they about to lose? He didn't dare ask.

"Those actually had a purpose where they were," he pointed out instead.

"You can see what she's doing."

"Of course I can."

"Then why don't you counter it?"

"Because in case it's too obvious, we would leave a whole lot of land uncovered."

"So you'd rather chase her across the countryside."

Cage had no answer for that. He suspected Kat's plan and he was thwarting it. But he could also tell that, in case he was right, he could hit her where it hurt the most and paralyze any advance into their lands. If he was wrong... He'd leave her a way to skirt past him and rush to Valona.

"Weigh the risks, king," Cecille said. "I didn't choose you for your prudence."

No, she'd chosen him because he wasn't afraid to take chances. Which was why he hated being in that tent instead of out there, facing the enemy.

The High Fairy narrowed her eyes. "You see, this is what I fear. That you would rather play it safe because it's Kat. Your beloved. Your betrothed. If you're protecting her this much now, imagine what you would do if you could still feel your love for her."

"This has nothing to do with my feelings for her." At least that's what he told himself. It was more General Harkiss' fears, Edmunds inability to rise to the occasion if he had to.

"If I die, this is all over."

Cecille laughed. "I'd definitely hate it for you to die, but I think your head might have gotten a bit big. Why do you think you're that important?"

He truly wished he wasn't, but she'd made him that way. Over the past weeks, he no longer tried to fool himself that he didn't matter. The morale of the entire army would crash into the gutter if anything happened to him.

"So I take it that's a no on lifting that spell."

"I don't care how hollow you think you feel. It would be much worse if I lifted it. This way, you can focus on what must be done." She threw a fleeting glance towards his hands. "Even if that's cute, I'm not sure how helpful it will be."

"Let me worry about that. Any news from your end?"

Cecille frowned again, as if trying to decide whether to tell him or not. "This early winter is quite troubling. And yet, I could not pick up on Lucille's presence in Iride."

"You don't think Kat herself is doing this?"

"I'd be impressed with her powers if she could. Though I believe Lucille is already cheating by having her own blood be the champion." She shrugged. "We cannot change the facts. We must fight whichever way we can."

Cage agreed, so he was happy to see her go. He hadn't gotten anything from her visit, but not being tortured with magic was a good thing, so he'd take that. Once again alone, he lifted his palm again and forced fire into it.

It came easier this time. Because Cecille was right about one thing. He was still holding back out of fear of hurting Kat. Because even with that spell in place, he knew that his feelings for her existed. Unlike the High Fairy, he believed his love would help him, not impede him from doing what had to be done.

Because fairies seemed to have not only love wrong, but also loyalty. Keeping his feelings locked in only tipped the balance of his inherent sense of fairness in Kat's favor. It made him feel like he was being unfair towards her precisely because he couldn't feel his love for her anymore. Cecille had made his choice easy, and easy wasn't right.

He smothered the flame in his palm and headed out of the tent. Around him, soldiers were getting settled for the evening, sharing supplies and speaking in hushed voices, entering their own tents.

Cage glanced southward, towards Darkwood. He couldn't see it. They were days away, stuck somewhere in the middle of the triangle between Valona, Darkwood and the nearest pass into Endir. A place which ensured the bulk of the army could ride out as necessary.

It didn't really matter if they didn't ride anywhere. He had to take a stand, and what he needed for that was for Jazz and Trix to return and let him know Kat's direction. They'd left a mere three days ago, so it would probably take them at least as much to return. In the meantime, he had the runners organized by General Harkiss.

The stillness of the camp had him both relieved and nervous. It was good that the troops seemed well, but it was much too silent for a war.

He wandered off towards the edge of camp. Two royal guards came out of the shadows and settled into pace behind him. He knew better than to dismiss them and they knew better than to approach too much.

Their footsteps faltered as he passed the last tents and continued his way south, into the woods. He knew this place fairly well. It was a detour he used to take when he traveled between Valona and Darkwood. At some point, he'd had a girl waiting for him in the village over the hill from the current location of their camp. For one fleeting second, he wondered what that girl was doing, if she'd married well and settled down. They hadn't evacuated that particular village yet. It was still too far from Kat's position.

Even if it was cold there, the snow hadn't covered the ground yet. There were only patches of ice from place to place, usually under the thicker trees. Cage raised his eyes to the sky. Clouds still rumbled above, and it felt unnatural not to see the sun for so many days.

Kat couldn't control the weather, just like he couldn't, but he had a bad feeling about those clouds. Even if it was late autumn, it was abnormal for them to linger so long. But no human could influence the heavens which were meant to be ruled by the gods. Cage didn't believe the gods were real, but that didn't mean he found the change less strange.

Tempering with the weather seemed something Lucille would do, but if she wasn't in Iride, that left more questions than it answered.

He stopped before an iced area. It stretched far into the woods, killing a vast array of autumn blooms. He couldn't see where it ended, but it was maybe better to test his new power on a large area to avoid setting fire to the entire forest. He crouched and hovered his palms above the ice. Even if he wasn't touching it, the cold broke through the air and pricked his skin.

Cage closed his eyes and focused, trying to bring fire to the tips of his fingers. The magic protested, wanting to burst out all at once. He didn't let it, guiding it where he wanted it to be. Not forcibly, but giving it a gentle nudge towards the ice.

For a few moments, nothing happened as the magic held a balance between its own will and his. He waited. Behind him, he could hear his guards shifting their weight from one foot to the other. Maybe they thought he was insane. Maybe they were already used to his weird habits by now.

He closed his eyes and waited. Heat flared in his palms, but he kept it from turning into open flame. With as much care as he could muster, he directed it towards the ice. Vapor rose into the air and the ground seemed to breathe, freed from the confines of the frost. He pushed further, directing the heat forward, on the path of the ice. It moved slowly at first, but then it burst into a flame that engulfed everything around it.

Cage closed his hands, extinguishing the flames. He fortunately kept the yelp in because his guards were already rushing towards him. But it wasn't like they had anything to do. The fire had gone out, but not before tearing through the frost. Once the ice had melted, it left behind a trail of autumn blooms in their wake.

"By the gods," one of the guards breathed. "Were those under there?"

Cage had no idea. He hadn't noticed the flowers either, but now they filled the forest floor. He crouched again and sank his hand in the dirt. It was moist and dark, like after a refreshing rain.

"It looks so natural. So... healthy," the other guard muttered and settled his eyes on Cage. "Your Majesty, how did you...?"

Cage had no idea how he'd done anything, but he whipped around and headed back for camp. The two guards trotted behind him, excited mutters joining their steps. He stopped at the edge of the sea of tents, near the closest patch of ice and placed his hands above it.

⚜⚜⚜

Not the best place to break, but the chapter is long and this is almost the halfway point, so yes. You get to wonder what he plans on doing until next week, lol.

He's trying, damn it! He wants actions. And the war is coming, whether he wants to or not. And Cecille is so useless. Alas...

Hope you're still enjoying the story and thanks for reading!