Seraphina POV:
I stood shivering in the lobby, water dripping from my gown onto the marble.
"You are a disgrace!" Father shouted, slapping me across the face. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.
Dante watched, cold as a glacier.
"She attacked the future Luna," Dante said. "That is treason."
"She's sick in the head," Mother added.
"I didn't touch her," I whispered.
"Enough lies!" Dante's voice boomed. The pressure dropped me to my knees.
"She needs to cool off," Dante said to a cowering administrator. "Open the morgue."
"No..." I gasped.
"Wolf shifters heal fast," Dante dismissed. "A night in the cold won't kill her. It will teach her submission."
He ignored the bandages on my back soaking with fresh blood.
Two enforcers dragged me to the basement. The air grew frigid.
They opened a walk-in freezer. "Sorry, kid," the guard muttered, throwing me inside.
I landed on the metal grate. The heavy door slammed. The lock clicked.
Darkness. Cold. Void.
I curled into a ball next to a body bag.
Flashback.
Four years ago. The blizzard.
Dante was blue with cold.
"Cold..." he mumbled.
I stripped, pressing my skin to his, sharing every ounce of heat.
"I've got you," I whispered. "I won't let you freeze."
End Flashback.
I laughed, a broken sound. I had warmed him when he was dying. Now, he froze me.
Something snapped in my chest. Not a bone. The last thread of hope.
"Goodbye, Dante," I whispered. I stopped feeling the cold. I stopped feeling anything.
