Ellie’s POV

  “I really appreciate you so much for your purple smoke.”

  “What?” Claudius’ jaw dropped.

  “Thanks for letting me out. I became rather careless, forgetting I’m banned from my own kingdom, so the moment I crossed the Glacia Gates, I tucked myself deep in the back of my mind. You were right all along, Dorsey!” I laughed, savoring the way her face froze, fear tightening every perfect line. “The Arie you knew was never real. She was the facade, the obedient doll I crafted. I enchanted myself to appear decent, charming, worthy. I won the hearts of men, and murdered those who ever dared to threaten my path to become Glacia’s greatest queen.”

  “This is all too accurate from my presumptions… You damned witch!” Her voice trembled, rage bleeding through restraint. “Why my parents of all people?”

  “Because your mother was a Poet Seer. And your father would have stopped me, said I was too young, too dangerous for the throne.” I smiled, the kind that cuts instead of comforts. “And don’t forget, I killed my father too.”

  “Why? Just why?” She took a step closer, her breath uneven. “Why would you kill them? There are plenty of ways to use your cursed magic.”

  I gripped the armchair until my fingers sank into the fabric. “Oh, Dorsey, you speak like someone who wouldn’t do the same if you possessed Dreamer’s Magic. You, so precise, so perfect. You’d kill any threat before it had the chance to grow teeth.”

  I leaned forward, locking my gaze with hers, a quiet madness flickering between us. “Let me share this with you,” I whispered. “I want to kill more and more and more. As long as my emotions run high, I won’t stop until I’m satisfied. Do you get it, my dear cousin?”

  “Control yourself, Arie! I refuse to believe this!” Claudius seized my hand, his touch burning. The purple haze dissipated, his spell fading like smoke in the wind.

  The room spun. My thoughts splintered. What am I doing? I have to apologize to them.

  I shook my head, desperate. “No, no, no—you can’t do this to me!”

  “Dorsey,” Claudius said, his voice trembling with logic. “It seems Arie has been… bewitched. It’s a split soul curse. She isn’t whole. She’s not entirely accountable for her actions. We need a curse cleanser—now.”

  I’m so confused. I can’t even move my own body.

  “I don’t need one!” I screamed.

  “No,” Dorsey’s tone was a blade wrapped in frost. “She bewitched herself. It doesn’t change the truth. She caused Felipe’s invasion. She ruined our royal family, our perfect kingdom, and my status.”

  I’ve never been this cruel.

  “That’s right,” I murmured, almost tender. “I simply envied you, Dorsey.”

  “I saw it,” Claudius insisted, waving his hands like reason itself could bend the world. “She’s not whole, there’s another voice inside her, the original one. The harm she caused as a child, it wasn’t Arie, it was the curse.”

  "You're lying, Claudius," Dorsey stated. "You told me you're going to save her. I'm not going to fall for your trap."

  What have I done? Was that the reason she became cold to me?

  "I was merely testing my dominance, and I’m ashamed that you still haven’t moved on from that injury. HAHAHA!"

  Dorsey lifted her lilac bangs, the stitches catching the light like silver threads against pale flesh. "Funny. This is what she has done to me."

  Claudius’ eyes widened. "I've never known about this. You should have told me, then I could have formed a better hypothesis."

  "You're so blunt as ever," she said, almost fondly, though her tone trembled with old resentment.

  "Princess, you've told me to never let anyone know about that. Does that mean I've failed my task to protect your secret?" her guard asked, his voice finally shattering the silence he had been standing in like a statue.

  "No, Tedris. I'm simply highlighting to Claudius how badly this witch has damaged my temperance."

  "Keep me in control forever," I whispered. The words sealed themselves in the air, cold and unrelenting. The spell took root in my veins, and the other self, the fragile one, fell silent.

  Finally. The spell had taken full hold. I could feel it thrumming beneath my skin, an intoxicating surge of strength that felt almost divine.

  "HAHAHAHAHA!" The laugh tore from my throat, sharp and high-pitched, echoing off the marble walls like a curse unbound.

  Dorsey’s hand cracked across my cheek, her palm icy, her fury colder still. My head tilted, gaze lowered, but a smirk bloomed on my lips—thin, deliberate.

  Her guard’s brow furrowed. "Beware of her, Princess."

  "You must suffer first before we exterminate you," Dorsey hissed. "I must know your methods and plans."

  "Remove the metal binds," I whispered, soft yet commanding.

  The chains disintegrated at once. I rose from the chair—unfettered, unbroken—and faced my trembling cousin.

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  "I don't need magic to hurt you," I murmured, raising a hand. From my palm, a small black cube shimmered into existence—beautiful, deadly—and darted forward.

  A sharp cry tore from Dorsey as it pierced her abdomen. The cube reappeared in my grasp, slick and glistening crimson. Her eyes went wide, pupils blown, body collapsing into a trembling heap. Blood spilled from her, slow and deliberate, painting the floor a rose-tinted sheen. The air thickened with iron and regret.

  "Don’t let her escape!" Dorsey bellowed, her voice cracking under the weight of pain.

  The guard drew his ice staff, breath swirling frost through the air. He aimed and released, but I was faster. I slipped aside, and the blast struck Dorsey instead, freezing her mid-scream.

  Without hesitation, I seized the long table and swung. The wood collided with his skull, a dull, heavy crack splitting the silence. Papers fluttered into the air like dying birds, blood splattering across them in a grotesque rain. Bits of pink clung to the wall, an art of horror painted by my own hand.

  "WAH—" Claudius clamped his hand over his mouth, muffling a strangled scream. He stumbled backward, pale as frost.

  "Claudius, want to come with me?" I tilted my head toward Dorsey’s frozen form. "She’s stubborn, and you might find me far more interesting."

  No response. Only trembling. The sound of his heart filled the silence—frantic, uneven.

  "I can feel your heartbeat," I whispered. "Flickering like lantern light. Perhaps it’s forbidden delight, witnessing my true nature."

  "Who—who are you?" he stammered.

  "I'm Arie Glaciouso, the Ice Princess of Glacia. Do you resent me now?"

  "No... not at all—I'm fascinated by you," he replied, though his voice betrayed him, shaking on every syllable.

  "Oh, really? But I’m not so forgiving after you read my mind." My gaze slid to Dorsey, her jaw clenched, her blood crystallizing beneath her. "She’s losing blood. Heal her before she passes out, or test your courage on me, and meet a death as brutal as your guard’s."

  He hesitated, eyes darting between loyalty and fear.

  "Come on, Claudius, don’t be a coward." I leaned closer, my breath grazing his lips—and kissed him. It was brief, deliberate. The taste of fear lingered sweetly on his tongue. His cheeks flamed scarlet.

  I smiled. Winked. And left him standing there, frozen and terrified.

  ***

  I walked through the city at an unhurried pace, cloaked in one of Dorsey’s old garments. A dark gray blouse, black trousers, unassuming choices for someone like me. A black bandana concealed my face, dimming the afternoon light that dared to touch my skin.

  “Capture the whole continent and track the person’s name that I say.”

  The Sunstarian map in my hand trembled before shifting its markings, the parchment sighing as it revealed the vast imprint of our continent.

  “Skymint,” I whispered.

  An arrow flared to life, pointing toward the Finnian Kingdom—almost near. Poor boy. His invisibility won’t last long. He’s draining my strength, though I suppose I don’t mind wasting what’s mine on him.

  I wonder what Claudius would do now. Would he chase me, loyal as a hound to Dorsey? Or stay behind and heal her, gambling with her wrath?

  As I neared the Glacia Gates, I leaned against a crystal-made tree, its surface cold beneath my palm. Wolfmen soldiers stood nearby, their axes still slick with the scent of iron and death. The high walls stretched endlessly, crowned with barbed wire as sharp as the spikes along their armor.

  Even I can admit it, the sensation of dread sometimes finds me, too. Change of plans. I trust the bear-boy enough to find his footing. If he’s still on a ship, and not drifting face-down in the sea.

  “Transfer bear-boy’s invisibility spell to me,” I murmured.

  And then—nothing. I was gone.

  I waited by the gates as a group of Glacians approached, their pace painfully slow, the kind of unbothered that only the privileged could afford. When the gates finally groaned open, a blonde girl with a parasol stepped forward, handing a glowing slab to a dark-furred Wolfman twice her height.

  Her voice—light, steady. “Fidemi.” The guard bowed in response. So that’s the Light Princess of Finnian.

  I slipped behind them, unseen. The smooth ice beneath my boots betrayed no trace of my passage.

  The ship waiting beyond gleamed like ivory kissed by gold, though its body was built light enough to dance with the ocean waves. I crossed to the railing in silence, peering down at the waters below. The vessel cut through the sea faster than most I’d seen before, though bear-boy’s little craft was another thing entirely.

  When the Finnians disappeared into the cabin, I exhaled, a deep breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. All that lying had cost me more energy than I liked to admit. I’d been rehearsing it for hours while watching through her eyes, those innocent, foolish eyes.

  No one must learn that I have no idea who killed my uncle, General Dicester. That ignorance is a crack in my armor, and I cannot afford weakness. It still stings, knowing it wasn’t my hand that ended his life.

  So I won’t let them win this game. I will rise as the Apex Lyssoto, not that unseen coward who hides in the shadows of my story.

  No one must know I’m merely the curse—the darkness made flesh. I was the unconscious, and now she sleeps in the back of my mind.

  I am what remains: her conscious self.

  Chaos has always been my craft. My purpose, etched into existence long before I took my first breath. Five years ago, I surfaced, an echo of something darker, during what should’ve been an innocent evening game. Dorsey had invited me to play tag beneath the frost-lit moon, unaware that I was no longer the cousin she knew. What began as play turned… real. I wanted to split her open, see what thoughts made her flinch that way. She ran, barefoot in the snow, her fear painting the air sharper than winter’s bite. I chased her. I enjoyed it.

  There was no one to call for help. The palace gates were locked, the night watch forbidden to enter our quarters. She had insisted on playing, how unfortunate for her to become my first amusement. When I caught her, I carved a thin disc of ice across her forehead.

  Her scream shattered the stillness, summoning Caron Carleton, our loyal knight. Quick as instinct, I wove a spell—one that plucked the memory from her mind and rewrote the scene. To her, she had simply tripped, struck her head on a shard of ice jutting from the snow yard. A harmless accident.

  From then on, I learned to live between shadows. To test the boundaries of what I could do. The nights became my sanctuary, where no one could see the Ice Princess indulging in her guilty pleasures: pilfering treasures from the treasury, drinking with the soldiers, crafting forbidden sigils with the witches, stealing polar cubs for experiments that froze their little hearts still.

  It was delightful. For a while. Skadar joined me once, until he became predictable. I grew suspicious of his loyalty, so I erased him too, every memory of me, gone. I realized then that remorse was not a language I spoke. Every connection I made existed for my convenience, nothing more.

  I touched the sapphire pendant at my throat. It shimmered faintly, reflecting Skymint’s kindness—his naive sincerity. The only one who made me feel something that didn’t dissolve into boredom. Something close to attachment.

  By daylight, I spent hours toying with the Finnians—casting illusions, whispering through walls, making them believe a ghost haunted their ship. It was harmless mischief, but it amused me.

  The next morning, I woke sprawled across the floor, drained from the magic I’d burned through the night before. My newest spell hummed quietly beneath my skin, a masterpiece: I am forever in control. No more switches. No more innocence. Only me.

  Then the ache came. Faint, unfamiliar. Blue as the horizon. Was it boredom? Sorrow? Longing?

  Could I truly miss her—my other half? The quiet one who smiled, who hesitated, who felt?

  The thought unsettled me. Because for the first time, I realized that chaos alone… was not enough.

  I had never felt so incomplete.