20. Violet
Chapter twenty
Violet
T he familiar chill of Jack’s realm wraps around me as we materialize in his throne room. My stomach lurches, but nothing like the soul-ripping agony of before.
Jack’s massive form still towers over me, but his touch remains gentle as he steadies me. “Are you alright?”
“Better than last time.” I glance around the crystalline chamber.
The massive throne dominates the circular chamber, carved from ancient ice and raised on a dais of crystalline steps. Towering columns stretch toward the vaulted ceiling, where delicate icicles hang like frozen chandeliers.
Frost patterns swirl across the polished floor in intricate spirals, and tall windows arch between the columns, their panes etched with magical designs that seem to shift in the ethereal light.
The whole room glows with a soft blue radiance that makes the ice walls shimmer like opals.
“Though I’d feel even better if we had a plan for dealing with your homicidal brother.”
His jaw tightens. “Gabriel will come for us here. He’ll feel us arrive.”
A blast of ice shatters the nearest window. I dive behind a pillar as shards spray across the floor.
“How touching.” Gabriel’s voice drips with disdain as he steps through the broken window. “The lord and his little whore, reunited at last.”
Jack moves to shield me, but something stops him. Ice creeps up his legs, holding him in place.
“Your magic is weak, brother.” Gabriel circles us slowly, his boots clicking against the frost-covered floor as he forces us away from the throne. The sound echoes off the cold walls, multiplying until it seems like we’re surrounded by phantom footsteps. “All those centuries maintaining the separation between realms, when you should have been embracing the connection.”
I dart between two columns, their translucent surfaces casting prismatic shadows across my skin. Jack moves in the opposite direction, drawing Gabriel’s attention away from me.
“Our father was a fool.” Gabriel’s voice softens, losing its sharp edge. “At first, I believed him when he said bonds to mortals would destroy us. But the more I studied the prophecies, the clearer it became—denying the connection is what truly weakens us. ”
He runs his fingers through his dark hair, looking between Jack and me. “Look what happened to Father. His refusal to accept your Mother’s love poisoned him from within. The ice took over until nothing remained but a frozen husk.”
“You’re wrong,” Jack says, but uncertainty creeps into his voice.
“Am I?” Gabriel’s gray eyes lock onto mine. “You feel it already, don’t you? The way your magic surges when she’s near? The prophecy never meant she would destroy you, brother. She makes you stronger. Just as your mother could have made Father stronger, if he hadn’t been too proud to let her in.”
My heart pounds as Gabriel’s words sink in. Could he be right? Has Jack been interpreting everything backwards this whole time?
“Father was a fool who feared what he didn’t understand. How do you think you were able to defeat him when you were just coming into your own magic?” Gabriel flings another ice blast.
Without thinking, I step in front of Jack. The ice hits my outstretched hand and... dissolves. Warmth floods through me, familiar yet foreign—like the heat of summer sunshine filtered through winter frost.
What the hell?
“Ah, there it is.” Gabriel’s smile turns cruel. “The truth reveals itself at last. Tell me, little nurse, haven’t you ever wondered why you’re so good at healing? Why your touch seems to bring life back to the dying?”
My hand tingles with residual energy. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ re a Soul Healer.” Jack’s voice is filled with wonder. “That’s why the ice responds to you. Why our connection felt so natural.”
“A what now?”
“A mortal born with the ability to heal magical beings and realms.” Jack breaks free of the ice at his feet. “They’re incredibly rare. The last one...”
“Was your mother.” Gabriel hurls another icy attack, but this time, Jack deflects it easily. “And look how well that turned out for her.”
The air crackles with power as Jack steps forward, his hand finding mine. Energy surges between us—not just his winter magic or my apparent healing ability, but something new. Something balanced.
“You’re wrong, Gabriel.” Ice spreads from Jack’s feet, but instead of the usual stark white, it shimmers with rainbow hues where it touches my shoes. “I watched her over the years. She made her choice and chose love.”
Gabriel’s face contorts with rage. “No. I won’t let you ruin everything I’ve worked for.”
He launches an attack against us, but the moment his ice magic connects with our joined hands, it transforms. The frozen spears turn to delicate frost flowers, their edges glowing with that same opalescent light I’d seen in the courtyard.
We’re not destroying his power , I realize. We’re transforming it.
I stumble back as Gabriel launches another attack, forcing Jack and me to break apart. Our joined hands slip away from each other as we dodge in opposite directions. Losing contact leaves me cold and hollow inside .
“You can’t dance forever!” Gabriel snarls, hurling a barrage of ice daggers at me.
I throw up my hands instinctively. A burst of golden light erupts from my palms, melting his projectiles into harmless droplets. Across the room, Jack deflects Gabriel’s frost with precise movements, his own ice magic crackling through the air.
“Jack!” I call out, watching him weave and pivot. His eyes meet mine and understanding passes between us. We start moving toward each other, dodging and countering Gabriel’s increasingly desperate attacks.
The moment our fingers touch again, that incredible sensation returns—like a perfect winter morning, crisp yet somehow warm.
Each blast Gabriel sends our way transforms into something beautiful rather than destructive. Ice daggers become delicate snowflakes. Deadly frost turns to intricate crystal patterns in the air.
“You only saw what you wanted to see.” Jack’s voice rumbles through me where our hands connect. “Just like you twisted everything else to serve your purposes.”
I squeeze Jack’s hand. He needs to know . “The prophecy wasn’t about destruction. It was about change—necessary change.”
“The old ways crumbling...” Jack’s eyes widen with understanding.
“Because they needed to.” The words flow through me with absolute certainty. “Winter isn’t meant to be isolated. It’s part of a cycle.”
Gabriel backs away, his face contorting. “No. I won’t let centuries of work be undone by some mortal. ”
He raises both hands, and the temperature plummets. Ice crawls up the walls, darker and sharper than anything I’ve seen in this realm. Jack steps closer to me, our joined magic creating a protective sphere around us.
“Your healing nature.” Jack’s voice is soft despite the chaos. “That’s what I felt from the beginning. What I fought against because I thought it would weaken my power.”
“When really, it completes it.”
The truth of it sings through our connected magic. This is what was always meant to be—not destruction, but balance. Not weakness, but strength shared.
Gabriel snarls and hurls himself forward, as ice shards attack us from all sides. A blade of black ice is forming in his hand like a jagged dagger pulled from the depths of winter itself. Our combined magic meets his attack, but he pushes through, aiming straight for my heart.
“Violet!” Jack’s voice cracks with desperation as he shoves me aside, his hands rough against my ribs.
The ice blade catches him in the shoulder instead of my chest, the sickening sound of it tearing through flesh and muscle making my stomach lurch. Dark blood wells up, staining his white shirt crimson. He stumbles backward, and our magical connection snaps like a thread pulled too tight.
Gabriel’s triumphant laugh echoes off the ice walls as Jack falls to one knee, his face twisted in pain.
Fuck. This is my fault. All my fucking fault.
“Still so predictable, brother. Always trying to protect others.” Gabriel twists the blade, and Jack groans. “Now watch as I finish what I started. ”
He turns toward me, another blade forming, but I don’t back away. The power still hums under my skin, different without Jack’s touch but no less real. I am a healer, not just of bodies, but of magic itself.
I lunge toward Jack, my fingers stretching desperately to reach him.
The moment my fingers brush Jack’s arm, power surges between us. His eyes meet mine, and understanding flows without words. The connection feels different now—not just winter’s chill, but something deeper, like roots stretching through frozen soil seeking life.
Trust me , I think, and somehow I know he hears it.
Jack’s hand closes over mine. The black ice in his shoulder begins to glow where my fingers touch it, transforming from Gabriel’s corrupt magic into something pure.
“Impossible.” Gabriel’s blade wavers. “You can’t—”
“Can’t what?” My free hand reaches toward him. “Can’t heal what you’ve broken? Can’t restore what you’ve twisted?”
The power flowing through me feels ancient and new all at once. Every injury I’ve ever treated, every life I’ve helped save, it wasn’t just medical training. It was preparation for this.
“Stay back.” Gabriel retreats a step, his confident mask cracking. “You don’t understand what you’re dealing with.”
“I understand perfectly.” The words rise from somewhere deep inside, where knowledge I didn’t know I had awakens. “You’re out of balance. Just like this realm. Just like the prophecy tried to warn about. ”
Jack rises beside me, his shoulder healed where my touch transformed Gabriel’s ice. Our joined magic creates a sphere of swirling frost and light around us. Where the energies meet, they don’t fight—they dance.
“The prophecy spoke of falls and loss.” Gabriel’s voice shakes. “Of destruction…”
“No.” The certainty rings through me. “It spoke of change. Of trust. Of healing what centuries of isolation damaged.”
My magic—my true healing nature—reaches for Gabriel. Not to harm, but to help. To restore what’s been corrupted by anger and jealousy.
Gabriel backs away, his gray eyes wide with something that looks almost like fear. “Don’t.”
“Let me help you.” I take a step forward, Jack’s strength flowing through our connection. “This isn’t what you really want.”
For just a moment, I see something flicker in Gabriel’s expression—a glimpse of ancient pain, of loneliness that mirrors what I sensed in Jack. Then his face hardens.
“You know nothing of what I want.”
He raises his hands, darkness gathering around them like storm clouds. The temperature plunges so low it burns.
The temperature drop makes my bones ache, but Jack’s warmth through our connection keeps me steady. Gabriel’s magic coalesces into a massive wave of darkness, like a tsunami made of shadow and ice.
This is it. His final play .
“You could have been part of this.” My voice carries despite the howling wind. “Could have helped us make it better.”
Gabriel’s response is a roar that shakes the crystalline walls. The wave of darkness crashes toward us, and for a moment, I can’t breathe through the sheer weight of his hatred.
Jack’s hand tightens on mine. Our magic surges, stronger together than apart. Where Gabriel’s power is jagged and cold, ours flows like a river in spring—powerful but life-giving.
Let me help , I push the thought through our connection. Jack’s energy meshes with mine, winter’s chill softened by healing warmth.
The wave hits our combined shield. His ice crystals form and shatter around us, but they can’t penetrate the swirling barrier of our joined magic. Gabriel’s attack splinters against it like waves on rocks.
“Now, Jack.”
He understands without further explanation. Our power flows outward, meeting Gabriel’s darkness, not with destruction but with transformation. Where our magic touches his, the corrupt ice begins to change—becoming clear, pure.
“No!” Gabriel tries to pull back, but it’s too late.
The transformation races up his arms, turning his dark ice to crystal. He struggles, but each movement only speeds the process. Within seconds, he’s encased in a pristine prison of his own magic, purified by our combined power.
“Is he...” I step closer, studying Gabriel’s frozen form. His eyes are open, aware .
“Contained.” Jack’s voice rumbles with both relief and sadness. “The crystal will hold him until we decide what to do.”
I press my hand to the surface of Gabriel’s prison. Even through the crystal, I can sense the turmoil in his magic, the centuries of pain and bitterness that twisted it into something dark.
“We can help him, eventually. When he’s ready.”
Jack’s arm slides around my waist, pulling me close. “You truly are a healer.”
“Yeah, well.” I lean into his embrace, exhausted but satisfied. “Someone has to keep you frosty boys in line.”
I glance around the throne room, taking in the aftermath of our battle. Jagged ice fragments cover the ground, catching the light like fallen stars. My body aches, but the warmth of Jack’s embrace soothes the worst of it.
Something green catches my eye above us—a sprig of mistletoe hanging from an ice archway. How did I never notice that before?
“Is that mistletoe in a winter palace?”
Jack follows my gaze, his lips curving into a rare smile.
“An ancient tradition. The Norse believed mistletoe was sacred to Frigg, goddess of love. When her son Baldr was killed by a mistletoe arrow, her tears turned the berries white. She decreed it would forever be a symbol of love, not death.”
“That’s... surprisingly sweet for a winter legend.”
“There’s more.” His fingers trace along my jaw. “Winter spirits once used mistletoe to bind promises. A kiss beneath it seals intentions more surely than any oath. ”
Heat floods my cheeks. “Are you saying mistletoe is like magical mistletoe?”
“All mistletoe has power. But here, in this realm...” His voice drops lower, making my body tremble. “Here it’s a bridge between warmth and cold, life and sleep, mortal and immortal.”
“So what happens if we...” I gesture vaguely upward.
Jack’s laugh rumbles through his chest. “Would you like to find out?”
Before I can answer, he cups my face in his hands. His touch is cool but not cold.
When his lips meet mine, magic sparks between us—not the raw power we wielded against Gabriel, but something softer, deeper. The mistletoe above us begins to glow with a gentle silver light.
This is what the prophecy means , I realize as Jack deepens the kiss. Not the end of winter, but the beginning of something new.
Jack pulls back just enough to rest his forehead against mine. “I can feel you,” he whispers. “Not just physically. I can feel your essence, your warmth.”
“Is that the mistletoe’s magic?”
“No.” His thumb traces my lower lip. “That’s all us. The mistletoe just... amplifies what’s already there.”