Nalin's POV
"No."
The word left my mouth before I could stop it. My first real refusal in twenty-three years.
Father's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"
"I said no." My voice was still flat, emotionless. But inside, that cold thing was growing, spreading through my chest like frost on glass. "I won't go."
Elara laughed—that beautiful, musical sound that made everyone love her. "Oh, Nalin. You don't get to say no. You're the emperor's daughter. You do what you're told."
"Why me?" I asked, looking at my father. "Why not Elara? Or Aldric? Why does it have to be the Hollow Princess?"
"Because you're worthless," Mother said quietly, finally turning from the window. Her face was cold, disgusted. "You have no magic, no emotions, no value to this empire. At least in death, you can finally be useful."
The words should have hurt. They probably would have hurt anyone else.
But I felt nothing.
Except that cold thing. It was getting bigger. Angrier.
"Commander Thorne will escort you at dawn," Father continued like I hadn't spoken. "You'll take minimal supplies. The journey takes three days. Try not to embarrass us on your way out."
"And if I run?" I asked.
Father's rage-magic flared, heating the room until sweat dripped down my back. "Then I will personally hunt you down and drag you to the Sanctum myself. And I will make sure your last moments are far more painful than they need to be."
He meant it. I could see it in his eyes.
"Take her back to her room," Father ordered the guards. "Lock the door. I don't want her wandering the halls tonight."
The guards grabbed my arms. As they pulled me toward the door, I looked back at my family one last time.
Father was already reading papers on his desk, dismissing me.
Mother had turned back to the window.
And Elara was smiling at me. A small, victorious smile that said: I win.
They locked me in my room like a prisoner.
I sat on my bed, staring at the door. Tomorrow. They were going to kill me tomorrow.
I should cry. I should scream. I should feel terror.
But I felt nothing.
Just that cold, cold anger growing in my chest.
A soft knock made me look up. Not the door—my window.
"Your Highness?" Seren's face appeared outside, pressed against the glass. "Let me in!"
I opened the window, and she climbed through, nearly falling. She was breathing hard, her face streaked with tears.
"I heard," she gasped. "The servants are all talking. They're sending you tomorrow. Oh gods, Nalin, we have to run. Right now. We can—"
"The door is locked," I said. "And there are guards outside. We're not running anywhere."
"Then we'll fight! We'll—" She stopped, looking at my face. "Why are you so calm?"
"Because panic won't help."
"Panic is normal!" she shouted. "You're about to die and you're just sitting there like it doesn't matter!"
"Does it matter?" I asked. "I've been dead my whole life, Seren. I've never felt anything, never mattered to anyone. Maybe this is just the universe finally making it official."
She slapped me.
The sound cracked through the room. My cheek stung—the first physical pain I'd acknowledged in weeks.
"Don't you dare," Seren said, tears streaming down her face. "Don't you dare give up. You matter to me. You've always mattered to me."
Something in my chest cracked. Just a little.
"I'm scared," I whispered. The first honest thing I'd said all day. "I don't feel it, but I know I should be. I'm going to die tomorrow, and I can't even be properly terrified like a normal person."
Seren hugged me tight. "Then I'll be scared for both of us."
We sat together on my bed, and she told me stories from when we were children. Good memories. Happy times. Things I should have felt joy about but couldn't.
Around midnight, she finally climbed back out the window, promising to come back before dawn.
But I knew she wouldn't. The guards would stop her.
I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for morning.
The cold thing in my chest wouldn't stop growing. It felt like something trapped, trying to break free. Trying to break me.
What was it?
Sleep finally came, filled with strange dreams. Ice and snow and a voice calling my name. A voice I'd never heard before but somehow recognized.
Come to me, it whispered. Come, and I'll show you what you really are.
They came for me at dawn.
Commander Thorne stood in my doorway, his face grim. He wouldn't meet my eyes.
"It's time, Your Highness."
I stood, wearing the simple travel dress they'd left for me. No jewels. No crown. Not even shoes meant for walking. They wanted me to suffer on the journey.
"Can I say goodbye to Seren?" I asked.
"No goodbyes," Thorne said. "Emperor's orders."
They walked me through the palace. It was early enough that most people were still sleeping. Good. I didn't want an audience for my execution march.
But as we passed through the main hall, I saw him.
Davren stood at the top of the stairs, watching me. His face was unreadable.
Our eyes met.
He didn't say anything. Didn't move to help. Just watched as the guards led me past.
"Goodbye, Nalin," he called out softly. "I'm sorry it had to be this way."
Sorry. He was sorry.
The cold thing in my chest exploded.
Ice shot from my hands—actual ice, sharp and deadly—and shattered every window in the hall. Glass rained down like frozen tears. The guards jumped back, shocked.
I stood there, staring at my hands. They were covered in frost patterns, spreading up my arms like living tattoos.
"What—" Thorne started.
But I couldn't answer. Because for the first time in my life, I felt it.
Magic.
My magic.
And it was cold. So, so cold.
"Impossible," someone whispered. "The Hollow Princess has magic?"
Footsteps pounded down the stairs. My father appeared, his face purple with rage.
"What is this?" he roared.
I looked at him, and the frost spread faster. The floor beneath my feet cracked with ice.
"I don't know," I said honestly. "But I think you should have killed me years ago. Because whatever I am, I'm awake now."
Father's rage-magic flared, trying to burn away my ice. But my cold was stronger. It swallowed his fire like it was nothing.
His eyes widened with something I'd never seen before.
Fear.
"Get her out of here," he ordered Thorne. "Now. Before she destroys the entire palace."
They grabbed me, chains this time. Heavy iron chains that burned against my frost-covered skin. But even the chains started freezing, ice crawling over the metal.
As they dragged me toward the doors, I looked back one last time.
Elara stood next to Davren, both of them staring at me with shock.
And I smiled. A real smile. My first one.
"See you in hell," I called to them sweetly.
The cold thing in my chest wasn't trying to break free anymore.
It was free.
And it was hungry.