Chapter 74
Eden
My arms feel like overcooked spaghetti. The kind you overboil, forget in the pot, and then try to salvage by drowning in tomtato sauce.
That is my entire body right now.
My legs? Wobbly. My spine? Bent. My brain? Leaking out of my ears.
Cedar’s training is brutal.
It’s not even the magic that’s the problem–it’s the discipline. The repetition. The way he drills me again and again through spellwork, body control, breathwork, and mental projection until I’m dizzy and so sweaty that my red
braid sticks to the side of my neck like glue.
He doesn’t go easy on me.
He doesn’t even talk much. Just gestures. Frowns. Occasionally mutters some unimpressed fairy nonsense like,
“That was barely adequate,” when I manage to use my manipulation magic on a toad.
I flop down into the snow outside the Fagerlöf cottage. We ate lunch there earlier, and now, after the lunch training
session, steam is rising off my body in waves. The cold should bother me, but it doesn’t. Not after two straight
hours of Cedar telling me to visualize fire and become the flame.
Spoiler alert: I didn’t become the flame. Fire isn’t even magic that I think I can use. Cedar tells me fox–fire is a thing, but me? All I managed was to become a sweaty, swearing mess with burnt eyebrows.
He left me here without much comment. Just disappeared into the trees like a smug seagull with magic tattoos.
I wipe my face and groan.
“Well, someone looks like she got stomped by a kelpie,” Axel’s voice drifts over. He stands above me, shirtless in the snow, as if frostbite isn’t a thing that exists for werewolves.
Next to him, Elvira grins and wiggles her fingers. She’s wrapped in a fluffy white towel and nothing else. Her long legs are red from the cold, and she’s carrying a small bucket of birch branches.
“Ice bath time!” she chirps. “Come on, Alpha Fox. Time to cool off.”
I blink up at them. “You two are nuts. And since when are they getting along? Or wait, are they just pretending
since they are both fighting to be my best friend?
Axel tilts his head. His dark eyes sparkle with mischief. “You scared?”
“I-…no,” I sputter, sitting up. “I’m exhausted, not scared.”
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Chapter 74
“Sounds like the words of someone who is scared,” Elvira singsongs.
glare. “I’ve been drenched in water by Cedar’s magic. Ice baths don’t scare me after my session with him.”
“Perfect,” Axel grins. “Then your core temp is up. Ready for a plunge.”
1 I groan but let them drag me to the lake, where a little sauna has been fired up beside it. The Fagerlöfs built it years ago, and it’s still sturdy, filled with warmth and the spicy scent of cedarwood.
We head inside. Axel stays behind to chop more firewood. Something about needing his axe time. Elvira and I settle in on the top bench, towels wrapped around us, the heat baking the sweat from our skin.
For a while, we don’t talk.
Just breathe.
Steam curls in the air. The walls creak softly with the heat. It’s nice.
Peaceful.
Until Elvira sighs. Loudly.
“You ever notice how Cedar doesn’t blink?”
I still don’t trust her, so I just mutter, “Maybe he doesn’t need to. Magic eyelids, or something, you know.”
“Magic my ass,” she grumbles. “He looks at me like I’m an insect he forgot to squash.”
I peek at her. “You two still fighting?”
“We’re not fighting,” she says, tossing her damp blonde hair over one shoulder. “We’re aggressively not acknowledging each other’s presence in increasingly creative ways.”
“Like what?”
“Like me putting salt in his tea and him freezing my pillow.”
Tsnort. “Very mature.”
Elvira groans. “I didn’t ask for a high–fae for a mate. I wanted a rogue with bad tattoos and a leather jacket.”
“Instead, you got Mr. Merman, who hates mortals.”
She groans louder. “Do you think if I kissed him once, just to check chemistry, I’d get it out of my system?”
“Or you’d fall madly in love.”
“Goddess, I hope not.”
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We sweat in silence for a while longer.
Eventually, the door creaks open and Cedar–shirtless, of course–enters with a bucket of snow, which he tosses onto the stones. Steam erupts in a white cloud.
Elvira stiffens beside me. I don’t blame her. Her mate is a looker.
He nods to me, ignoring her completely. “You’re improving. Barely.”
“Thanks,” I mutter.
He leaves again.
Elvira exhales. “Why is he so hot and rude? That should be illegal.”
I just shake my head.
After one more round of sweat and internal screaming, we head out to the take. A hole has been carved in the ice,
and beside it stands Axel, now down to his swim trunks, his arms crossed over his chest.
Cedar sits on a bench nearby, his wet silver–blue hair tied back, his expression unreadable.
Axel grins at me. “Your turn.”
“I changed my mind,” I say.
“Nope. You said yes.”
“I didn’t realize how cold it would be.”
He walks toward me, smiling. Dangerously. “Are you refusing a dip, Alpha?”
“I am postponing it.”
“Too late.”
And then he grabs me. Lifts me like I weigh nothing and carries me toward the edge of the ice hole.
I shriek, thrashing. “You oversized frost giant, put me down!”
Elvira laughs hysterically. Cedar actually raises an eyebrow.
Axel smirks. “Say you yield.”
“Never!”
“Then in you go.”
He tosses me.
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I hit the water with a scream.
It is every bit as cold as I imagined.
Ice slices through me. My lungs contract. I burst from the surface gasping and flailing, only to hear Axel laughing his ass off from the dock.
“You jerk!”
“Now you’re properly cooled off,” he grins.
I scramble out, shivering but laughing, my heart pounding with adrenaline. Elvira jumps in next, yelping curses the whole time. Cedar, of course, steps in like he’s dipping into a heated spring. Unbothered.
For a moment, we are just people.
Not warriors.
Not mates.
Just friends.
A fox, two wolves, and one immortal headache.
And it’s enough for today. Tomorrow, however, I need to start plotting on how to save Azriel from Mara.
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