Patterns of frost, intricate and jagged, raced up her neck, appearing for a heartbeat before the fire burned them away. Then, the heat would surge, turning her blood to molten lead, only to be chased back by the creeping, silent ice.
Her hands lost their steadiness. Her legs, which had carried her through the courts of two kingdoms and the aftermath of an execution, simply ceased to function.
The others saw it before they understood it. They saw her face change, the light in her eyes flickering like a dying candle. They saw the strange, shimmering patterns of frost on her skin and the sudden, radiating heat that made the air around her shimmer.
Ellyn moved first, dropping his papers in a white cascade. Aldric and Ryse were only a fraction of a second after him, their instincts as protectors overriding their shock.
Eris's body made the decision her mind could not. The floor didn't just come up to meet her; it was as if the world tilted on its axis, sliding her toward the stone.
