Chapter 118: Subtle signs of affection
"I don’t care about the food!" Shelia snapped, her patience wearing thin. "Can we just get her to wake up already? This whole thing is ridiculous. All this freezing, and for what?"
Before anyone could reply, Cyrus’s voice broke through the tension like a cold wind slicing through the air. "I’m done," he said, his tone finally a little less strained than before. He pulled his hands away from Isabella, a sigh escaping him. The air around him shimmered with a faint, icy glow that quickly dissipated, leaving the room colder than before.
"You’re done?" Kian asked, his voice skeptical but edged with urgency. "You’ve been doing this for hours. Is it really enough?"
Cyrus met his gaze with a calm that contrasted Kian’s concern. "I’ve regulated her spirit," he said, his voice calm, almost detached. "Her temperature is balanced now. She should wake up in a few minutes."
A long, heavy silence followed. Shelia watched anxiously as Kian’s eyes flickered to Isabella, waiting for any sign of movement. Nothing.
"But..." Cyrus hesitated for a moment, his gaze turning distant, as if lost in thought. "She will be very weak. The process isn’t perfect. She’ll need rest for days, possibly longer." His eyes darted to Kian. "You’ll have to make sure she doesn’t push herself too hard."
Ophelia looked from Cyrus to Isabella, her expression tight with worry. "Rest for days?" she whispered, her voice breaking slightly. "But we can’t just leave her like that. We need to help her now, while she’s still here."
"We will," Kian muttered, his fists clenching. "When she wakes, we’ll help her. But for now... we wait."
The tension in the room thickened. The only sound was the crackling of the fire, and even that felt too quiet against the backdrop of stillness. Everyone waited in limbo, eyes fixed on the still form of Isabella, who hadn’t moved even a muscle since the freezing began.