A wave of cold suddenly envelops my arm. I blink open my eyes, unable to believe what I’m seeing. A smaze clings to my forearm like a sleeve, insulating me in a pocket of cold mist. Lixue’s fire hisses, rearing back at it. A triumphant cry erupts from me as the smaze binds itself to my burned skin.

I want to roar in Lixue’s face. I want to tear this whole place apart. My smaze. It’s here. It came for me.

Breathe deeply . . . remember the lion that you are.

I part my lips and draw a breath. I open my mouth, my lungs, my soul to it. The cold fills me, carrying with it a strange pain. It sinks in its teeth, spreading through my chest as flashes of memories gust through me like a hailstorm—some of them familiar, but not all of them mine.

My hand reaches for Lixue’s throat like it’s possessed. Her eyes go wide with panic as I choke her. She clutches my wrist, her long nails digging into the skin. I breathe, fighting to let go, as conflicting needs seem to wrestle for control of my body. I want to kill her. I want to end her life for what she’s doing to Kai. But I want . . . no, I need her alive if I’m going to find Fleur.

Lixue’s lips turn blue and lifeless. My own hand fights me as I forcefully shove her away from me.

I shake off the last tendrils of my smaze as Lixue collapses, and I’m relieved when the color starts to return to her cheeks.

Kai pushes herself up on all fours, a river of water erupting from her mouth. The flashlight drips as I swing the beam around the room.

My smaze is gone.

I sit back on my heels, my shirt drenched in melting frost and a dull ache throbbing inside me. I felt it the second the magic left my body, like a barbed hook had been yanked from my heart.

Water sprays from the broken pipe, and I stagger to the main shutoff valve in the bathroom to turn it off. A puddle sloshes under me as I sink to the floor, listening to Kai cough in the next room.

My smaze is here. It knows me. It came to me and protected me. But instead of working with me, it felt like we were fighting for control.

Kai sags against the doorframe to the bunk room. She holds out my holster and knives. “Was that your smaze?” she rasps.

I didn’t think she’d seen it. I’d assumed the water had blinded her. “I think so.”

“Why didn’t you take it?” she asks. “All you’ve talked about is finding your smaze. Why’d you let it go?”