An Understated Dominance Novel (Dahlia & Dustin) by Marina Vittori updated 2025-26 - An Understated Dominance Chapter 2640

Chapter 2640

The dark clouds still loomed over the Jingtao’s sails when shards of ice, carried by the waves, began striking the hull with a sharp, crunching sound.

Matthias leaned against the cold railing, the sea wind cutting like a blade against his skin. His eyes locked on the silhouette of an island emerging from the mist. A flicker of relief crossed his face.

After surviving the attacks of giant crabs and wandering endlessly through the fog belt, they had finally found Fairyharbor Island.

But as the ship drew closer, shock rippled through the crew.

The island bore no resemblance to the legends of “eternal spring, flowers blooming all year round.” Instead, an endless sheet of ice stretched across the land. The ground was buried in white frost, the air so bitterly cold it stabbed at the skin like knives.

Jagged black-blue ice ridges rose along the shoreline. Waves crashed against them and instantly froze into intricate ice blossoms, layer upon layer, forming an endless frozen plain.

“Your Highness… is this truly Fairyharbor Island?”

The old scholar at Matthias’s side shivered violently in his thin cotton coat, his teeth clattering. “This cold… it’s harsher than the dead of winter in the north!”

Matthias frowned. Frost was already forming on his dark battle robe. He pulled his cloak higher, covering half his face. “The chart is correct. This is the place. I just don’t know why it has become like this.”

His gaze swept over the soldiers behind him. Their armor was dusted with ice. Each exhale condensed into a cloud of white mist. Many rubbed their frozen hands together, desperate for warmth.

“Pass the order—find shelter, set up camp, and light fires!” Matthias’s voice cut through the icy wind, calm but commanding.

The soldiers obeyed at once, leaping from the boat into the knee-deep snow. Every step crunched sharply beneath their boots. The slick ice threatened to throw them off balance at any moment.

They carried tent frames and bundles of firewood to a depression near a towering ice cliff. At least there, the wind bit less fiercely.

Setting up camp was a battle of its own. The frozen ropes refused to knot. The men breathed on them to thaw the frost, only for the fibers to freeze again, leaving red welts on their hands.

Kyle stood apart, wrapped in a thick cloak, one hand resting on his sword as he directed the work. His back wound still hadn’t healed. Sweat dampened his forehead despite the cold, but he gritted his teeth and endured.

“Fire starter! Hurry!” a soldier shouted, clutching an armful of firewood.

But every spark the fire stick struck was snuffed out by the relentless wind.

Without a word, Matthias drew a fire crystal from his pocket. A flick of his fingers sent a thread of true energy into it. The crystal burst into orange-red flame, glowing like a shard of molten sun against the frozen wasteland.

He touched it to the firewood. Flames leapt and crackled, their warmth spreading slowly through the bitter cold. The soldiers crowded close, extending trembling hands toward the fire, their faces softening as life crept back into their limbs.

Then a startled cry shattered the quiet.

“Your Highness! Look—over there!”

Every head turned.

Across the frozen plain moved a figure as white as the snow itself.

It was a deer—a spirit deer—its fur like fresh-fallen snow, its antlers clear as sculpted ice. Each delicate hoofprint bloomed into a snowflake that vanished the instant it touched the ground.

Its eyes glowed like pale blue gems, shimmering softly in the frozen light. The creature moved with a grace so pure it seemed unearthly—an illusion born of frost and silence.

“Auspicious sign,” Matthias breathed, awe flaring into hunger in his eyes. He rose sharply, drawing the blade at his waist. “Catch it! If I present this spirit deer to my father, it will prove our triumph in finding the island!”

Excitement swept through the men. Weapons flashed as they closed in.

The deer paused, turning its crystalline gaze on them—calm, unafraid.

“Don’t harm it! Alive!” Matthias barked, surging forward.

Ice cracked beneath his boots as he drove his true energy outward, weaving a barrier meant to trap the deer.

But the spirit moved first. It lifted its head, and a breath of white mist poured from its mouth.

The mist surged like a living tide, sweeping toward them in an instant. The front ranks froze before they could scream—literally. Their bodies crystallized, faces locked in mid-motion, armor encased in frost so clear every strand of hair was visible beneath.

Matthias recoiled, but the edge of the mist brushed his arm.

Pain like a thousand needles sank into his flesh. The chill invaded his blood, numbing his limb to dead weight.

He stared, horror dawning as he looked at the soldiers—men who moments ago had charged boldly—now reduced to flawless ice sculptures.

“What… what kind of beast is this?” someone stammered, their sword slipping from numb fingers to clang against the frozen ground.

Panic rippled through the ranks. Men stumbled back, tripping over each other in their haste to escape.

Matthias stood rigid, his back slick with cold sweat. The triumph he’d imagined was gone—shattered by fear.

The spirit deer gave him one last look, a ghost of light glimmering in its eyes. Then it turned, stepping soundlessly into the endless white.

Snowflakes bloomed in its wake, marking its passing—until even those vanished, swallowed by the ice field’s desolate silence.