With the power of Light and Darkness, it's fully within Childermass's power to discern the nature of the Winter Queen's soul. There's everything you'd expect to be there - a flurry of everything Winter represents: ice, darkness, decay. Yet, that is only her magic, her potential. What ends up sticking out far more is not the type of power she has, but the way it's aligned. It isn't the Void, but it's something that beckons to it - it is the essence of self-destruction.

Her soul is tempestuous, in a way that won't make sense to Childermass's perception. Most souls would have their own combination of Light and Darkness, as all consciousnesses do, but this one seems fragmented. Like broken glass, with parts out of place, parts missing, and shards of Darkness and Light that don't seem to match together.

Rebellion and control. Change and tradition. Hatred and remorse.

It's like puzzle pieces that could never fit together in a way that would be whole.