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I spent so long terrified of flames and fallacies, but it transformed into something bigger in this moment—something deeper than any level of consciousness I could comprehend.

I am no longer afraid.

The only thing I am afraid of now, in this very moment, is the people I love dying. And not doing everything in my power to prevent it.

I tilt my head down, eyes connecting with Daeja despite the vast distance separating the two of us.

“Daeja, now!”

A thunderous roar rips out across the battlefield, and the night flares to life as a jet of fire bursts from Daeja’s jaws. She shakes her head back and forth vigorously as she releases a torrent of flame, igniting everything it touches, and digging a hard line of dragonfire between us and the rebels. It’s only mere seconds before the heat of the fire constricts the air around us.

I hold up a hand to temporarily block out the blinding light. When I dare a peek, a wall of flame separates us from the rebel silhouettes. The shadowy figures fade as the fire thickens and intensifies. My jaw slackens as I watch, my hand lowering from my face. Chants whisper in the back of my mind.

Fire incarnate.

Flame in flesh.

Blood of power.

The flames follow the direction of my hand—the more I lower it, the more it bows to my will. I reach out, inching forward until I'm a hair's breadth away. The wicked red-orange flames slither and slide, calling to some innate part of me.

I raise my hand up.

The flames stretch and lick into the night sky above us, stretching like claws. Nothing but flame and power. It’s terrifying, and in an odd way…beautiful.

The light in the shadows.

Cole tugs at my arm. “We have to go! Everyone across the river!”

The flames flare and spread, reminding me of the way water splits and rivers into pools, veins of power off the source, until a dam bursts.

I turn away from the fire, and together with Cole, I race for the river. Smoke fills my lungs and catapults me into a fit of coughs,and I stumble. My legs slow. My muscles scream, my head swimming and mouth drying. Cole helps steady me as I fumble through the river’s cold water foaming around my legs.

My vision sways, my mind dizzying at an alarming speed.

“Daeja? Where’s Marge?”

“She’s safe.”

I collapse into the river, but Cole catches me before I can dip completely underneath. An icy cold spreads over my body.

Something isn’t right.

Cole lifts me out of the water and into his arms, clearing the last few feet of the water’s edge. Once we get to the other side, my vision blacks out as another coughing attack steals my breath.

“Kat?” Cole lowers me to the ground, his face draining of color as he pulls his hand back from my side. It’s soaked in blood.

Myblood.

Whatever adrenaline was masking my pain vanishes in an instant, and a burst of agony ruptures in the side of my ribs.

Daeja’s roar rings out around me before everything settles into a deafening silence.

The last thing I see is the reflection of the flames in Cole’s eyes, and a star dusted sky over his head.

Such beautiful, beautiful stars.

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