Page 13 of A Fate in Flames

She smiled down at me, but the warmth didn’t reach her eyes.They remained distant, as if looking through me to some far away memory or fear.

Then, shaking off the thought, she stood, her movement abrupt enough to make me jerk back.

“Okay,” she said softly, smoothing her hands down her tunic.“I believe you.Just… promise me you won’t do that again.Either of you.”

We nodded as one, our heads bobbing like chastised children.“We promise.”

She held our gaze for a moment longer, then went to her bedroom, closing her door with a soft click.

Theo walked towards me and leaned in to whisper, “That was so weird, right?”

I didn’t answer.Instead, I pulled back my fist and punched him.Hard.

“Dumbass.”

Theo let out a muffled, “ow!”and clutched his jaw.“What did I do now?”

I just shook my head and walked away, leaving him standing there, his arms raised in confused surrender.

I gasped, shattering the silence as I jolted upright in bed.My lungs burned as though I had surfaced from drowning, my chest rising and falling in frantic bursts.The heat still lingered, blistering like flames beneath my skin.

Desperate to shake the sensation, I raked my fingers through my tangled hair, tugging hard at the strands, hoping the pain could ground me.But the memory remained seared into my mind, as vividly as if it had truly happened.

His eyes, dark and endless, had watched me.Cold amusement flickered behind them as the fire consumed me.

“When will this nightmare end?”I whispered into the quiet.

Too quiet.

Something was wrong.

The golden morning light shone through the sheer curtain, casting soft patterns against the floor, but there was no clatter from the kitchen, no warm smell of baking bread, no gentle hum of my mother’s morning routine.

A strange unease settled in my gut.

Where is she?

I threw off the covers and rushed towards her room.My heart hammered with each frantic step.

Hands trembling, I pushed the door open, bracing myself for the worst.

Please be okay.Please be okay.

She was sitting at the edge of her bed.Relief crashed over me, but the feeling vanished as quickly as it had come.Something was wrong.She was too still, her posture rigid.Her hands were limp in her lap and her eyes locked on the window, as if transfixed.

“Ummi?”

No response.

I stepped closer.“Ummi, are you okay?”

A knot of worry tightened in my chest.I lowered myself onto my knees before her, the hard floor biting into my skin.

I reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder.The moment my skin met hers, she startled like someone being pulled from a distant dream.Slowly, her gaze drifted to mine, unfocused at first, then sharpening with recognition.

My stomach plummeted.Her eyes—usually so warm—were swollen and red-rimmed, the delicate skin beneath bruised with exhaustion.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” I pleaded, taking her trembling hands into my own.“Should I get the healers?Are you feeling unwell?”