Page 7 of Broken Fates (Severed Flames #3)

Chapter 7

Idris

T he moment Vale shoved herself to her feet, I knew I’d lost control of the situation.

Blood streaked her cheek, her hair a tangled mess, her clothes torn from the fight. The wound on her arm, the one Xavier had barely finished healing, still glowed faintly with the remnants of magic. Her breaths came sharp and ragged, but she didn't slow, didn't pause, except to let her fingers trail briefly down the mare’s flank—a silent reassurance, a tether.

Then she moved on.

As if she hadn’t nearly died minutes ago.

As if she wasn’t still shaking.

As if she wasn’t breaking before my eyes.

The temple loomed, cold and waiting. It felt different now. The crumbling stone had been standing for centuries, yet it felt alive, like it was holding its breath. Something about it reached for her, a pull in the air, an invisible thread winding between them. The moment Vale turned toward it, something shifted.

Magic, ancient and thick, curled through the ruins, responding to her—to us .

A shiver of power pulsed outward from the foundation, nearly imperceptible, like the temple had just recognized its queen.

She didn’t seem to notice. Or if she did, she didn’t care. She stumbled once, her body betraying her exhaustion, but she caught herself before I could reach for her. Then she kept moving—marching straight toward the entrance like a woman with a war to win.

I clenched my jaw, forcing my feet to move, but Kian caught my arm, yanking me to a stop.

“Give her a second,” he murmured. His grip was firm, a silent command, not a request.

I turned, staring him down. I wasn’t in the mood to be handled—not anymore. I’d let him hit me in the war room because I’d earned it. I wasn’t going to let him hold me back from her now.

Kian sighed, his amber eyes sharp with the roiling tension tightening his shoulders. “She just fought for her life. She’s pissed. Let her be pissed.”

I exhaled through my nose, ripping my arm from his grip. “She’s hurt.”

Xavier stood just behind Kian, his eyes locked on Vale’s retreating back. His fingers twitched at his sides like he wanted to reach for her, but he didn’t. Instead, he said, “At least she’s alive.”

I knew what they weren’t saying.

We’d all watched her die once.

Once was enough.

Still, I forced my magic down, forced myself to hold back as Vale reached the temple steps. She lifted a hand toward the crumbling stone, paused, then balled her fingers into a fist and let it fall back to her side.

And for the first time since we arrived, she hesitated.

I took a step forward, but before Kian or Xavier could follow, I turned to them.

“Stay here.”

Xavier’s brows slammed together. “What?”

I held his gaze, my voice low and firm. “We don’t know what else is in those woods. If anything comes for us, I need you two guarding the entrance.”

That wasn’t the only reason.

This confrontation had been coming since the moment Vale walked away from me. If they followed me inside, she wouldn’t lay into me like I knew she wanted to. And I needed to hear it. Even if it killed me.

Kian’s lips parted like he wanted to argue, but something in my expression must have stopped him. He exhaled sharply, his jaw tight. Xavier looked like he wanted to strangle me, but in the end, neither of them fought me on it.

Not out loud, at least.

With one last glance at them, I followed Vale.

Vale’s shoulders stiffened. She didn’t turn, but I knew she could feel me there. The mate bond pulsed between us, slow and aching. A silent war neither of us wanted to acknowledge.

Then, her voice—quiet, sharp, exhausted—cut through the thick air between us.

“What is this place to you?”

The words hit harder than they should have.

Not “What is this place?” Not “What is this temple?”

What is this place to you?

She was right to ask. I’d brought her here before in the Dreaming. This wasn’t just a ruin. It wasn’t just an abandoned temple buried in the snow. It meant something.

I just didn’t know what.

The memory flickered—dreams of stone halls swallowed by time, of whispers in the dark, of power humming beneath my skin. It was power, but not mine.

I exhaled slowly, my fingers curling into fists. The cold bit deep, but it wasn’t the cold making my chest tighten. “I don’t know.”

That was the truth, and from the sharp inhale Vale took, she didn’t like it.

Her head snapped toward me, her green eyes flashing in the low light. “Bullshit.”

I held her gaze. “Vale?—”

“No. No, you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to stand there and pretend this place isn’t familiar to you.” She took a step closer, her voice rising. “You brought me here, Idris. You showed me this place before I even knew it existed. Don’t tell me you don’t know what it is.”

The temple sighed around us—like it had been waiting for her to say it. The walls trembled, dust shifting from the carvings like an exhale. I barely resisted the urge to reach for her. To steady her. To steady myself . I’d brought her here before, but I hadn’t known why. And now we were standing in it—and I still didn’t know.

Her hands tightened into fists at her sides. “So either you were lying then, or you’re lying now.”

Gods.

I knew that look in her eyes—the exhaustion, the anger, the desperation. She wasn’t just demanding answers. She needed them. But I didn’t have any—not yet—and that was the problem.

Trying to calm myself, I took a slow breath. “If I knew, I would tell you.”

She didn’t believe me. I could see it in the tight set of her jaw, the way her shoulders bunched like she was bracing for a fight.

Her voice lowered, rough around the edges. “I don’t trust you.”

It shouldn’t have stung, but it did, anyway.

I forced my magic deeper, locking it down, trying to ignore the ache in my heart where the bond twisted tighter. “Then don’t.”

Something cracked in her expression. Not just anger. Not just hurt. Something worse. But before I could reach for it, she turned on her heel and stepped through the temple’s entrance.

And just like that, the air changed again.

The temple recognized her .

A low hum reverberated through the walls, ancient magic stirring awake. The air thickened, pressing against my skin like a second heartbeat. The shadows deepened, shifting in the dim light. A sharp gust of wind coiled through the temple, rattling the ancient carvings—like a door had just unlocked.

The faintest echo of something old rippled through the air—something I recognized.

I didn’t hesitate. I followed her inside.

Because whether she trusted me or not, I wasn’t letting her do this alone.

The moment I stepped past the threshold, I felt the magic. It wasn’t just humming beneath the stone—it was woven into it. Twisting through the walls, whipping through the air, pressing against my skin. It recognized me. It recognized her .

And it was watching.

Vale barely hesitated. Her boots scuffed against the dust-laden floor, her breath unfurling in ghostly tendrils. She didn’t flinch when the shadows shifted, when the air pulsed with something ancient.

She’d seen this place before. In her dreams. In the pieces of my soul that had leaked into the bond, showing her memories I hadn’t known I had.

And gods help me, I was terrified of what we’d find.

Vale’s touch ghosted over the nearest column, tracing the faint markings carved into the stone. Not words. Symbols.

She stilled.

I felt it the moment recognition passed across her expression. Her fingers clenched, her breath catching.

I stepped closer, my voice low. “Vale?”

She didn’t look at me. Didn’t stop tracing the symbol—a small, etched insignia near the base of the column. A runic carving etched deep into the stone, with jagged lines cutting through its center.

“I’ve seen this before,” she murmured.

The silence stretched between us, building into an almost tangible wall. Then she turned, eyes locking onto mine. “In the book.”

My stomach dropped.

The Luxa history book her parents had stolen decades ago. Of course it wasn’t just a book. It had never been just a book.

I moved forward, reaching for the carving, my fingers brushing the stone just beneath Vale’s. The moment my skin made contact, the magic in the room shifted.

A pulse. A flicker of power, old and hungry.

Vale jerked back. “What the fuck was that?”

I didn’t answer. Because I didn’t know. The weight of the temple pressed against my lungs. The walls were listening, waiting. It wanted something, and I didn’t like it one bit.

Vale exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand over her face. “She never made it here,” she muttered, her voice rough as if she were swallowing a sob. “Of course that dream meant nothing. Of course the answers are just out of reach. Of course this was just a waste of time.”

The exhaustion in her voice, the raw edge of frustration—it set something off inside me.

Because she wasn’t wrong.

She had clawed her way here. She had fought through hell to get to this place, and still, nothing was easy. And gods help me, but I wanted to make it easy for her.

Just once.

I took a step toward her, not thinking, not stopping myself.

“Vale—”

“Don’t.” The word cut between us like a blade.

Her gaze snapped up, green eyes burning, her chest heaving with barely leashed anger. Not at the temple. Not at the book.

At me.

I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.

“Vale,” I tried again, quieter this time.

She shook her head, shoving her fingers through her tangled hair. “I don’t want your pity, Idris.”

Pity?

A sharp, bitter laugh tore from my throat before I could stop it. “Pity?” Something raw cracked through my voice. “Is that what you think this is?”

She bared her teeth. “What else would it be?” Her breathing was sharp, ragged. “You didn’t want me to stay, but you chased me down, anyway. And now what? You want to fix me? Put me up on my pretty little throne and pretend I didn’t just die for you?”

My pulse hammered. “Vale?—”

“You abandoned me.”

The words landed like a blade, clean and deep. I sucked in a sharp breath, but there was no air to take. I exhaled sharply, shaking my head. “I didn’t?—”

“You did. ” Her voice cracked. “You shut me out, Idris. You shut me out when I was the one who died for you.”

I flinched. She saw it, and it only made her angrier.

“I gave everything for you.” Her voice shook. “And you let me walk away.”

I clenched my jaw, a sharp, aching heat blooming in my chest. “You left.”

She let out a sharp, humorless laugh. “Because you made it clear there was nothing left for me to stay for.”

I couldn’t stop myself. “I begged you, Vale. I begged you not to and you did it, anyway.”

Tears pooled in her eyes. “You think I don’t know what I’ve done?”

Her voice cracked. And that was what shattered me. Because I’d spent days pretending she hadn’t broken me, and here she was, splintering right in front of me.

“I killed him,” she whispered, voice shaking. “He begged me to save you—said there was no other way. So I killed him. I knew when I did it that I couldn’t handle that much power, but I loved you all so much that I had to save you—save them . I thought with that one act, I could fix everything, and instead, I broke it. I broke all of it. And I left because I thought—” She sucked in a sharp breath, shaking her head. “I thought if I could just fix one fucking thing?—”

She stopped like the words had gotten caught somewhere deep inside her. Like saying them would make them real.

I took another step toward her.

She squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t?—”

I didn’t stop myself this time. I reached for her, and again, she flinched. And gods help me, that hurt more than anything.

She forced herself to still, her throat working around a sharp inhale, but I’d already seen it. Already felt the hesitation crawl up my spine. She didn’t trust me to touch her. I swallowed against the raw, gnawing ache inside my chest.

“Do you think I don’t know what that felt like?” I asked, my voice lower, rougher. “Watching you die? Knowing you did it for me?”

Her breath hitched.

I stepped closer, my magic curling at my fingertips. “Do you think I don’t know what it’s like to hold you in my arms and feel you slip away?”

Vale trembled, but I didn’t stop—couldn’t stop.

“You think you failed?” My voice was a whisper, dark and razor-sharp. “You think you broke everything? Gods, Vale, I would have set the world on fire if it meant you never dying for me.”

She shuddered, her lips parting, but no sound came out. My magic crackled at my fingertips, fire licking beneath my skin. Not to hurt. Not to cage. Just to reach her.

“I shut you out because I thought I’d lost you,” I murmured. “I shut you out because when you died, I broke, too.”

Her fingers curled into fists as the temple hummed around us. The walls seemed to pull tighter, the magic shifting, waiting, watching.

Vale took a shaky step back, her shoulders rigid. “I don’t—I can’t?—”

I forced myself to let her go.

“Fine,” I murmured. “Then let’s find out what this place wants from us.”

She swallowed hard, nodding once.

I turned toward the wall, toward the carving.

The symbol seemed to pulse, and as she reached out, fingers grazing the stone once more, the temple responded.

A whisper of something ancient.

And then—the stone shifted.