Page 16

U pon entering the Fae High Court, I did not feel a sense of dread. Yes, there was pressure. It was as if the air itself knew I didn't fit in.

Every breath was a delicate pact as it clung to my flesh like frost-soaked silk. Encircling us, like the ribs of a massive beast, the crystal columns hummed with ancient enchantment. The Queen, shrouded in splendor, waited at its core.

Her glittering eyes, nevertheless, seemed to be ripping the flesh off my thoughts.

On one knee, Kainen bows. Her words came next.

Her voice, cold and ancient and disdainful, slithered through me like silk and ice. “So this is the mortal.” Her voice slithered inside me, silk and ice, ancient and unimpressed.

Like a gorgeous storm, she was terrifying, but more than that, she was stunning. But lethal. The Queen continues, her eyes narrowing on Kainen, “the one you almost went to war to defend.”

The tone of Kainen's speech was cautious and polite. “Our assumptions were wrong about her.”

Her response was a resounding zero. “No,” she says. “She’s worse. Or better. I haven’t decided.”

I stood with my hands clasped together in fists.

There was an abrupt hush as if the court were listening to my death as her gaze returns to mine.

I want to know, “When you look in the mirror, what do you see?”

Mirrors were now my Achilles' heel, but there was no way she could know about the mirror—or did she?

But somehow, the words came.

“I see someone who doesn’t know where she belongs.”

The truth of it cut deeper than her gaze. The reality was more painful than the pain in her eyes.

She grins. Skepticism, brutality, and coldness. “How very nice of you.”

The room was filled with a low murmur of amusement, scorn, and intrigue. It was unclear to me. The volume was higher than it ought to have been. My chest pounded with anguish.

Kainen steps forward and added, “She came from a mirror.” His voice was now closer. The presence of his weight next to me was palpable. “Not via a portal, a magic, or a summons. The old way.”

The Queen’s gaze flicks to him. “Impossible.”

“And yet here she is.”

“She may have slipped through a crack and is actually Therion's poison.”

Without warning, Malachi yelles out, “She could be the Phoenix.” His voice resounded like a roar as it reverberated through the spires.

No sound remained.

I fling my gaze in his direction, Kainen's direction. “What do you mean?”

Kainen's jaw clenches.

“You can sense it,” Malachi says from above. “Trust me, you do. She feels the grip of the flames.”

For some reason, I was perplexed and could only shake my head. “What on earth are you referring to?”

Gradually, the monarch stood up from her seat. Due to its lack of seams and weight, her gown shifted like smoke. No light, only the stars.

She walks gracefully down the stairs from her throne.

Suddenly, she was standing right in my face. “So delicate,” she says as she put her palm on my chest. “And yet...”

My pulse raced.

“Let me see what he sees,” she whispers. “Let me taste the flame.”

Subsequently, her hand forcefully strikes my chest.

A combination of cold and lightning struck the queen's hand. My whole life crumbles with just one touch but I remain upright. Then I fall.

A scream tears itself from my throat, but I don’t hear a sound as the room disappears, engulfed in darkness and smoke. I just felt it, resonating in the bones of a girl who had forgotten her own name.

After that—the color of fire. Everywhere I looked. Deep inside me.

Before my gaze, a structure made of obsidian burst open, its pinnacle obscured by whirling storm clouds. I find myself in the midst of a long-forgotten battleground, where bodies had crumbled to dust and swords had dissolved into the earth. A golden and fiery sky bleeds. Massive, celestial wings spread out from an unseen person above it all.

It originated in the flames. “Saorith,” a voice whispers coming from the flames.

Not a name.

A title.

“Bringer of balance. Daughter of the twin flame.”

Another vision crashes into me with no warning.

A lady with my features, shrouded in darkness, her bare hands stained with blood over a man whose eyes were silvery... Kainen?

No. It can’t be. this man is older. His expression is chilled. This is someone crueler.

But she loved him. Or had once.

In a voice I recognize but can’t decipher, he mutters, “You were never meant to stay.”

Her eyes burn gold as she replies, “No. I was meant to return.”

Then it was gone.

As if struck by a tidal wave, the court suddenly reappears, and I gasp in shock. The impact of light, sound, and air is simultaneous. My chest tightens. My legs give way.

Just as I'm about to fall to the floor, Kainen swoops in. Against my flesh, his hands are like fire: solid, rooted, and genuine. As the world around me swirls, I instinctively grasp his tunic, tying myself to him.

“Selene,” he whispers, his voice rough and low, as if he's been attempting to save me from the brink.

With a rapid rise and fall of my chest, I gaze up at him. “She showed me...” My jaw clenches. “Kainen, I saw someone, but I can't remember who it was. Yet flames erupted—in every single place.”

With a voice that is both soothing and commanding, the Queen averts her gaze as we stand on shaky ground. “The flame in her remembers. But she does not.”

Wailing, “I don't want this,” my words are unpolished and full of pain.

“Wanting doesn’t change what you are,” Malachi says quietly from above, or is it in my head?

With my breath coming out in gasps, I face him. “Who am I?”

With an authoritative tone that echoes from up high, the Queen speaks without turning around.

“Bound,” she says. “To a war older than your soul.”

As if she were a deity evaluating her shattered creatures, the moonlight reflects off the Queen's lofty throne.

She looks directly at Kainen and adds, “You want our allegiance. However, you do not come armed. Prophecy and shadows are seen only by a girl who bleeds them, a remorseful dragon restrained, and a sorcerer whose vengeance for a lost kingdom lingers in his blood.”

Kainen clenches his teeth. “Truth is what we bring.”

“Truth doesn’t win wars. Soldiers do.”

Striking a balance between wrath and control, he steps forward. “We must not stand alone; otherwise, Nythia will collapse. The Nightfallen will not be stopped, and we cannot trust the people of Elariya if they cross the River. This is something you are aware of. Therion will let us burn. I meant no harm to Tristan, but he had to be punished for taking matters into his own hands.”

“And you expect me to send my kin into that fire for what? Trust? After what happened on your training grounds?”

Kainen responds, “No,” in a low, unmoving voice. “Hope.”

The term “raw” lingers in the atmosphere. Honest. Unmasked.

Suddenly, her attention turns to me. Her voice dips, enveloping my spine like a cloud of smoke.

“Then what about her? The flaming girl? Is she worth dying for?”

Silence envelops Kainen. His quietude, however, speaks volumes.

I mumble, “Yes,” just before he speaks. “Not because he instructed me to, however. The reason being, I choose to fight in any way I can.”

The monarch gives a single blink. “Selene, you amaze me.”

“I am not a weapon,” I declare while raising my chin. I am not a pawn, either. The idea of being claimed or dominated is not why I'm offering. This is my last resort; I've exhausted all other options. Standing alongside him gives me the power to choose my own destiny, so that's where I stand.

At that moment, Kainen gives me a serious look, and a glint of belief appears in his eyes, like he sees me.

A slow, deliberate exhalation is emitted by the queen. “Thoughtfully,” she remarks. “Three hundred Fae will be sent to the frontier of Nythia. Our troops will be at your disposal for one lunar cycle. After then, however, your flame is required to respond.”

It hurts my heart. “Just how?”

My heart stumbles. “Answer how?”

She smiles, and it’s nothing warm. Just promise and peril.

“With truth.”

We exit the Fae court beneath a sky muted by smoke and ash. The moment we step beyond the threshold, a ring of warriors waits. Their armor glints like obsidian under the dull light, their expressions unreadable. But their eyes?

Their eyes scream judgment.

They don’t need to speak. I already know what they’re thinking: that I’m the reason one of their own bled at Kainen’s feet, that I’m dangerous, or worse—worthless.

Some sneer. Others let their eyes crawl over my body, slow and calculated, like I’m a piece of meat served at a king’s table. I wish I were in my leather gear. I wish I didn’t feel so... exposed. But it’s not just the dress. It’s me.

I don’t belong here, and they all know it.

Every step I take feels heavier, my legs leaden with shame I didn’t earn but carry anyway. Maybe because part of me believes them. Part of me wonders if they’re right. I’ve brought nothing but chaos to this world. And yet…

“Keep looking at her like that,” Kainen growls, his voice like steel laced with wildfire, “and I’ll show you what it feels like to meet a blade and beg for mercy.”

The air shifts.

Something primal ripples through the soldiers, like wolves recognizing a stronger alpha. Their eyes drop. A few clench their jaws but remain silent.

It shouldn’t make me feel safer.

But it does.

And that terrifies me.

I glance at Kainen from the corner of my eye. The tension in his jaw, the casual way he carries his authority like a weapon. There’s no apology in him. No softness. Just lethal grace and untouchable power.

He’s a walking warning sign—a man forged by war and fire, a prince only in title; everything else about him is beast.

So why do I feel safer near the monster than anywhere else?

My gaze drops to the path beneath us as we walk down stone-cut steps that wind through the cliffs like veins. The air smells of salt and something old—older than any ocean should. The silence between us stretches, coiling tighter with every footfall.

“Why did we come by boat?” I ask, my voice quieter than I mean it to be, like I’m afraid to break the spell.

He doesn’t look at me when he answers, but his voice is laced with purpose. “Given the circumstances, I didn’t want them to think I was coming to declare war. Flying in on a fire-breathing dragon might’ve sent the wrong message.”

A ghost of a smile threatens my lips, but it dies before it can surface. He’s right: a dragon would’ve been a declaration—loud, impossible to ignore.

Instead, we slipped in quietly. Like shadows.

Like secrets.

Here, the stars seem different.

Sharper. Colder. Hung lower in the sky, like they might fall at any moment and shatter the realm beneath them.

I look back at the Fae Court, the echo of the Queen’s voice still humming in my bones. “You surprise me, Selene.” She hadn’t said it kindly.

And yet—I surprised myself.

I stood before a court of monsters and monarchs and declared the person I would become. That I would not belong to anyone—not to Kainen, not to a prophecy, not even to the flame that coils in my blood.

Now, the silence presses in, heavy and watchful, and I wonder if I truly believed my own words… or if I just needed to hear them spoken aloud.

A flicker of motion catches the corner of my eye. I tense—until I see that it’s him.

Kainen.

He stands in the doorway, part shadow, part moonlight, watching me.

“Did you come to scold me?” I ask softly, turning my eyes back to the stars. “To tell me I overstepped? That I risked too much?”

“Not at all,” he says. His voice is low. Careful. “You were right to speak.”

That surprises me more than anything else tonight.

I glance over at him. His face is unreadable, but he isn’t scowling. He isn’t mocking me. He just... watches.

Like he’s seeing me for the first time.

“You didn’t step in,” I whisper. “Back in the court. When she pressed me.”

“I didn’t need to,” he says simply. “You didn’t need me.”

The words hit deeper than I expect. They aren’t cold. Just true.

“I was scared,” I admit. “I still am.”

Kainen steps onto the balcony and leans against the stone railing a few feet from me. Close—but not too close.

“We all are,” he says. “The ones worth anything, anyway.”

I look at him then—really look.

His jaw is tight, his light gray eyes soft at the edges but sharp at the center. Not black like they sometimes are. There’s something weary in his shoulders, like he’s been holding up too many walls for too long.

“Why did you bring me here, Kainen?” I ask. “Truly?”

He doesn’t answer right away. Just stares at the stars like he’s counting the pieces of a life he doesn’t recognize anymore.

“I don’t know what it means to trust someone,” he says at last. “But I think I’m learning. With you. As for the queen, she doesn’t take sides. She bets on the strongest player.”

My breath catches. Not because it’s romantic—it’s not. But because it’s real . And real is rare here.

He turns to go, then pauses at the threshold.

“I’ll have a guard at your door tonight,” he says, still facing away. “No one will come near you.”

Heart pounding against the quiet, I stay where I am, staring at the sky, wondering if he even realizes he just offered me more than protection.

Then, I gaze ahead, pretending I don’t feel his presence like a storm crawling across my skin, pretending I didn’t taste his kiss just days ago, pretending I don’t replay it every time I close my eyes.

He’s wrong for me in every way.

But I’m already too far gone. Because what scares me more than being hated in this world… is being wanted by him.

As we approach the cliffside where Malachi is waiting, the sky begins to fade into dusk. With his red scales reflecting the waning light and his eyes twinkling like flames in the darkness, he appears befitting of an old ruler.

With a low, dangerously quiet voice, Kainen murmurs, “Up,” as he approaches from behind me.

Looking up at the dragon, I quickly return my gaze to him. “I usually ride behind you.”

He is already mounting behind me as I manage to recover my equilibrium. His buttocks cross over mine. His chiseled chest caresses my back, a formidable barrier of heat, muscle, and sinister coils of want.

I hesitate.

Just long enough for him to close the space between us. His grip on my waist is strong and unyielding, and he effortlessly raises me up, as if I were nothing. As he places me on the saddle—facing him—my breath catches.

As Malachi sways under us, my natural inclination is to grab the reins, but Kainen's hand lands on top of mine before I can react.

“Take the lead.”

I bite my tongue tightly, attempting to divert my attention from the way his body presses against mine as if he were designed to hold me. His mouth is close—so close the stubble on his jaw grazes the shell of my ear. The sound of his voice slides down my spine like a blade dipped in honey. I swallow hard, trying to focus on anything but the way his body fits against mine as if he was made to hold me there.

The wind whips around us like a scream as we soar into the sky, but he is the only thing I can feel.

Every breath.

He is exceedingly precise with every touch of the reins. As Malachi flaps his wings, his legs clench against me. As the wind carries my dress higher and higher, he reaches out and steadies me with his burning, cursed hand that slips down my thigh.

“You're trembling,” he says softly.

“I’m not used to being this… close,” I say before I can stop myself.

He doesn’t laugh. He doesn’t pull away.

Instead, he leans closer.

His breath fans the side of my throat, and when he speaks, his voice is a velvet threat.

“You kissed me back.”

I freeze.

“I felt it. Don’t pretend you didn’t.”

My cheeks burn, but it’s not just embarrassment. It’s frustration. It’s hunger. It’s everything I’ve been pretending not to feel since the moment he touched me. Since he called me his when the world wanted me dead.

“You kissed me first,” I whisper.

“And you haven’t stopped thinking about it.”

His hand tightens on my thigh, not enough to hurt—just enough to remind me who holds the power between us. My heart stutters. I hate him for being right. For knowing the things I can’t admit to myself in the quiet hours of the night.

“You want to hate me,” he says, his voice like smoke and steel, “but your body betrays you.”

“I don’t trust you,” I snap, finally turning to meet his gaze.

“I don’t need your trust,” he says, and something in his eyes flickers—dark, aching, furious. “Just your obedience.”

“I’m not one of your soldiers.”

“No,” he says, leaning closer, lips brushing my ear. “You’re worse. You make me weak.”

The truth cracks between us like thunder.

He could push me away. Could warn me again that this is dangerous. That we are dangerous.

But he doesn’t.

He just holds me tighter as Malachi descends, and for the rest of the ride, neither of us says a word. But the air is thick with everything we didn’t say—everything we might still do.

And gods help me… I don’t want it to stop.

As we descend into the courtyard, Malachi’s wings beat once—powerful and deliberate—stirring embers and ash into the air like a storm rising from the earth itself. The ground below is charred and broken, yet it’s not the dragon that tightens the air between us.

It’s him.

Kainen’s grip around my waist becomes steel. Not out of caution, but possession. A silent claim.

We touch down with a heavy thud, and yet… he doesn't release me.

Still behind me, still holding me.

His breath ghosts along my neck, molten against the coldness of morning. I feel him lean closer, and suddenly, there’s nothing but fire and skin and the impossible ache between us.

“I should let you go,” he murmurs, his voice raw like it’s been clawed from somewhere deep. “Perhaps it would break whatever this is...”

But he doesn't.

Instead, his hands linger too long on my hips as he slides off first, then turns to lower me. His palms brand my waist, and though my boots hit stone, my knees nearly give. Not from the flight—but from him. From whatever thread we keep weaving tighter every time our bodies share breath.

His eyes burn into me—storm-gray, hungry, controlled only by the thinnest thread of restraint.

“I can’t stand the thought of you in another’s arms,” he says, his voice velvet and steel. “Not warriors, not Fae... not even your kind.”

“I—”

“It doesn't matter if you hate me.” His thumb traces the corner of my lips with unbearable softness. “It doesn't matter if you run. Because if you do... I will find you.”

And just as his mouth brushes mine?—

“Your Highness,” a nasal voice slices through the haze, shattering the moment like glass.

We both stiffen.

At the edge of the courtyard, a guard bows low. But his posture is tight—tense. Afraid.

Kainen doesn't move.

“What?” he growls.

“The northern wall,” the guard says. “It’s been breached. One of the Watchers reported... the forest moved.”

The forest.

A place of living shadows, of magic gone wrong—ancient and vengeful. I’ve only heard whispers. I never thought it could shift.

Kainen’s jaw flexes. Fury simmers beneath his skin like magma beneath stone. His whole being vibrates with it.

He takes a step back from me, and the cold rushes in like a severed spell.

“Go to your room,” he says, his voice hard as iron.

“Where are you going?” The words leave my throat softer than I intended but pant grips in its clutch.

His gaze pierces me. “To kill whatever dares enter my kingdom.”

His eyes linger on my lips, my throat—like he’s memorizing what he hasn’t yet claimed.

And then—he’s gone.

Ash swirls in the silence he leaves behind, the wind biting at my exposed skin. I’m alone.

But for one second, I wasn’t his prisoner.

I wasn’t the spy. I wasn’t the threat.

No—I was something else entirely.

Desired. Marked. Feared.

And gods help me...

One day, I might become all three.