I stretched out a hesitant hand toward the flame. Not close enough to touch it—just… toward it. And the strangest thing happened.
The space between us shimmered faintly, as heat rising from stone. For a brief moment, the flame leaned toward me, reacting as if it sensed my call.
My breath caught, and the shimmer snapped back. The flame steadied.
I stared at my hand. I could use fire as a weapon, and I could move objects from a distance, but I’d never thought to control a flame that already existed with my telekinesis.
I slowly stood, every sense heightened. Something was humming inside me now—soft yet persistent. I pressed my palms against the cool stone wall, still trying to understand the flickering flame and the strange thrum beneath my skin. Fire was familiar—it was the bond, the Faction, the wild, fierce part of me that shared Oren’s flame.
But this… this wasn’tthat.
It wasn’t loud. It was quiet. Ancient. A thread pulling somewhere beneath the surface, like something was calling from deep inside my soul.
I closed my eyes and focused. It felt like all of Aurathia was holding its breath.
And then—faintly—I heard it.
Not quite a voice. More like a whisper pressed against my bones, a time I didn’t recognize but somehow felt part of, slipping through the edges of my mind like smoke through a keyhole.
A presence.
My heart stuttered. “Who’s there?”
The air shifted—warmer and more loaded. I sensed the presence more clearly. Not menacing, just watching. Familiar in a way that made my chest hurt.
I stumbled back toward the bed, pulse hammering. “Okay. Nope. This is… creepy as hell.”
But the whisper followed. Not so much a sound, but frominside. It brushed along my consciousness with the lightest touch, like fingers trailing ice along my spine. One word rose clear, carrying a weight that made gooseflesh race up my arms:
“Child.”
I froze.
The word wasn’t threatening or questioning; it was knowing—similar to a voice from a dream you recognize but can’t quite place when you wake up.
Images flickered in my mind: a line of women standing beneath starlight, their silhouettes wreathed in flames; ancient Fellat padding silently at their sides; a crown being passed from hand to hand, generation after generation.
And then, a voice—Clearer now, feminine, strong, threaded with that same authority I’d heard in my dream.
“You are not the first.”
My breath hitched. “Who… are you?” I whispered into the empty room.
Silence answered.
Then the presence dimmed, fading like mist in the morning sun. The humming inside me quieted but didn’t vanish. It settled somewhere beneath my ribs—waiting.
I pressed a hand to my chest, the echo of that single word still reverberating in my bones.
This wasn’t fire. This wasn’t an ability I’d gained through my Faction.
This was blood-deep. A door I hadn’t even known existed had opened, and on the other side were the voices of those who’d come before me.
Ancestors.
Queen Lilibet hadn’t just ruled. She’d carried the weight of a lineage. And now, somehow, thatlineagehad found me.
Chapter 12
