My hands tremble.
For one terrifying second, Idoknow. The shape of the spell. The direction the magic wants to flow. It would be so easy to stop fighting, to loosen my grip and let the pressure ease—to let it through.
The urge coils tight and sharp in my gut, not violent, not cruel. Just insistent. Promising relief. Promising answers. Promising that whatever has been missing from me my whole life is right there, waiting.
Can anyone else hear that?
Stay strong, Little Fire.
Raiden’s voice cuts through the pull, clear and steady in my mind. Another one of his tails curls around my waist, warm and solid, brushing between Kael’s body and mine like a living anchor.
You’re here. With us. Don’t listen to it.
Shadows tighten at my back. Nolan’s murmured words thread into the chant, subtly reshaping the rhythm around me instead of forcing me to bend to it.
I clamp down on the magic, teeth clenched, lungs burning.
The voice doesn’t vanish. It withdraws slowly, slipping back into the dark with a soft, almost disappointed sigh—as if this was only a pause, not a defeat.
Then the final words of the ritual are spoken. The bonfires dim. The wards settle. The Solstice Rites end. But the excess magic doesn’t leave me.
It crackles along my skin in restless sparks, a hum under my bones that refuses to fade. I keep my hands curled into fists, willing it to stay contained, to not give anyone another reason to stare.
Too late.
Students watch me with open wariness now, whispers already starting at the edges of the circle. Whatever I was before tonight, I’m not that anymore, because apparently using my magic changes it. The Council’s gaze has changed too—threaded with something that looks uncomfortably close to awe and respect. A silent recognition of a resource they didn’t fully understand until now.
All of them…except one.
Auron’s father doesn’t bother masking it. His eyes are cold and calculating, lingering on me like he’s already tallying costs and outcomes. I shiver despite the lingering heat of the ritual, suddenly very aware that whatever line I crossed tonight—he noticed.
And unlike the others, he doesn’t look impressed.
It’s only oncewe’re back inside the academy that my legs finally give out.
Not collapsing really, just… folding. As though my body waited until it knew I was safe before reminding me how much power I burned through.
Kael doesn’t let me fall. He doesn’t even hesitate. One arm circles around my back and he scoops me up into his arms, shadows wrapping around me as Raiden moves to Kael’s right side. He’s shifted back to his human form now. While Nolan moves to his left. We probably make quite the spectacle to all of the students and teachers making their way back inside.
“We’re not leaving her,” Raiden says flatly.
Kael doesn’t say a word as he carries me toward his quarters, but every line of him is wound tight. The door barely clicks shut behind us before he sets me down on the edge of his bed.
“Stay here,” he murmurs.
I do more than that. I curl up, my head resting on his pillow. The mattress dips beneath me, and his shadows flow over my legs and up my body of their own accord. My fingers curl into the blanket beneath me, sparks of leftover magic snapping faintly along my knuckles.
“The voice pushed harder this time,” I say steadily, even as my pulse thunders. “It knew I could hear it.”
Kael doesn’t contradict me. He studies my face like he’s committing it to memory.
“And it still didn’t get what it wanted,” he says quietly.
I meet his gaze, then glance over his shoulder at Raiden and Nolan. “No. Because of you three.” I hesitate, then add honestly, “But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit part of me wanted to listen. What if—what if…” My throat tightens. “What if it can tell me what I am?”
The magic hums under my skin, restless but contained, like a storm locked behind reinforced glass. I flex my fingers and feel it respond. It feels obedient, more in control than I’ve had before.
Raiden sinks onto the foot of the bed, his presence grounding even without touching me. “I don’t think anything on the other side of the Veil gets to define you,” he says firmly.
