Kaelith’s snake-like arms twisted around Fenn’s form, fangs flashing as they struggled.
“The Weaving is right to leash me.” Her hand lifted without meaning to, fingers reaching for them.
The vampire jerked within Kaelith’s grip, eyes black and bottomless, as it lunged again, nearly catching Kaelith’s throat.
“You can control it now, my dove,” Hika pushed. “Your time here has eased the pain of losing your other half. My world has healed you.”
Rynna shook her head. “Not enough. The fire is too strong. I can’t control it or myself.”
“Perhaps not forever. But long enough to finish this,” Hika said gently. “You have the Will for that.”
Rynna’s eyes slid to her team. Elara’s arm jerked once, then went still. Bran’s lips parted, barely moving. Taren still clutched the hilt of a useless blade. The Wraith had them. Its appendages thrummed where they latched onto her friends, the cords fat and glistening, veins glowing with stolen elemental light.
“If you don’t, all life on this world will be devoured in less than a thousand years.” The Phoenix shuddered, her bright form shining as she settled on Rynna’s shoulder. “I will sacrifice this life to bind it, reducing myself to dust, unable to rise again for a thousand years.” A single tear fell from Hika’s eye, landing on Rynna’s skin like a tiny drop of fire. “But the Wraith will escape again before I return. And when it does, none will be left who can stand against it.”
Rynna’s knees buckled, one fist grinding into her skull as if she could hold herself together. But restraint was failing. And the fire inside her now carved through her mind, grief made manifest, merciless, alive. It wanted out.
“A sacrifice must be made.” Rynna’s head dropped, chin touching her collarbone as her shoulders shook.
Could she do it? Could she give up the only two men who had ever truly seen her? Loved her? The only ones who hadn’t turned away from what she was, even after the masks fell?
The thought sliced through her, leaving nothing untouched.
Water spilled down her cheeks, cutting tracks through the ash and blood smeared across her skin. Her ribs felt like they were collapsing inward as she forced herself to look—to meet Kaelith’s gaze through the chaos.
Kae...she whispered into his mind.I don’t know what to do.
In a flash, his eyes met hers, and in them, just for a moment, she saw it.
The life they’d never gotten.
Moonlight filtering through open windows. Soft woven rugs beneath bare feet. His silhouette kneeling beside a low brazier, waiting with two cups of tea already poured. Her cloak hung to dry by the door. A soundless night. His arms reaching to pull her in.
No fire. No war. Just stillness. A life they’d never been allowed. And he gave it to her now, not as a plea, but as a parting gift.
Do what the wolf would do,he answered, the words faint but unwavering. His limbs locked tighter around Fenn as the other man thrashed, fangs inches from his throat.I forgive you.
Her stomach sank in a wrenched, nauseating pull, and her body rejected the decision even as her soul accepted it. She didn’t have to ask what Fenn would choose.
She already knew.
“Okay.” The word was barely a word.
She drew in one last inhale, slowly, like swallowing a blade, and made her choice.
Chapter sixty-three
Somethinginsideherbroke.
It wasn’t loud. Or violent. Not yet. More like the noiseless snap of surrender.
The years she’d spent holding back, choking on her own power, convinced she was too dangerous to be anything but caged, vanished in a single heartbeat. And in answer, an inferno burst up through the broken dam, filling every hollow space, until finally—
It detonated.
Her arms flung wide as it blazed through her veins, scorching everything in its path, consuming doubt until nothing remained but the fire itself. This wasn’t the Phoenix’s flame, or anything elemental. It wasn’t shaped by ritual or purpose or even Will. It was older. Born of endings. The kind of fire that left nothing behind but silence and smoke.
Dragon fire.
