“You must seal this yourself.”
“I … but I don't know how?—”
“You do.” The words coil around me like a serpent, soft and suffocating. “You've always known. You simply chose to forget. Chose to bury the truth so deep you convinced yourself it wasn't there.”
The Flame sways. I sway with it. I can't look away. Can't move. Can't breathe. The heat wraps around me like arms pulling me under.
“Return to him. Use what you've buried. Show me you're worthy of the debt you now carry.”
“What do you?—”
“My warrior will arrive soon.” A pause. The flames dance, almost playful. Almost cruel. “To collect.”
My eyelids grow heavy. The chamber blurs at the edges. I fight it, but the warmth is spreading through my limbs like honey, like poison, dragging me down into something soft and dark.
It doesn't matter. Jordi is safe. I saved him. I?—
“You will save your brother.” The voice is distant now. A whisper from the bottom of a well. “I never said he was safe.”
I try to speak. Try to scream. My lips part but nothing comes out. I am frozen. Trapped in my own body as the darkness creeps in from the edges of my vision.
“Safety is an illusion, child.” A hiss. A caress. A curse. “You, of all people, should know that by now.”
I reach for the Flame. For answers. For anything. And the darkness rushes in and swallows me whole.
I gasp awake.
Cobblestones beneath my knees. Fog pressing in from all sides. My hands are still pressed against Jordi's wound. His blood is warm, bubbling beneath my palms.
His chest isn't moving.No. No, no, no.We made a bargain. I gave everything. I?—
You've always known. You simply chose to forget. Use what you've buried.
The Flame's voice echoes through me like a command. Like a key turning in a lock. I squeeze my eyes shut. Take a breath. And stop fighting.
I reach for the gift I've kept locked away my entire life. The one the Sages forbade me from using. The one that guarantees my death in all eight kingdoms. I picture the box I've kept it in.
Rusted. Forgotten. Buried in a box in the darkest corner of my mind, my chest, deep in my gut where no one would ever find it. Where I convinced myself even I couldn't reach it.
Heat slams into me as I tear the box open. Not the familiar warmth of my fire gift. This is different. Deeper. Older. Like something that has been sleeping inside me since before I was born, waiting for this moment. Waiting to be set free.
Like before, when I begged the goddess for help. But this time, I don't fight it. I let it consume me. Flames lick through my chest. Spread through my arms. Down to my fingertips. Up my throat. And finally, into my eyes.
They burn as if I'm staring directly into the sun. The world turns white and gold and blinding, and I can't tell if I'm screaming or if the sound is coming from somewhere else entirely. Beneath my fingers, I feel everything. The poison spreading through Jordi's veins.
His heart stuttering, slowing, giving up. The darkness traveling through his blood, claiming him inch by inch. And I pull. I pull, and pull, and pull. The poison resists, clings to his veins like it belongs there, like it wants him. I pull harder.
My eyes burn brighter. The heat roars through me, a wildfire tearing through me. Through the whooshing in my ears, I hear myself screaming. But I don't stop. I can't. I keep pulling until something shifts.
Jordi's chest heaves. Once. Twice. He coughs, a wet, ragged sound that might be the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.
My eyes fly open. I blink rapidly, the world swimming back into focus. The black veins are fading from his skin, retreating like shadows from the dawn. He's breathing. He's alive.
My entire body is trembling. I feel hollow. Empty. I look down at my hands and shake harder when I see that I’m covered in black, from the tips of my fingers up to my elbows. It’s the last thing I see before my world tilts sideways and everything goes dark.
Like everyone else on this island, I have no memories of the five years of life before I arrived here. I’ve searched for them. Clawed at the edges of my mind, desperate for even a glimpse ofbefore. But the furthest I ever go is waking up at the Veritas Estate, turning my head, and finding Naima and Margot asleep in their beds beside me.
But this time, something is different.
