His voice is a thread, not a chain.
I close my eyes.In four. Hold four. Out four.I count the breaths like they might stitch me back together, as if they might make me whole again. Slowly, my body relaxes, and I realize he hasn’t moved. He’s still here. Still close, still quiet.
I reach for my blanket and clutch it to my chest like it might hold the shame in. But I don’t turn away.
“I had a fiancé once,” I say, voice rasping through the dark. Keiren only listens. I swallow hard and continue, “Edric Grey, the eldest son of a wealthy nobleman. Charming, at first. My father arranged the match.”
My throat tightens.
“And then, one night… he followed me to my chambers. It was just us in the house. I told him to leave.” My voice falters. “He didn’t.”
I pause, trying to take control of my breathing.In four. Hold four. Out four.
“So, I ran,” I whisper, still avoiding Keiren’s gaze. “Fought. Bit him. I made it to the stables, where attendants always are, but there was no one there. He caught me.”
Keiren’s breath slows, as if syncing his rhythm with mine, a silent offering.
“He tried to…” My voice trails off. I can’t say it aloud. Even after all these years, I can’t say it. “But my horse—Gentleman—he saved me. Kicked Edric in the head.”
The memory rips from my throat like a blade.
“He was never the same after that. And Gentleman… they put him down. They said it was my fault.” A sob escapes my chest before I can stop it. “That night, everything slipped through my fingers—freedom, reputation, the illusion of belonging. And when my father looked at me…”
My heart tries to claw its way up my throat, choking me up. I take a moment, swallowing back tears before trying again to speak around them.
“He wasn’t just angry, Keiren. He looked at me like I was a monster.”
A hush settles around us, broken only by the soft crackle of the fire. The water ripples faintly nearby. When I finally have the courage to meet Keiren’s gaze, it’s ablaze with raw rage.
“I’ll kill him.” He stands abruptly, turning toward the mouth of the cave.
“Wait! Stop!” I rise and intercept him, heart pounding.
“He will burn.”
His eyes burn with a fury unlike anything I’ve ever seen. He can’t possibly cross the barrier again. And if he sends the dragon… the whole city will burn. In the flickering firelight, his face is half-shadowed, half-bared.
“You didn’t kill him,” he snarls, “but I will.”
“No—please don’t. You told me you have enough blood on your hands.” My chest heaves. “Living the rest of his life as a vegetable is enough.”
He turns away, back toward the cascade of the waterfall. “No, Fire. Any life is too good a fate for the man who hurt you.”
Something in me snaps. My hand shoots out before I can think, seizing the warm fabric of his shirt.
He freezes, muscles coiled beneath my grip. I don’t let go.
His eyes meet mine, dark and unreadable. Firelight dances in them like lightning behind storm clouds.
“I will not suffer him to live another second,” Keiren says, his voice low and dangerous. “He will burn,” he says again, “they all will.”
By the look in his eyes, I know he means it. If I let go, he’ll disappear into the darkness, and by morning, Veyora will be nothing but ash.
Panic surges through me.Not again.Not another death because of me. Not more blood on his hands, staining what little light still flickers in him.
He’d do it. He’d tear the world apart for me—and it would destroy him.
I should speak. I should beg. I should stop him.
