Chapter 4
The Flame has chosen. Valerius Draven, strongest of his bloodline... and me, the powerless daughter.
"No," someone whispers.
The mark around my wrist flares brighter. Heat rushes beneath my skin, racing up my arm, across my chest, down my spine. My knees weaken. Seren grabs my elbow, but I barely feel her. The Flame rises higher. Too high.
My mother steps forward. "Valentina." Her voice is calm but beneath it, I hear fear.
The gold mark on my wrist pulses once. Across the circle, Valerius's mark pulses too and then I feel him.
Not his thoughts. Not his emotions exactly.
Something worse. Presence. Heat. Anger. Power.
A dark, burning pressure at the edge of my senses, like standing too close to a locked door with fire raging behind it. I gasp and clutch my wrist.
Valerius's jaw tightens. He feels something too. I know he does.
The Flame roars. The observatory windows tremble. The stars above the open dome seem to shiver. Every branch flame painted along the walls flares at once—blue, green, red—then gutters low as if bowing beneath a stronger heat.
Panic flashes across my mother's face. Only for a heartbeat. Then the dean returns.
"Enough," she commands.
The Flame drops instantly. Silence slams into the room. My wrist still burns. I look down at the mark. A thin golden circle glows beneath my skin. Real. There. Mine. A bond. I lift my eyes slowly. The entire academy is staring at me. No one tries to hide it now.
Magistra Voss stands from her seat, pearl-grey robes whispering around her. Her eyes are fixed on my wrist with a sharpness that makes my stomach turn.
My father is standing too. His face is pale. As if the Flame has done more than embarrass him. As if it has frightened him but none of their faces holds me as tightly as Valerius Draven's.
He lowers his hand from above the basin. The mark around his wrist glows gold against the edge of his sleeve. His eyes burn into mine. There is accusation there. Rage and disbelief... and beneath all of it, something I can't name.
My own anger rises through the shock. As if I asked for this.
As if I wanted to be tied to him. The strongest boy in Arcana Academy looks at me like I have ruined him and maybe I have.
Maybe the Flame has. Maybe something old and cruel has just reached into both our lives and twisted them together for reasons neither of us understands.
My mother's voice cuts through the silence. "The Flame has chosen." No one speaks. Not one student. Not one professor. Not one council representative. The words echo through the observatory like a law being carved into stone. "The bond is sealed."
The mark pulses again. Valerius flinches. So do I. The same strange pull as yesterday. The same impossible warmth. Only now it has shape. A thread. A circle. A connection stretching across the space between us, invisible to everyone and undeniable to me.
Seren's fingers tremble around my elbow. "Val," she whispers, so softly only I can hear.
I can't answer. I can't move because across the circle, Valerius Draven takes one step toward me. The room seems to brace itself. He stops only a few feet away. The heat coming from him wraps around me, and the mark on my wrist burns brighter in response. His eyes drop to it. Then rise to my face.
When he speaks, his voice is low enough that most of the room can't hear, but I do. Every word. "What did you do?"
The question cuts through me. I stare at him, shock turning slowly into rage.
Of course he thinks this is my fault. The entire room is watching.
My father is pale. My mother is afraid. The council is staring like I have become a problem they don't yet know how to name.
The Flame has chosen me in front of everyone, tied me to the cruelest boy in the academy, and he has the nerve to look at me like I planned it.
My voice shakes, but I don't let it break. "I didn't do anything."
His eyes narrow. "Powerless girls don't get chosen by mistake," he says.
The words hit harder than they should because somewhere beneath his cruelty, I hear the truth.
The Flame doesn't make mistakes. Everyone knows that.
Which means something is wrong. With the Flame.
With him. With me. The mark around my wrist pulses again.
This time, the warmth travels inward and settles beneath my ribs like a secret.
Valerius inhales sharply. Only once. Only enough for me to notice.
The fury in his face darkens into something more dangerous.
My mother steps between us before he can say another word. "That is enough, Mr. Draven."
Valerius doesn't look at her immediately. His eyes stay on mine for one extra heartbeat. Then he steps back. The air loosens. Barely.
My mother turns to the room. "The Gathering will continue." But there is no continuing from this. Not really.
The remaining names are called. The remaining students are chosen. Gold marks appear. The Flame behaves normally again, as if it didn't just tear open the world and leave me standing inside the wound.
I don't hear most of it. I stand beside Seren with my wrist burning and my pulse roaring, feeling the weight of every stare in the observatory. Whispers crawl through the room. Powerless. Draven. Impossible. Mistake. Dean's daughter. What does it mean?
I stare at the Flame until my eyes ache. It burns calmly now. Innocently, as if it didn't just ruin my life.
When the final bond is sealed, my mother raises both hands.
"The Gathering is complete." The students bow their heads.
So do I, a second late. "Your bonded partner is now your assigned partner for all final-term branch integration, advanced practicals, and Ember Trial preparation. Tomorrow morning, you will report to your new training schedules. Tonight, you will rest."
Rest. The word nearly makes me laugh.
The Flame dims slowly, shrinking back into the black iron basin. The observatory candles relight one by one. Normal light returns, but nothing feels normal. Students begin to move. The room explodes into whispers.
Seren turns to me immediately. "Are you okay?"
"No." I shake my head. It's the most honest thing I have said all day.
Her face crumples with worry. "Your wrist?"
I look down. The mark is still there, faint now but visible if you know where to look. A thin golden circle beneath the skin, delicate as jewelry and heavier than chains.
"It doesn't hurt," I say. Like every nerve in my body knows there is another flame burning across the room. I glance up.
Valerius stands near the edge of the circle, Eli and Luc beside him.
Eli looks stunned in a way I would enjoy under any other circumstance.
Luc watches everything with pale, thoughtful eyes.
Valerius is staring at his wrist. His expression is controlled now.
Too controlled... That frightens me more than his anger.
My mother appears at my side before I realize she has crossed the room. "Valentina," she says.
I turn to her, desperate for something steady but her face isn't steady. Not completely. She reaches for my wrist, then stops herself before touching the mark. That frightens me too. "What happened?" I whisper.
Her eyes lift to mine. For a second, she looks like she wants to tell me everything. For a second, I think she might. Then Magistra Voss approaches. My mother's expression closes.
"Dean Starling," the councilwoman says smoothly. "An unusual choice."
My mother lowers her hand. "The Flame chooses what it chooses."
"So you said."
Magistra Voss's gaze slides to me. I feel examined. Not as a student. Not as a girl. "Valentina Starling," she says.
I force myself to incline my head. "Magistra."
"Chosen by Valerius Draven." Her smile is faint. "Or perhaps chosen for him."
The wording makes my skin crawl. My mother's voice sharpens. "All bonds are mutual."
"Of course." Magistra Voss looks at my wrist again. I resist the urge to hide it. "Fascinating," she murmurs.
Nothing about the word feels kind. My father joins us. I feel him before I see him, the familiar coldness settling over my shoulders. His gaze is fixed on my wrist.
For once, he isn't looking at me like I am proof of betrayal. He is looking at me like I am proof of something else. Something he doesn't understand.
"Father," I say.
He doesn't answer immediately. His eyes lift to my face. There is something raw in them, buried beneath years of ice. Shock. Confusion. Maybe even fear... Then it hardens. "You will be careful," he says.
Not are you all right. Not what did you feel. Not my daughter. You will be careful. The tiny, stupid part of me that hoped for something else shrivels quietly.
"Yes," I say.
His mouth tightens, as if my answer displeases him even though it is the one he demanded. My mother steps closer to me. "Valentina needs rest."
Magistra Voss smiles. "Of course. I imagine tomorrow will be... revealing." I don't like the way she says it. Neither does my mother.
Seren takes my hand once we are allowed to leave, holding tightly as we join the flow of students exiting the observatory.
Whispers follow us into the corridor. Some people pretend not to stare.
Others don't bother pretending. The walk back through the north corridor feels completely different from the walk in.
Earlier, I had been nervous. Now I feel marked.
The gold circle around my wrist is hidden beneath my sleeve, but I feel it with every step. It pulses faintly, not in rhythm with my heart. In rhythm with something else. Someone else. I know exactly where Valerius is without turning around. Several steps behind me to the left.
His presence presses at the edge of my awareness like heat behind a closed door.
I hate it. I hate that I know. I hate that when he stops, my body notices. I hate that when he speaks quietly to Eli, the bond mark warms as if recognizing the sound of his voice. This can't be normal. None of this can be normal.
At the Hall of Branches, the procession breaks apart. Students rush toward friends, partners, arguments, celebrations, disasters.
Seren pulls me toward the Veil staircase. "Come on. My room. Tea. Panic. Planning." But before we reach the stairs, a voice cuts through the corridor.
"Starling."
I stop. The corridor stills with me.
Seren mutters, "Absolutely not." I turn. Slowly.
Valerius stands a few feet away, his black cloak falling around him, the deep red lining visible when he moves. Eli lingers behind him, watching with open curiosity. Luc stands beside a pillar, silent and unreadable.
Valerius's gaze locks on me. "I need a word."
Seren steps forward. "She doesn't owe you one."
His eyes flick to her for the first time. The temperature seems to drop. "I wasn't asking you."
Seren's green magic flickers faintly around her fingers. "And yet I answered."
I touch her arm before this becomes something she regrets. "It's fine," I say.
"It is not fine." She looks directly at me.
"I know." I nod. That seems to stop her more effectively than reassurance would. I step away from her, just enough to face him on my own. Valerius's eyes track the movement. "What?" I ask.
His jaw tightens. "Not here."
I laugh once, humorless. "You want me to follow you somewhere private after you accused me of manipulating ancient fire in front of the entire academy?"
His expression hardens. "I asked what you did."
"And I told you I did nothing." I remind him.
"Power does not appear from nothing." He says cruelly.
The words slice into me. I step closer before I realize I am moving. "I wouldn't know, would I?"
For a moment, silence locks around us. His gaze drops to my lips, then snaps back to my eyes so quickly I almost think I imagined it. The bond mark burns. I suck in a breath. His nostrils flare slightly. He felt it. My pulse stumbles.
Valerius lowers his voice. "Something happened in that Flame."
"Yes," I whisper fiercely. "It chose wrong."
A muscle jumps in his jaw. For some reason, that satisfies me. Good. Let it sting. Let him feel even a fraction of what it's like to be unwanted by something everyone else thinks should define you.
"It doesn't choose wrong," he says.
"Then maybe it has terrible taste." I say. Eli makes a strangled sound behind him.
Valerius ignores it. His eyes bore into mine, furious and searching, and the corridor around us seems to fade until there is only his height, his shadow, the heat beneath my wrist, and the terrible feeling that something invisible has tightened between us.
"I don't know what you are," he says quietly.
The words land strangely. Not who. What.
My throat dries. "I'm the powerless girl you were so embarrassed to be chosen by," I say. "Remember?"
For the first time, something like regret almost crosses his face. Then his walls slam back into place. "Be at the south training hall at dawn."
I blink. "What?"
"Our first bonded assessment begins tomorrow." He informs me.
"I know how schedules work." I say.
"Do you?" His eyes flick over me. "Then don't be late." The arrogance returns, sharp enough to make my anger flare.
"I am not one of your little shadows, Valerius. You don't command me." His gaze darkens when I say his name.
The bond mark pulses once, hard. We both go still. The corridor seems to inhale around us.
His voice drops lower. "Careful, Valentina."
My name in his mouth does something worse than Starling. I hate that I feel it down my spine.
I lift my chin. "Or what?"
For one suspended second, he looks at me like he might answer honestly. Like whatever lives behind his cruelty is closer to the surface than he wants it to be but he steps back. The heat between us breaks.
"Dawn," He turns and walks away, black cloak sweeping behind him.
Eli gives me a look that is half amusement, half sympathy before following. Luc's pale gaze lingers on me a moment longer, thoughtful in a way that makes me uncomfortable. Then they are gone. The corridor erupts into whispers again.
Seren is at my side instantly. "I hate him more every time he breathes."
"So do I." My voice is steady. My hands aren't.
She looks down. I follow her gaze. The sleeve of my cloak has slipped back.
The golden mark around my wrist glows faintly beneath my skin.
Not bright enough for the whole corridor to see but enough for Seren.
Enough for me. Everyone's wrist is stained with gold but not glowing like mine.
Somewhere down the hall, out of sight, I feel a second pulse answer it.
Valerius. My stomach turns. The Flame chose him. The Flame chose me.
Tomorrow at dawn, I have to stand beside the strongest boy in Arcana Academy and pretend I don't feel the thread between us every time he breathes too close.
I pull my sleeve down over the mark but covering it does nothing. I still feel it. Burning quietly. Waiting. Like the Eternal Flame didn't end when we left the observatory. Like it followed me out.