CHAPTER 25
“The Realms are protected by the stones. If the stones shatter, it weakens the Realms protection. Which means, it’ll weaken the hunters. Never let them see this weakness.” - Book of Azure
“STAY AWAY FROM HER!” KAINE whips out his daggers, gripping them so tightly I can see the muscles in his biceps bulge against the dark, raven suit. The dragon scales along his chest crack with each movement as he slides in front of me. “I’m warning you!”
Guards sprint towards us, their metals clanging against each other as they circle around us. Through my strands that blow gently in the wind, I catch sight of ash mixed in with my midnight hair and close my eyes for a split moment. I burned him.
He died just by touching me.
My hands tremble as they hover in front of me. The ringing in my ears finally begins to ease as I gasp for air, but I also hold in the nauseating feeling of vomit wanting to make its way up my throat. My skin feels as if it's been scorched by lava. How the hell is this happening?
I killed someone by my touch.
My chest heaves, tears threatening to fall, but I hold them back. Not here. Not in front of them.
My eyes flicker, ash landing on my eyelashes as the burnt char singes my nostrils. Everything burns.
Is the ash that is tangled in my hair… him?
The dragon's fire didn’t kill me. How? All the men before me have died from the scorching breath of a dragon's fire, so why not me? I stare at my untouched skin, showing no signs of burnt flesh anywhere. Only the stones.
I did beg the Gods here to curse me to never love, so maybe they have a sick way of granting wishes. I can still love—that is a feeling I suppose they have no power over—but can never touch a man I love.
Get me out of this damn Realm.
My eyes groggily open and shut, weakly, but that's when I see her. A woman in a raven cloak, blood-red stringed tassel on the sides, her face hidden by darkness. But icy-white strands sway in front of her chin.
Tilly?
My knees dig into the gravel, locking eyes on her as she begins to walk across the ledge of the arena. “Tilly!?” I stumble to my feet. “Tilly!”
Theon whips a concerned gaze at me. “Ren!” He tries to hold me back as guards circle around us, their spears directly pointing at the three of us. “There is no one in the crowd!”
My brows pull inward, frantically glancing between him and the stands, only to see he is right. Everyone has left. The woman who screamed to kill me, gone. They all fled, but the dead man's body still lies there. Untouched. The arrow is still in his chest.
“I saw her!” My eyes widen and my trembling hands go to touch him, but he pulls away. I stop, letting my hands twist to where I see my palms. “I killed him.”
“You didn’t mean to!” Theon’s eyes soften. “We all saw what happened.”
“I killed a man!” I weep, grieving a man I never knew.
“On accident, Ren!”
“He touched me and then burned to ash!”
“He did, yes. But you never meant to!”
“How the hell is that even possible!” I choke on my words, my voice tinged with gasps of sobs that I try to suck in. But my chest hurts. My heart hurts for this man, a man that never deserved death.
“On your knees!” a guard shouts, his spear sharply glinting with the flames that still flicker from wood that caught on fire. Ash flies in the thickening, smoky air around us. Fire embers still fall down on us, a few landing on my skin, but I don’t feel a thing.
I don’t feel the heat that should be radiating off of it.
I feel nothing.
Theon and I gradually fall to our knees with our hands up. I notice Theon’s palms filled with blisters, turning raw and red from touching me. Just from touching me.
“Does it hurt?” I whisper out to him.
“Felt as if fire itself was scorching me alive.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“You are alive. That’s all that matters.” Theon’s lip tugs into a soft smile.
Is that truly all what matters? That my heart is still beating, even though now somehow my skin is cursed? What the hell did this dragon do to me?
Koen. He must have left. My heart slows at a deadly rate, mirroring the intense emotions I experienced watching him plead desperately with the Gods not to let me go. His voice—I can still hear every raw emotion that sliced in the air, begging the Gods with everything he had for them to not take me.
But that single tear, shed for me alone. That’s what got me.
His arm, stretching through the fire, just to have the chance to pull me out.
He would have burned for me.
As I would have burned for him.
While I stare at the empty space where Koen once was, Theon’s voice snaps me back, forcing me to reality.
“Ren, Kaine is going to get himself killed!” His eyes flicker violently. “I keep calling out to him, but he won’t listen!”
Kaine still stands, daggers in both hands as he stands in an attack position. His pointed ears are noticeable through his long dark hair that whips in the wind filled with ash. “You will not take her!”
“Kaine! Listen to them!” I plea out to him, noticing the one guard gripping the spear tighter as if he is ready to pounce towards him.
“I won’t let them hurt you!”
“Stand down, Prince of Ekane!” The guard jabs at him, the spear piercing his side.
With his teeth clenched and lips slightly open, he lets out a raging groan and the guard yanks it back, ripping it out of his flesh.
Blood drips from his side. As if time slows down, I watch Kaine’s body fall backwards until his body slams into the ground.
His head bounces while he grabs at his side tightly.
Dark, red blood trickles through his fingers.
My hands slam into the ground, rage piercing at my skin as the gravel beneath my palms begin to burn, charring the once rust-colored dirt. “Get away from him!” I growl, my eyes narrowed into slits.
The guard looms above him, aiming the spear straight at his chest, and I am consumed with anger as I see my friend groaning in pain.
He should have never hurt him. Dark blood gushes from his wound, pooling around him, and I am frozen, watching it soak into his black suit. I shake, but not with fear.
Fear is no longer part of me.
No, I shake with intense, blazing rage.
Don’t fear it. Give into it.
I deliberately rise, my fingers stretching wide as my shoulders tense. The muscles tighten as I go to speak, ordering the guard to get the hell away from him. “I said,” I pause, sucking in air, “get the hell away from him.”
Without a second thought, the guards begin to point their spears directly towards me, however the one still hovers over Kaine, which makes my blood boil.
“Get down,” Theon hisses, almost reaching out to yank my hand down, but pauses, realizing he can never touch me.
I pull myself away and move toward Kaine, who is still grimacing in pain. A guard charges at me, brandishing a spear threateningly. Memories of the guard who hurt me flood my mind, and I grab the spear's blade, gripping it so tightly that blood seeps from my palm.
The blade hovers dangerously close to my face, inches away from drawing blood. He is quick, but I am faster. My eyes dart down the length of the jet-black spear, locking with the gaze of the guard. He is going to kill me.
He shouldn’t have done that.
Every muscle in my body tenses, fueled by the adrenaline coursing through my veins and this undeniable fire that burns inside me, ready to be unleashed.
Unsure what this feeling is, but like Florian said, give into it.
The pain is only temporary as I grasp it tighter, showing these damn guards I am done with the Realm’s way. I am over the Queen. Most importantly, I want my freedom back.
They will never have the pleasure of killing me.
I lock eyes with him, watching as his chocolate-brown eyes widen in fear as the spear disintegrates into ash.
“I said,” whipping my eyes that burn with rage towards the one guard, “get away from him. Last warning,” I order them, my voice roaring, burning with a desire to destroy these guards around me.
Especially the one who still pins Kaine to the ground.
Queen Antivianna hustles into the pit, her hands pinching at the edges of her velvet red gown that kicks up the ash, making it float around her as she runs. “Enough! Stand down!” she barks, frantically scanning around, noticing what happened.
Most of the guards begin to pull their spears to their chest, some still trembling as they hold their spears directly towards me. They fear for their lives.
I lock eyes with one of them. “Do I need to burn yours too?” A brow of mine lifts high, and his helmet trembles, silently pleading no. I’m unsure what the hell is going on inside me, but I will not stand down, I will not back down any longer.
I am alive. The Gods gave me a second chance, and I am sure as hell going to use it.
“Take him to the healing sanctuary in the Pyre!” The Queen’s lengthy finger points towards Kaine. “Immediately!”
“Stop!” Florian urgently calls out as he approaches us, raising his hands to signal the guards to pause. “He won’t have much time! I can heal him!”
Florian. No.
I stride towards his direction, almost in a trace, internally pleading out to not do it, but a guard defies the Queen's order to stand down and thrusts his spear at me.
“Away from the future King!”
“She is fine!” Florian shouts, veins bulging against his temples. “Stand down, that's an order!”
The guard hesitates briefly before lowering his spear, and we rush toward each other.
I catch Skie in the distance, crossing her arms as she casually walks our way.
My heart flutters wildly as I reach out to embrace him, but I stop just as fast. Our faces are mere inches apart, our chests almost touching.
My whole body aches to hug him.
But I can’t.
If I touch him, he will turn to ash, and the thought of that shatters me.
“Serene.” He stops, shutting his eyes and inhaling deeply as if he longs for the scent he has been missing from me. Even if we just saw each other before the first games. “I told you, you are her.”