Chapter Twenty Touched by Fire
"We are not what we say or what we think, but what we do."
Nox stood at the door, his heart thundering as the air around him grew thicker, the heat in the room rising with every passing second.
The temperature had skyrocketed, the walls radiating with a suffocating warmth that threatened to consume the very structure of the Vivet hideout.
His eyes flickered to Adan, still curled up on the bed, her body wracked with the tremors of the dream that had overtaken her.
The fire—her fire—blazed around her, uncontrolled, as if the past she was living out in her nightmares and was now alive in the waking world.
The flames didn't touch her skin; they were her creation, her fury.
But they threatened everyone else, the entire room aflame.
"Adan!" Nox called out, stepping closer to her. His voice barely cut through the crackling inferno, but it was enough to make her stir. Her eyelids fluttered, the only sign that she was still tethered to reality, even if only barely.
He stepped forward, feeling the heat scorch his skin, but he wasn't deterred--or scared.
He knew what this was—this was the aftermath of a power she could barely control, the result of a trauma too deep for words.
Adan's powers had always been tied to her emotions, and when those emotions spiralled out of control—like they had now—so too did her magic.
But he needed her to wake up. He needed her to find control, to find herself again before the fire consumed them all. He knelt beside her, reaching out carefully, his hands hovering just above her trembling form.
He could see the rage, the pain, and the guilt etched across her features even in her sleep.
"Adan..." He reached out and gently placed a hand on her cheek. As soon as his skin made contact, the surrounding flames wavered, but they didn't vanish. The heat swelled more, responding to the tension inside her.
He gritted his teeth, not pulling away—he couldn't. Not now.
The flames swirled higher, casting shadows on the walls and ceiling, their dance wild and untamed.
Then, a faint sound—barely a murmur—escaped her lips. "Luka..." The name echoed, a soft whisper that carried the weight of her sorrow and loss. Nox knew enough about her history to know she was dreaming about her brother.
"Adan, love." He kept his voice steady, even though his heart pounded against his ribcage.
"You're safe, love. Come back to me." It took everything in him to keep his voice steady as the flames whipped around them like an angry beast, but he could feel her pulling back, the chaos slowing, if only slightly.
He did the only thing he could think of.
Nox leaned down, his hand still cupping her face as flames licked up the walls around them.
His lips hovered just above hers for a beat, his pulse racing, every instinct telling him to make contact.
Then, with the urgency of everything they had already been through, he kissed her.
Nox's breath hitched as the flames curled around them, impossibly hot, but he didn't pull away.
The fire wasn't just in the room—it was her, an extension of her grief, her fury, and her fractured soul.
It was soft at first, a slow press of his lips against hers, a gentle invitation back into the waking world.
His heart was in his throat, the world spinning around them as the heat intensified, the fire raging higher. He had never been more acutely aware of how much power she held inside her. How much danger she was to herself when she wasn't in control.
But at this moment, he couldn't—he wouldn't—let her face it alone.
He moved closer still, his body pressed against hers as if to shield her from the flames.
Her mouth hot, but unresponsive, he slipped his tongue in and her lips trembled--if only slightly.
But he could feel it—the rawness of her emotion, the desperate need for release, and yet she was still locked in the past.
He didn't know how much longer the room could withstand the heat.
The walls were starting to warp, the air thick with smoke.
Something shifted.
A flicker of awareness sparked behind her closed eyelids. The fire trembled, its violent dance slowing, as if responding to the intimacy of the kiss.
Adan's body softened beneath his touch.
"Adan..." he whispered, his voice raw.
--
"Adan!" She ran and ran and ran.
"Adan!" Arms grabbed her, and she trashed with all her might.
"Adan! wake up!" Her eyes snapped open like the voice willed her to do it. Like it had reached inside her mind and demand that she wake up. It left her disoriented, her head swam. "You're okay, you're safe." The calming voice spoke to her.
The worlds of reality and dreams crashed and shattered at the sight of those perfect green eyes, bright like spring grass.
She had never seen them so vexed and anxious--desperate--they flexed and dilated.
Framed by dark swooping lashes that closed with what looked like relief.
His hair was damp, like he had just gotten out of the shower.
But she did not smell his usual woods scent mixed with sweetness, like an aged whiskey.
All she could smell was ash and smoke.
She bolted from the bed, the only thing remaining in the room that wasn't burnt to cinders.
Her jaw dropped slowly as she took in the damage.
She did not even notice that Nox was practically on top of her.
Both his arms still caging her on either side of her legs, as he sat half bent on the bed, his long legs dangling.
Her dream hit her like a tidal wave.
Her eyes met his, unfocused for a moment before the recognition began to settle in, the fog lifting, even if only just a little. His critical gaze looked her over. She felt laden bare by it. Wanted to run from it, like she had from so many things.
"What were you dreaming of that made you lose such control?" She hated the tone he used, like she was a doll on the verge of breaking. She couldn't fault him for it as she reached over to touch the bedside table. It crumbled in a heap of ash and dust.
"How did you stop my fire?" She croaked, she could feel that her throat had been burned from the inside out.
"I'll answer your question, if you answer mine." He slipped a finger under her chin, lifting her face up to him. She could not keep her walls up right now. She was too raw, her skin felt like it had burned and regrown. It very well might have from how drained she felt.
He waited, patient but expectant. His finger still beneath her chin, tilting her face up so she couldn't avoid his gaze. She swallowed, the dry, painful scrape of it serving as a reminder of everything that had happened, everything she had lost.
She couldn't help the tears that burst through her like a breaking dam.
She fell forward into his chest, and his hand moved to cup the back of her head.
"I'm sorry." She whimpered, "is everyone okay?!"
She managed through hiccups. He didn't say anything at first, just kept her close, as she soaked the fabric of his shirt.
He didn't push her. He let the silence hang, stretching between them--other than the sounds of her sobs.
Adan finally got a grasp on herself, and pulled back, searching his eyes.
"Everyone is fine. The fire was contained to this room. But I need to know—what are you running from, Adan? What's buried so deep inside you that you can't control it?" His voice was soft now, the fire that had usually flickered behind his words replaced with something gentler.
Something she couldn't ignore.
She sat up slowly, pushing her back against the headboard and pulled her knees in close, wrapping her arms around them. Nox moved swiftly, allowing her space, innately knowing she would rather not be touched at this moment.
"The worst day of my life." And perhaps because she was so raw, she did not stop there.
She owed him an explanation, she had almost burned down one of his safe-houses.
She dreaded to think what could have happened if he wasn't here.
"My father sent my brother Illias to Cias's a long time ago... and when he came home, no one noticed that he was wrong. I didn't know then, that Cias had taken control of my brothers mind. Forced him to kill my mother, and my father, and then my brother."
The words spilled out of her, raw and jagged, as if they had been locked inside for far too long. She could feel the weight of them pressing against her chest, but the release, as painful as it was, felt like the first step toward something she had been avoiding for years.
Nox stayed silent, he wasn't even breathing as he listened to her story.
"I used my first fire-life when I was eight. The mountains that my people live in are freezing. Of course, it never bothered us." She almost laughed but choked on it.
"Do you know how it feels to die from hypothermia?"
She wasn't asking for an answer, and could barely look at Nox.
"I went out into that storm in nothing but a nightgown. I survived by steeling and hunting. At the time, I had no idea why my brother did what he did, so I had no idea who I could turn to. My only choice was to trust myself."
"I didn't know..." Her voice cracked as the memory of that night flashed before her eyes.
She could see her brother, the man she had loved and trusted, standing before her, his eyes empty and cold, his hands stained with the blood of their parents.
"I didn't know that Cias had twisted him, used him. He—he came back and—" She closed her eyes, trying to push the images away, but they wouldn't budge.
"He burned Nixcader to the ground, there is nothing left, Cias made sure of that."
"What happened to Illias?" Her mismatched eyes dragged up his face slowly to lock with his gaze. Her jaw clenched. She felt the tears well up again, the grief of losing everything crashing into her with the force of an unrelenting tide.
"He's dead. I checked." The chamber of jars filled with phoenix ash that the king kept hidden away.
All of them carefully labelled. None of them belonged to her family, they had all somehow managed to escape the king's clutches at that final death.
Others were not so lucky. The same thing Cias did to the Dragons with impunity.