Chapter Thirty-Five
Avari
Icrossed the threshold and stopped cold. The air didn’t greet me; it attacked, thick with unnatural warmth. Waves of scorching air rolled toward me, each one more suffocating than the last.
Something was wrong. Deeply wrong.
Sweat coated my forehead and dripped down the back of my neck, sliding across my spine like a warning of danger. It was unbearable, much worse than the Land of the Volcanoes, and I’d struggled there too.
The castle was too quiet. My footsteps rang out cautiously, each one swallowed by the thick hush. My skin prickled. I’d been gone too long. Something happened.
Running, I reached River’s bedroom, locked in silence. No answer. No sign. My heart thudded. If he weren't there, he’d be in his office. He had to be.
Breathless, I reached the door and burst through without knocking.
Inside, a cluster of armed soldiers stood rigid. Michael was there too. So were figures in dark cloaks—spies, I guessed. Maddie and the king turned toward me, their expressions frozen.
Every eye snapped to me at once, as if I were a ghost.
River was beside me in an instant, pulling me tightly against him as though he could stop the world from tearing us apart. His embrace was fierce, yet it trembled, as if he expected the worst to strike at any moment. I melted into his touch, still not understanding what had happened.
Michael muttered, ‘What the fuck?’ under his breath, too stunned to mask it.
River knew to explain before I even asked. ‘We thought you were gone.’
‘Why would you think that?’ I stared at him, stunned. He thought I would leave without saying goodbye? After everything?
The memory hit hard—two days of silence, no message, no trace. I’d waited, heart in my throat, imagining every worst-case scenario. And now he thought I’d do the same to him?
‘I looked for you. Maddie saw you leaving with a bag, and since our last argument was about Ortensia—’
For a heartbeat, pride told me to stay distant. Then I reached for his hand, letting our energies intertwine. It was what we both needed to calm down.
‘I don’t want to go back, River. I just don’t want my mother to use me as a reason to hurt more of your people.’
The King
The tension in my chest shattered at her gentle promises.
For hours, rage had simmered, threatening to turn everything to ash. To drown the whole realm in my flames until they reached her and pulled her back. Her voice soothed the storm that raged within me. Before she returned, it saw no reason. It wanted me as its pawn. And her by its side.
‘This war has been going on for a long time, and I presume it will go on for a lot longer. She doesn’t get to have you.’
The faint noise of footsteps let me know that people were leaving, giving us space to resolve this.
How was I supposed to resolve this?
I didn’t even realise that today marked a full month from the day we met until Ava disappeared. She needed to know what it meant; she deserved to. But the more I looked into her beautiful eyes, the less I felt inclined to risk everything we’d build.
I wanted her.
I needed her.
My body, my soul, my fire. Ava branded it all as hers, the second our fires connected. Her essence was addictive; I would never get enough.
Her timid voice broke me out of my contemplation. ‘I know that’s what you think now. But I don’t want you to resent me in the future.’
‘Resent you? I could never resent you… Ava, we need to talk—’
The air charged with cold I was accustomed to in his presence as he appeared close enough to snatch her way. It wasn’t how I wanted her to find out; I ran out of time.
‘I would have to agree. It’s not River who will be doing the resenting.’
Pushing Ava behind me, my power engulfed the room, whipping around us—rigid, feral, and ready for battle. ‘No, you’re not taking her!’
The man cloaked in night smiled, getting closer. ‘Oh, but we had a deal. The princess for your brother’s cure.’
‘She is mine. The deal is off.' My fists tightened as I tried to control the raging flame itching to burn him. I couldn’t fight him here, not with her in the room.
‘You sold me to him?’
Ava's disbelieving whisper doused whatever fight remained in me. The heartbreak in her eyes chilled the blood in my veins. My flames recoiled from the confrontation and rushed to her instead, desperate to comfort her and to make sure she was safe. To keep her away from him.
I reached for her.
She flinched and took a small step back.
My heart lurched. ‘It's not like that—’
Wind howled through the chamber, blinding us as the world seemed to tear apart. The man who commanded darkness and shadows wrapped himself in the storm, taking with him the one person I'd grown to cherish so deeply it terrified me.
Then they were gone.