POV: Elara
Just me, and the fire waiting to break free. The cell was damp, but it didn't matter. The chill never touched me anymore. Something was burning in my blood, too stubborn to die. Even in chains, even with dawn creeping closer… I wasn't afraid.
Not anymore.
I sat on the cold floor, knees hugged to my chest, staring at the narrow window above the bars. A sliver of the moon peeked through. Pale. Distant. Cold.
I whispered to it like it might listen.
"I won't beg," I said. "Not again."
There were no guards outside my door now. Just silence. Even they didn't want to be near the mixed girl ordered to burn.
I closed my eyes, letting the memories slip through. My mother's laugh. My father's stern voice. My wolf's growl before she went silent. Luca's betrayal. Kael's eyes when he said She is mine.
They all faded into one thing now, flame.
A soft click echoed through the dark.
The cell door creaked open.
My breath caught.
Kael stepped in, his coat dragging behind him, hood hiding his face. He looked… different. Raw. His normal cold mask was gone, and something shattered hid beneath it.
He knelt beside me slowly, like his knees couldn't bear the weight of everything he hadn't said.
"Elara," he said softly.
I looked away.
"I should've protected you," he said.
My voice was scratchy. "Then why didn't you?"
Silence stretched. He looked down at his hands like he didn't know what to do with them.
"I was afraid," he revealed. "Not of you. Of what it would cost to claim you in front of them."
"And now the cost is my life," I mumbled. "Was it worth it?"
His jaw clenched. "No."
"Then stop them."
"I can't. Not without war. The Elders would use your life to break the throne."
"So let them," I said, eyes sparkling. "Let it all burn."
He stared at me like he didn't recognize the fire behind my words.
But it was there.
And it was real.
"I'm going to die tomorrow," I said quietly. "And everyone will watch. Some will cheer. Luca will smile. Seraphina will smile."
"I won't let that happen," Kael said.
"You already did."
He looked gutted.
Then he reached out, slowly, and took my hand in both of his.
"I don't know what's inside you," he whispered. "But it's not evil. It's powerful. And it's yours. Not theirs. Not mine. Yours."
Tears stung my eyes, but I blinked them away. "I don't need you to save me, Kael. I need you to stand with me."
His grip tightened. "Then I will."
He pressed his face to mine.
"I'm sorry," he breathed. "For all of it."
Footsteps echoed down the hallway.
He let go of my hand just before the door slammed open.
"Time," the guard growled.
Kael stood slowly.
And then he did something that shocked everyone in the room.
He bowed.
Low.
To me.
Then turned and walked out without a word.
The crowd gathered in the courtyard under a cloudy sky. The stage was made of stone and ironwood, slow-burning, cruel. The Elders watched from their high chairs, their silver masks gleaming in the gray light.
I was dragged to the fire, arms bound in metal cuffs that bit into my skin.
The whispers rolled over me like waves.
"She's the dragon girl."
"Born of fire."
"She'll curse the next generation."
"Kill her before the flames spread."
Seraphina stood in front of the crowd, pale as snow and twice as cold.
"She is an abomination," she said. "A reminder of the darkness our kind fought to escape."
The High Elder raised a hand. "Let the sentence be carried out."
Luca was there too, in the crowd. Smirking.
I met his eyes and didn't move.
He looked away first.
The torchbearer stepped forward.
I stood tall as they tied me to the ironwood post.
Kael was nowhere in sight.
My heart ached, but not with fear.
With anger.
The torch lit.
Flames licked the ends of the wood, slow and cruel.
I closed my eyes and whispered, "If I burn… let them burn with me."
The fire reached my feet. The heat grew.
And then, Boom.
A loud blast rocked the station.
Screams filled the courtyard as smoke burst from the west gate.
Guards spread. Nobles shrieked.
Through the chaos, a hooded figure jumped onto the platform.
The ropes tying my hands fell away with a clean slice.
"Who, ?" I gasped, breathing through smoke.
"Not now," the figure said. The voice was low. Familiar.
Before I could ask more, they grabbed me and pulled me backward off the platform, down through an opening I hadn't seen behind the pyre.
We fell into the underground tunnels beneath the courtyard. I could still hear the chaos above.
The person slammed the hatch shut and threw a lever.
Stone locked into place.
The glowing torch they carried showed his face.
"Kael?" I breathed.
He dropped the hood.
"We're not dead," he said, breathing hard. "Not yet."
I stumbled back against the wall, shaking.
"You planned this?"
"I planned something," he said. "I knew they wouldn't listen. So I made a deal."
"With whom?"
A second person stepped from the shadows.
An old guy in elder robes.
"My name doesn't matter," he said. "Only the fact that not all Elders are blind."
I looked between them. "You faked my execution?"
Kael nodded. "To save your life."
"And now what?" I asked. "I'm a fugitive?"
"No," he said. "You're free."
"But they'll come for me."
"They'll come for us," he corrected. "Because I'm not leaving your side again."
My heart caught.
But before I could speak, another rumble rang through the walls.
"They've realized you're gone," the older whispered. "We have minutes before the tunnels are compromised."
Kael grabbed my hand. Come on. This is just the beginning, and as we ran through the tunnel, my hand still in Kael's, the fire in my chest sparked again.
But this time, it didn't hurt… it led me, and somewhere far above, the Elders screamed for my blood, But all I heard was the whisper in my head:
The dragon has awakened.