Elara POV
I woke up burning.
Not like a normal fever. This was different. Fire crawled through my veins. It hurt everywhere. Every muscle. Every bone. Even my skin felt like it was on fire.
I tried to scream. My throat was too raw. Like I'd already been screaming for hours. Maybe days. I didn't know.
"Easy."
A woman's voice. Calm. Steady.
Cool hands touched my forehead. The touch helped. Just a little. Enough that I could breathe without wanting to die.
"You're safe. Just breathe."
Safe. That was a lie. I wasn't safe. I was dying. Burning from the inside out.
I forced my eyes open. Everything was blurry. I blinked. Once. Twice. Things started to focus.
Stone ceiling. Rough and gray. Furs piled around me. So many furs I was practically buried in them. A fireplace crackled in the corner. Orange light danced across the walls.
And beside the bed, a woman knelt.
She looked like Kaelen. Same sharp features. Same golden eyes. But softer. Kinder. Her dark hair was pulled back in a braid. She wore simple clothes. Practical. Like she was used to working with her hands.
"I'm Mira," she said. "Kaelen's sister."
Kaelen.
The name sent a jolt through me. Memories crashed back. The Barrens. The vampires. The wolves. Kaelen and Theron. The bite.
The marks.
I looked down at my wrists.
My stomach dropped.
Two brands circled my wrists like shackles. The left one glowed faint silver. It was beautiful. Intricate. Shaped like a wolf mid-leap. Every detail perfect. Every line precise.
The right one burned crimson. All sharp edges and shadows. Bat wings spread wide. Dark. Dangerous. Wrong.
They pulsed. In time with my heartbeat. Every pulse sent heat spiraling through my chest.
"What—" My voice came out as a croak. "What are these?"
Mira's expression was gentle. Pitying.
"Fated marks," she said quietly. "When a wolf or vampire finds their destined mate, the bond manifests as a mark. One mark. One mate. Always."
I stared at the two brands burning on my skin.
"But I have two."
"Yes." Mira sat on the edge of the bed. She studied me like I was a puzzle she couldn't solve. "Which shouldn't be possible. Dual bonds kill instantly. The magic tears you apart from the inside. You should be dead."
"Then why am I alive?"
She didn't answer. Just looked at me with those golden eyes full of questions I couldn't answer either.
The fire in my veins surged. I gasped. Arched off the bed. Pain exploded through every nerve. Like someone was pouring acid into my blood.
"Kaelen," Mira called. Loud. Urgent.
Footsteps. Heavy. Fast.
Then he was there.
Kaelen filled the doorway. Tall. Broad. His dark hair was messy like he'd been running his hands through it. His golden eyes found me immediately. Locked on.
He crossed the room in three strides.
His hand pressed against my arm. Just that. One simple touch.
The fire didn't stop. But it changed. Became bearable. Like ice laid over a burn. I could breathe again. I could think.
I stared at him. He stared back.
"You've been unconscious for three days," he said. His voice was rough. Like he hadn't slept. "The fever should have killed you the first night."
Three days.
The words didn't make sense. How could three days have passed? It felt like I'd just been in the Barrens. Just been bitten.
"Where am I?"
"Moonscar Summit. My home." He sat on the edge of the bed. Close enough that his knee brushed the mattress. Close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his skin. "You're safe here."
"Safe." I almost laughed. Would have if my throat didn't hurt so much. "You bit me. He bit me. How is that safe?"
Kaelen's jaw clenched. "I saved your life."
"By marking me?"
"By stopping him from taking you."
Anger flared hot in my chest. It felt good. Better than the fear. Better than the pain.
"I didn't ask to be saved. I didn't ask for any of this."
"Neither did I." His voice was flat. Hard. "But here we are."
We stared at each other. The silence stretched. Tense. Uncomfortable.
Mira cleared her throat. "I'll get more water."
She stood. Left the room. The door closed behind her with a soft click.
Now it was just me and Kaelen.
I tried to sit up. Pain lanced through my shoulders where they'd bitten me. I hissed. Fell back against the pillows.
"Don't move," Kaelen said. "The marks are still fresh. They'll hurt for a few more days."
"A few more days." I closed my eyes. Tried to breathe through the pain. "And then what?"
"Then you'll be strong enough to start learning control."
I opened my eyes. Looked at him. "Control of what?"
He didn't answer right away. Just looked at me with those burning golden eyes. Like he was trying to figure out how much to tell me.
Finally, he spoke.
"Your power. Whatever you are. Whatever made you survive." He leaned forward. His scent wrapped around me. Pine and smoke and something wild. "You're not normal, Elara. You're something else. Something neither of us has seen before."
Something else.
The words settled in my chest like stones.
I looked past him. At the window. Through the narrow opening in the stone, I could see the valley below.
And I could see them.
Red tents. Thousands of them. Spread across the valley like blood stains. An army. A vampire army.
"That's his, isn't it?" My voice was barely a whisper. "Theron's."
"Yes." Kaelen's voice was tight. Controlled. But I felt his anger. It bled through the mark on my wrist. Hot. Fierce. Possessive. "He's been there since the night you were marked. Waiting."
"For what?"
"For you."
The words hung in the air between us.
I wanted to look away. Wanted to pretend I hadn't heard. But I couldn't. Because deep down, I knew it was true.
I touched my right wrist. The crimson mark. Theron's mark. It was warm under my fingers. Almost alive.
"You're not a prisoner," Kaelen said. His voice was softer now. Almost gentle. "But you're not free either. If you leave these walls, he'll take you. And I—" He stopped. Swallowed hard. "I won't let that happen."
I looked at him. Really looked. At the dark circles under his eyes. The tension in his shoulders. The way his hands clenched into fists on his knees.
And underneath it all, bleeding through the silver mark on my left wrist, I felt it.
Fear.
He was afraid. Terrified. Of losing me. Of losing control. Of something I couldn't name.
"I don't understand," I whispered. "I'm nobody. Why would two kings fight over me?"
"You survived." He leaned closer. His gaze intense. Burning. "You survived something that should have killed you in seconds. That makes you either a weapon or a miracle. Maybe both."
A weapon.
The word made me cold.
Before I could respond, the room changed.
The temperature dropped. Fast. My breath fogged in the air. The fireplace flickered. Then died.
Frost crept across the window. Delicate patterns formed on the glass. Beautiful. Impossible.
Like someone was writing.
Kaelen stood. Fast. His body tense. Ready.
I followed his gaze to the window.
The frost was forming words.
Seven days, little flame. Then I come for you.
My heart stopped.
Kaelen's rage exploded through our bond. Hot. Violent. Overwhelming. It slammed into me like a physical blow. I gasped. Pressed my hand to my chest.
Too much. His emotions were too much. Too big. Too fierce. They were pushing into my mind. Into my will. Trying to control me. Trying to—
No.
I shoved back. Hard. Without thinking. Just pure instinct.
Power exploded from my palm.
Ice.
Not frost like on the window. Solid ice erupted from my skin. It spread across the window in jagged spears. The glass shattered. The wall cracked. Cold air rushed in.
Kaelen jerked backward. Stared at my hand. At the ice crawling up my arm in crystalline patterns.
"What—" I couldn't breathe. "I didn't—I don't have magic—"
But the ice kept spreading. Beautiful. Deadly. Crawling toward my elbow.
Kaelen moved. Fast. His hand closed around my wrist. The moment his skin touched mine, the ice stopped. Melted. Disappeared like it had never existed.
We stared at each other.
His hand was still wrapped around my wrist. Warm. Strong. I could feel his pulse beating against my skin. Fast. Matching mine.
"What are you?" he whispered.
I didn't have an answer.
Because three days ago, I was nobody. A mapmaker's assistant. Powerless. Invisible.
Now I had two kings' marks burning on my wrists. An army camped outside waiting to claim me. And ice crawling from my skin like I was something from a nightmare.
Kaelen slowly released my wrist. The fever roared back. But I welcomed it this time. Because pain was real. Pain made sense.
Unlike everything else.