When I woke, everything was soft. Too soft. Silk brushed against my skin, cool and smooth. My eyes fluttered open. The room was dim, but I could still feel warmth in the air, like an invisible spark breathing down my neck.
My chest ached. I looked down and froze.
A bright mark pulsed just over my heart. It was shaped like fire, rolling inward, living. I touched it and gasped. It burned, but the pain was… personal. It pulsed with Kael's energy, like his heartbeat was now inside me.
Before I could understand it, the door creaked open.
Kael stepped in.
No armor this time, no crown of fire. Just a man tall, bare-chested, a scar running from his neck to his ribs, his eyes burning dimly in the dim light.
"You shouldn't touch the mark," he said softly, his voice no longer sharp but dangerously quiet.
"I didn't ask for this," I said, my tone shaking with anger. "You forced it on me."
He stopped a few feet from the bed. His gaze fell to my mark, and for a brief second, I saw something flash in his eyes of sorrow.
"The contract binds through blood," he said. "And now… your body belongs to my fire."
I pushed the sheets away, standing even though my legs still shook. "Belongs? Do you hear yourself?"
His jaw clenched. "It's not about possession. It's survival. The procedure ensures you won't die from the heat that surrounds me."
"Then why does it feel like you branded me?" I spat.
He looked away. "Because maybe I did."
Silence fell between us, thick and electric.
Then I said it, the question scratching at my chest since the beginning. "Who was she?"
His head lifted slowly. "Who?"
"The woman I saw when our blood met. The one screaming. She looked like me."
His entire body stiffened. For the first time since I met him, the Dragon Lord looked afraid.
"You saw her," he said calmly, almost to himself. "Then the bond truly opened."
"Who is she, Kael?"
He turned, his shoulders rigid. "Someone who should have never existed."
"That's not an answer."
He breathed sharply, flames glowing in his palm before he crushed them into nothing. "She was the first bride," he said finally. "The one who tried to free me and failed. The fire took her before I could stop it."
My throat tightened. "And now you've bound me to share her fate."
"You don't understand," he said, moving closer, voice breaking through his control. "I didn't want this. But your blood is called to mine. The rite only works if the chosen holds the Heart of Flame."
I went cold. "The Heart of Flame?"
He nodded once. "The prophecy. The one I've spent ages trying to end."
I shook my head. "You think I believe that? That I was born to fix your curse?"
Kael's eyes darkened. "No, Evelyn. You weren't born to fix me. You were born to destroy me."
The words cut through me like a blade.
I wanted to deny it, to scream, but deep inside, the mark over my heart throbbed fiercely. Something within me recognized his words as truth.
He turned away again, walking toward the door. "Rest while you can. When the mark ends binding, you'll feel the pull of my feelings, my anger, even my pain. You won't be able to run."
"Then why warn me?" I asked bitterly. "If I'm just your contract?"
He paused. "Because once, I made the mistake of caring. And it ruined everything I loved."
He walked out, leaving the door open and my mind burning with a thousand questions.
Hours passed, but I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I heard whispers. A woman's voice, soft and echoing, like wind through a grave.
"Don't trust him."
I sat up, holding my chest. "Who are you?" I whispered into the darkness.
The voice came again, fainter. "He killed me once. Don't let him do it again."
My skin crawled. My heart pounded against my mark until it glowed red. I stumbled to the mirror. The mark pulsed brighter, almost living.
I touched it and suddenly, I wasn't in the room anymore.
I was standing in a burning hall. Fire everywhere. Screams echoing. And there he was, Kael holding a woman who looked like me, blood staining his hands.
"Forgive me," he whispered to her. "I couldn't stop the flame."
The woman's lips moved slightly. "Then burn with me."
And then darkness again.
I fell to the floor, shaking. Tears streamed down my face before I even realized it.
Why did she look like me? Why did her pain feel like mine?
The door slammed open. Kael rushed in, his eyes burning. "What did you see?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't.
He reached for me and the moment his hand touched my arm, smoke rose between us. His skin hissed, but he didn't pull away.
"Tell me what you saw," he ordered.
"The fire," I whispered, shaking. "The woman. You killed her."
His jaw tensed, his voice rough with something close to sadness. "I didn't kill her. The curse did."
"Then why does it feel like it's killing me now?"
He released me, his face unreadable. "Because you're part of it now. The mark links our fates. You see my thoughts. My sins."
"I don't want them."
"Neither did I."
I looked at him really, and beneath the fire and rage, I saw it. The loneliness. The sorrow that burned deeper than his fires.
For the first time, I didn't see a monster. I saw a man who'd been stuck in his own hell for far too long.
And that scared me more than the fire ever could.
Night deepened. Kael stayed silent near the door, as if afraid his presence might hurt me further.
After a long pause, I spoke. "Why me?"
He didn't look at me. "Because your blood carries the same fire. The same curse."
"That's impossible."
He turned then, eyes shining weakly. "Is it? Your town was dying from famine, but not a single spark hit your fields, was it? The storms came, but your house always stood. Haven't you thought why?"
I froze.
I had wondered. All my life, strange things happened around me: heat that rose when I was angry, lights lighting themselves when I cried.
"You're saying"
"Yes," he cut in softly. "You were born of fire. Just like me."
The room went quiet except for the sound of my heartbeat beating against the mark.
And then he added, almost to himself, "If the prophecy is true, you'll either save me… or end me."
I stared at him, my breath unsteady. "And what if I choose neither?"
His eyes met mine, slow and intense. "Then fate will choose for you."
A shiver ran through me. I turned away, holding the sheet, trying to quiet the storm in my chest.
"I'm not your saviour," I said quietly. "And I'm not your executioner. I'm just trying to survive."
His eyes relaxed, just slightly. "Then learn to survive the fire."
He left again, closing the door behind him this time.
I sat there for what felt like hours, looking at the faint glow of the mark over my heart.
It glowed once. Twice. Then faster.
And as I finally drifted into uncomfortable sleep, I heard his voice not in the room, but in my mind.
Whispering my name.
My mark blazed red-hot and through the darkness, Kael whispered my name in his sleep, his fire reaching for me across the walls.