Seris POV
The war drums stop.
I freeze, heart pounding. The sudden silence is worse than the noise. What does it mean? Are they attacking? Retreating?
I press my face against the window, but I can't see anything from this angle. The sun is barely up, painting everything in shades of gray and orange.
Then I hear it. A single voice shouting across the distance.
"SERIS HOLLOWAY! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!"
Corwin. That's Corwin's voice.
My hands start shaking. My ex-mate, the man who burned me alive, is calling my name like he has any right to.
"COME OUT AND FACE ME! OR ARE YOU HIDING BEHIND THE ASH KING LIKE A COWARD?"
Rage floods through me. How DARE he call me a coward? He's the one who rejected me, who lit the pyre, who left me to die!
Before I can think, I'm moving toward the door. The guards try to stop me.
"Lady Seris, His Majesty said—"
"I don't care what he said!" I push past them. My hands are heating up, flames dancing across my palms. "That's MY fight out there, not his!"
I run through the fortress halls. Warriors try to stop me, but I dodge around them. My blood is boiling. My power is surging. For weeks I've been hiding, training, cowering like a victim.
But that voice from my dream was right. I'm not that girl anymore.
I burst through the main doors and onto the fortress walls. Vaelor is there with Kael and a line of archers. He spins around when he hears me.
"Seris! What are you—"
"CORWIN!" I scream over the wall. "I'M RIGHT HERE!"
The army goes silent. Every single wolf stares up at me.
Corwin steps forward, and even from this distance, I see his face go pale. "You're... you're alive. You're actually alive."
"Disappointed?" I shout back. "Sorry to ruin your plans!"
"Seris, I—" Corwin's voice cracks. "I thought you were dead. The bones in the ashes—"
"Were fake! I survived, Corwin! I survived the pyre YOU lit! I survived being burned alive by my own mate!"
Vaelor grabs my arm. "What are you doing?" he hisses. "You promised to stay inside—"
"I'm done hiding!" I pull away from him. "This is MY past. MY fight. And I'm ending it NOW!"
I turn back to Corwin. "You want me? Then come get me yourself! Just you and me, no army. Let's see if you're brave enough to face me when I can actually fight back!"
The witch—Morgana—laughs. It's a cold, cruel sound. "Foolish girl. You think you can challenge an Alpha?"
"I'm challenging MY Alpha!" I correct her. "The one who rejected me. Or are you too scared, Corwin? Afraid I might not be so weak anymore?"
Corwin looks torn. Behind him, Lyria whispers something in his ear. He shakes his head at whatever she said.
"Seris," Corwin calls. "Come down here. Let's talk. There's so much I need to explain—"
"EXPLAIN?" My power explodes outward. Silver flames erupt from my body, climbing the fortress walls, lighting up the dawn sky. "You want to EXPLAIN why you burned me alive? Why you rejected me in front of everyone? Why you believed lies instead of trusting your own mate?"
The flames grow higher. I can't control them, and right now, I don't care.
Vaelor steps in front of me, blocking Corwin's view. "Seris, breathe. You're losing control."
"Maybe I WANT to lose control!" Tears stream down my face, evaporating the moment they touch my burning skin. "Maybe I'm tired of being controlled, of being weak, of being everyone's victim!"
"You're not weak," Vaelor says firmly. His hands cup my face, forcing me to look at him. "You're angry. There's a difference. But if you lose control now, people will die. OUR people. The warriors on these walls. Mira. Kael. Is that what you want?"
His words cut through my rage. I look around and realize he's right—my flames are spreading across the wall. Warriors are backing away, terrified.
I take a shaking breath and pull the fire back in. It hurts. Everything hurts.
"I'm sorry," I whisper.
"Don't apologize." Vaelor's thumbs wipe away my tears gently. "Just breathe."
Below us, Morgana starts laughing again. "How touching. The Ash King and his little pet flame. Tell me, Your Majesty, how long do you think you can protect her? We have two thousand warriors. You have five hundred. Simple mathematics."
"Maybe." Vaelor's voice drops to something dangerous. "But we have something you don't. We have HER."
He points at me. "You want the Flamebinder? You'll have to go through me first. And I promise you, witch—I don't die easily."
Morgana's smile fades. "So be it. We attack at noon. Prepare your defenses, Ash King. Because by sunset, this fortress will be ash, and the girl will be mine."
She turns and walks back to the army. Corwin hesitates, looking up at me one more time.
"Seris, please. I never wanted this. I never wanted to hurt you—"
"But you did!" My voice breaks. "You hurt me worse than anyone ever has. And now you show up with an army and expect me to just... what? Forgive you? Come back?"
"I made a mistake—"
"You made a CHOICE!" I lean over the wall. "You chose Lyria over me. You chose your reputation over our bond. You chose to light that pyre. So don't you DARE say you never wanted to hurt me. You CHOSE to."
Corwin's face crumbles. For a moment, he looks like the boy I fell in love with three years ago. Lost. Broken. Human.
Then Lyria touches his arm and the moment shatters. He straightens, his expression hardening.
"Noon," he says coldly. "Surrender by noon, or we take the fortress by force. Your choice, Seris."
He walks away. The army begins preparing for battle.
I slump against the wall, exhausted. All the anger drains out of me, leaving just emptiness.
Vaelor guides me away from the edge. "That was incredibly stupid."
"I know."
"And incredibly brave."
I look up at him in surprise. He's smiling—actually smiling.
"You faced your abuser and didn't back down," Vaelor says. "That takes strength most people never find. I'm proud of you."
Something warm blooms in my chest. When was the last time someone said they were proud of me?
"But now we have a problem," Kael interrupts. "They attack at noon. That gives us four hours to prepare."
"Then we prepare." Vaelor's commander voice returns. "Double the archers. Fortify the gates. And Seris—"
"I'm not hiding again," I say firmly.
"I wasn't going to ask you to." Vaelor's eyes gleam. "I was going to ask if you're ready to learn how to really use your power. Because in four hours, we're going to need everything you've got."
He leads me down from the walls to a private training area. For the next three hours, Vaelor pushes me harder than ever before. He teaches me how to create walls of fire, how to throw flames like weapons, how to burn hot enough to melt steel.
By the time we're done, I'm exhausted but exhilarated. For the first time, I feel like I might actually survive this.
An hour before noon, Vaelor takes me to a quiet corner of the fortress. We're alone.
"There's something I need to tell you," he says. "Before the battle. Just in case..."
"Don't." I put my hand over his mouth. "Don't say 'just in case.' We're both surviving this."
He pulls my hand away but doesn't let go. "Seris, when I found you in the forest, I told you I'd been searching for a Flamebinder my whole life. That was true. But it wasn't the whole truth."
My heart starts racing. "What do you mean?"
"My wife, Ellara. She wasn't just anyone." Vaelor's voice gets rough. "She was your cousin. Your father's niece."
The world tilts. "What?"
"She had the same silver-veined scars you do. The same connection to fire. She was a Flamebinder too, but her power never fully awakened. She died before..." He stops. "Before I could help her."
Oh goddess. That's why he's so protective. I don't just remind him of his mother—I remind him of his dead WIFE.
"So all this time," I whisper, "you've been trying to save me because I look like her?"
"No." Vaelor grabs my shoulders. "At first, maybe. But not anymore. Seris, you're not a replacement for Ellara. You're—"
A horn blasts. Three short bursts.
The attack signal.
Noon has arrived.
Vaelor and I run to the walls. Below us, two thousand wolves begin their charge.
And at the front, wreathed in dark magic and smiling like death itself, is Morgana the blood witch.
She raises her hands, and the earth itself begins to shake.