Chapter One Hundred & Thirty Three
Chapter One Hundred & Thirty Three
Nora's P.O.V
I wasn't sure he even realized what he'd admitted.
My fingers gave his hand the gentlest squeeze.
"Good," I said.
"I'd hate to think I was stuck here with someone who never smiled."
His eyes softened.
"I'll make an effort."
"You don't have to force it."
"I know."
Another comfortable silence settled over us.
For the first time since arriving, I wasn't thinking about the castle.
Or the crown.
Or the army.
Or even the impossible future waiting for me.
I was simply sitting on my bed with the man who had spent centuries waiting for someone he had never met.
Neither of us knew exactly where this would lead.
Neither of us was trying to rush it.
And somehow...
That felt right.
Rael gave my hand one last reassuring squeeze before I let go.
“I’m going to shower,” I said, sitting up and pushing the blankets aside. “Then I’ll come down for breakfast.”
He nodded.
“I’ll have breakfast waiting.”
He stood, pausing only long enough to make sure I looked a little more like myself before walking toward the door.
“Nora?”
“Yeah?”
“If anything feels... different.”
His eyes held mine.
“You call me.”
“I will.”
He inclined his head and stepped out, quietly pulling the door shut behind him.
The room fell silent.
I climbed out of bed, stretching the stiffness from my shoulders as I gathered a fresh change of clothes. Yesterday had been... everything.
A new realm.
A castle.
A kingdom.
A bond I still didn't fully understand.
And today was somehow supposed to be normal.
I shook my head, smiling to myself as I disappeared into the adjoining bathroom.
Steam quickly filled the room as I turned on the shower, the warm water cascading over polished stone. R
The heat felt incredible.
The second I stepped beneath it, I closed my eyes, letting the water wash away the lingering exhaustion. My shoulders relaxed for the first time since arriving, and I tilted my face into the spray, breathing deeply.
Maybe today wouldn't be so overwhelming after all.
I rinsed the shampoo from my hair, fingers combing through the strands.
Then—
Something shifted.
I frowned.
Heat.
Not from the water.
From inside me.
It spread through my chest in seconds, rolling beneath my skin like molten metal.
"No..."
My breathing caught.
The warmth intensified.
Too fast.
I reached for my power instinctively, trying to steady it the way I always had.
Instead—
It surged.
Green light flickered beneath my skin.
My heartbeat accelerated.
"What is..."
I reached for the controls, twisting the water colder.
The icy spray hit my skin.
It didn't help.
The fire kept building.
Hotter.
Like something inside me had decided it wasn't listening anymore.
My hands began to shake.
I braced myself against the wall, trying to breathe through it.
"Come on..."
Nothing.
Another pulse ripped through me.
The shower walls trembled.
Cracks of green light raced across my forearms before disappearing again.
My knees buckled.
I hit the floor hard, catching myself against the stone.
"No..."
This wasn't like before.
When I'd first awakened my abilities, the power had been wild.
This...
This felt different.
Stronger.
Older.
Like the realm itself was feeding it.
"I can't..."
The words barely came out.
The air around me distorted.
The mirrors vibrated.
Hairline fractures spread across the marble beneath me.
The fire was leaking through my control, curling around my arms in thin ribbons of emerald light that hissed through the steam.
Fear gripped my chest.
If this continued—
The room wouldn't survive it.
The castle might not.
There was only one person I trusted to know what to do.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Rael!"
The scream tore from my throat.
The answer was immediate.
The air folded.
One heartbeat I was alone.
The next—
He was there.
He didn't hesitate.
His jacket hit the floor before he reached me.
Ignoring the soaking water, he dropped beside me on the stone, one knee splashing into the pooling water as his eyes took in the green fire climbing my arms.
"Nora."
Concern filled his voice.
Real concern.
He reached for me carefully.
"Rael..." I whispered, barely holding on. "I can't stop it."
The fire flared.
The bathroom shook.
He wrapped his arms around me, anchoring my trembling body before I could collapse completely.
His voice stayed calm.
Steady.
"Let it go."
My eyes snapped open.
"What?"
"Stop fighting it."
Panic shot through me.
"I'll hurt you."
"You won't."
"I can't risk—"
He gently took my face in both hands, forcing me to look at him.
"Nora."
His voice cut through everything.
"Trust me."
The room groaned around us.
The green fire brightened until the stone walls glowed with its reflection.
Every instinct screamed at me to keep holding it back.
But his eyes never left mine.
Calm.
Certain.
For the first time since the power began surging, I wasn't alone.
I took one shaky breath.
Then another.
And finally—
I stopped resisting.
The fire exploded outward.
It rushed from me in a blinding wave of emerald light, filling the bathroom from floor to ceiling.
The marble cracked.
The mirrors should have shattered.
The walls should have been reduced to rubble.
Instead—
The flames stopped.
Not against the walls.
Around him.
They circled Rael in widening rings, roaring with enough force to shake the room, yet never once touching him.
His clothes whipped in the pressure of the blast.
His hair stirred in the current of living fire.
But he didn't flinch.
Didn't burn.
Didn't even blink.
The inferno spiraled around the two of us like a storm finding its center.
Slowly...
Impossibly...
The fire began to quiet.
Not because it had been forced.
Because it had chosen to.
Because somehow—
It recognized him.
I couldn't breathe.
Not because the fire had taken the air.
Because I was staring at something that should have been impossible.
The emerald flames circled us in widening rings, roaring loud enough to shake the castle itself, yet the moment they reached Rael...
They softened.
They bent.
Like water flowing around stone.
Not a single thread of green touched him.
The bathroom should have been gone.
The walls should have crumbled.