Chapter 171 Seraphine
The moment my fingers rested against the egg—
It changed.
At first, it was subtle. A tremor. A pulse beneath my skin that didn’t belong to me.
Then... Crack.
The sound was soft. Delicate. But it echoed through me like something had just split open inside my chest.
My breath caught. “Dante…” I whispered, my voice barely there.
The surface of the egg fractured in thin, glowing lines, like light was breaking through from the inside. The opal shimmer turned blinding, colors bleeding into white, pure, radiant, almost too much to look at.
Then it broke. Not apart, but open.
And what came out of it wasn’t a creature. It was magic. White. Silver.
Shimmering like stardust caught in motion.
It shot forward and straight into me.
I gasped as it slammed into my hand, the force of it knocking the air from my lungs. The light wrapped around my wrist, my arm, my chest and then it sank in.
“No—!” Dante’s voice snapped beside me.
Too late. The magic poured into me like it had been waiting for this. For me.
Pain hit. Not sharp. Not quick. But everywhere.
Like my body was being rewritten from the inside out.
I screamed.
My back arched as the light spread through me, burning, not like fire, but like something deeper. Something ancient. My veins felt like they were filled with molten stars, my bones cracking under pressure that shouldn’t exist.
My dragon roared. Not in power but in pain.
What is this—?! Her voice tore through me, panicked, furious, afraid in a way I had never heard before.
“I—don’t—know—!” I choked out, my fingers clawing at the floor, at Dante, at anything.
The black fire surged violently around me, spilling out, uncontrolled, licking up the walls, the ceiling, the broken kitchen like it was trying to protect me or fight it off.
But it didn’t stop it. Nothing stopped it.
The silver light burned deeper.
It’s inside us! my dragon cried. It’s changing us!
My vision blurred. Everything hurt. My heart stuttered, then slammed violently against my ribs as something inside me shifted... Expanded... Opened.
“Seraphine!” Dante’s voice was right there now, panicked, raw, his hands grabbing me, trying to pull me back, but I couldn’t feel him properly anymore.
I couldn’t feel anything properly.
The light surged one last time. Brighter. Stronger.
Then... Everything went dark.
DANTE
She went limp in my arms.
“Seraphine—!”
I caught her before she hit the floor, dropping to my knees with her, pulling her against me as her body went completely slack.
“No, no, no—hey—hey, stay with me—”
Her skin. Fuck.
She was burning. Not just warm. Burning.
Heat rolled off her in waves, her black fire still flickering wildly across her skin, curling along her arms, her throat, her face, but it wasn’t controlled.
It wasn’t her.
“What the fuck just happened—?!” I snarled, my dragon slamming forward in my chest.
That was not normal.
“No shit,” I snapped under my breath, gripping her tighter as her body trembled once—then stilled again.
Her chest was still rising. Barely.
“She’s breathing,” I muttered, more to myself than anything else. “She’s breathing—she’s fine—she’s fine—”
She was not fine.
Her fire flickered again, violent, unstable, like it didn’t know what it was doing.
“Seraphine—come on—wake up—”
Nothing.
My heart started pounding harder. Too fast. Too loud. Too wrong.
Call someone, my dragon snapped. Now.
“I know!”
I shifted, pulling my phone out with one hand, keeping her close with the other. My fingers shook as I hit Lucian’s contact.
He picked up on the second ring. “What—”
“Get here,” I cut him off, my voice sharp, breaking. “Now.” I recited the address where we were at.
There was a pause.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know,” I snapped. “Something—something came out of this egg we found. It—it went into her. She touched it and it just—attached to her—”
Lucian’s tone shifted instantly. “Dante.”
“She’s burning, Lucian,” I said, my voice dropping, rough, tight with something I didn’t want to name. “Her fire’s still there, but she’s out cold. She screamed and then just—dropped—”
“Okay. Okay,” Lucian said quickly. “I’m coming. I’ll grab my dad. Stay with her. Don’t let her temperature spike too high—”
“How the fuck do I stop that?” I snapped.
“Water—don’t smother her fire, just... stabilize it if it surges. I’ll be there in five.”
The line went dead.
I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe properly. Just held her. Her head rested against my chest, her body still too hot, too tense even in unconsciousness.
“What did you do…?” I whispered, my hand brushing her hair back, my throat tightening as I looked at her face—too pale, too still.
Her dragon flickered beneath the surface.
Still there. Still alive. But unstable.
Something entered her, my dragon said lowly. Something ancient.
"Do you know what this is?" I demanded.
For a second... Nothing.
Then pain. It slammed into me through her dragon like a wave, raw and unfiltered, ripping straight through my chest.
I don’t— her dragon choked, her voice strained, broken in a way I had never heard before. I don’t know what it is—
Another surge. Hotter. Worse.
It hurts, she gasped. It hurts—everything hurts—I don’t know what to do—
My grip tightened instinctively. “Fuck—”
She was getting hotter. Too hot. This wasn’t normal.
“Okay—okay—hold on—”
I shifted quickly, keeping her cradled against me as I reached blindly for the counter, grabbing the first cloth I could find. I didn’t even check if it was clean. I didn’t care.
I shoved it under the faucet, cold water blasting over it before I wrung it out fast and pressed it against her forehead.
Her skin hissed faintly. “Shit—”
I moved the cloth quickly, her cheeks, her throat, anywhere I could cool her down without fighting her fire completely.
“Come on,” I muttered, my voice low, tight. “Stay with me, baby… just—stay with me—”
Her fire flickered again. Violent. Unsteady.
Then—
Dante.
My dragon’s voice dropped. Different. Not panicked. Not angry. Something else.
She’s changing.
I frowned immediately, my eyes snapping down to her. “What?”
And then I saw it. Her hair. At first, I thought it was the light. The flicker of her fire.
But no... It was real.
The ends of her fire-red hair were shifting. Bleaching. Turning... White. Not dull. Not faded. Bright. Almost glowing, like starlight had threaded itself into the tips of her hair.
“What the hell…?” I whispered.
It spread slowly. Not all of it. Just the ends. Like something was marking her. Claiming her.
My chest tightened.
That’s not fire, my dragon muttered.
No. It wasn’t. It was something else.