Chapter 57
Evelyn’s pov
The dungeon was colder than I expected.
Kael walked beside me, his presence blazing even in this darkness. His flames had dimmed since last night, but they still smoldered along his skin, restless, searching. He hadn’t wanted me here his jaw had been tight when I told him I was coming. But he hadn’t refused me. That, in itself, was something new.
The guards stood aside at Kael’s approach, their eyes lowering, their fear almost tangible. I wondered what they saw when they looked at him. To me, Kael was warmth and fire, obsession and safety. To them, he was a storm that burned everything in his path. The cell door opened and the two spies hung in chains, their faces drawn and pale, their skin marred with blistered burns where Kael’s fire had already touched them. They looked up as we entered, and in their eyes I saw hatred hatred and something colder, something that made the hair at my nape stand on end. They were not afraid of dying. Kael’s hand rested on the small of my back, firm, grounding. “One word,” he said softly, his voice meant only for me. “And I will burn them to ash.”
But killing them wouldn’t give us answers. I stepped forward, ignoring the hiss of chains as the men stirred. Their eyes tracked me with an intensity that made my stomach twist. She belongs to the Chain. The words they had spoken yesterday still rang in my head. I needed to know why.
“Tell me,” I said quietly, “who sent you.”
The first man smirked, his lips cracked and bleeding. “You already know.”
Kael’s fire flared dangerously at my side, but I lifted a hand. “No. Let me.”
I didn’t know what I was doing until it happened.
Something deep within me stirred a ripple beneath my skin, a hum in my blood. It was like opening a door I hadn’t known was there. My vision sharpened, every flicker of torchlight etched in impossible clarity. The chains rattled, and with the sound came a vibration that resonated in my bones.
I met the man’s eyes, and the world narrowed.
“Tell me,” I whispered again.
He jerked as though struck. His pupils dilated, his breath hitched, and suddenly words tumbled from his mouth like stones loosed from a cliff.
“The Chain,” he gasped. “The Chain sent us. We were ordered to watch you, to record every detail. They told us you were theirs, that no fire could claim you, that when the time came, we would deliver you to them.”
My stomach lurched. “Why? Why me?”
His lips trembled, but the power I didn’t understand tightened its grip.
“Because you carry it,” he said. His voice was raw, guttural, as if dragged from his throat against his will. “The mark. The bond. You are the key. The Chain waits for you, and when you are given over, the world will burn in their name.”
The cell went deathly silent.
Kael moved so fast the air cracked, his hand burning against the man’s jaw. “Lies,” he snarled, his fire surging. “She is mine. No chain binds her but mine.”
But even as the man screamed, I could feel it the truth in his words. My blood thrummed with the echo of power, with something vast and coiled waiting in the dark.
I staggered back, breathless. The hum beneath my skin didn’t fade. It clawed at me, hungry, demanding more.
I turned to the second spy, my heart pounding. “You,” I said, and my voice didn’t sound like my own it vibrated with something deeper, something older. “Tell me everything.”
His body seized, his head jerking as if fighting an invisible hand. His lips cracked open, blood smearing his teeth.
“The Chain rises,” he rasped. “They gather in the north, in the ruins of Ashmoor. They wait for the key to awaken. When you come to them, their shackles will fall, and their true master will return.”
He convulsed, foam gathering at the corners of his mouth. His eyes rolled back, and then he went still, chains clinking softly in the silence and dead. My knees buckled but Kael caught me before I hit the floor, his fire wrapping around me like a second skin. His chest rose and fell in furious, uneven breaths.
“What did you do?” His voice was hoarse, roughened by fear and awe. “Evelyn what are you?”
I pressed my face against him, trembling. “I don’t know. I don’t know, Kael, I didn’t mean-"
“You made them speak.” His grip tightened painfully, his fire biting against my skin. “You pulled truth from their throats. That power… it should not exist. And yet it lives in you.”
I shivered, my mind spinning with the words the spies had spoken. The key. The mark. The Chain waiting in the ruins of Ashmoor.
Kael’s hand tangled in my hair, dragging my head back so I had no choice but to meet his blazing gaze.
“They want you,” he whispered, his fire spilling between us. “They think you belong to them. But you don’t. You never will. You are mine, Evelyn. Whatever power runs in your blood, whatever chains reach for you I will burn them all.”
His vow seared into me, as terrifying as the power still thrumming beneath my skin.
But deep inside, a darker thought whispered back.
If I am the key then what happens when the lock is opened?