Chapter 17: THE SHADOWS THAT FOLLOW US

Logan POV

The courtyard had not fully calmed since the assassin attack.

Guards whispered. Nobles stared at me with suspicion. The elders watched me as if I had become unpredictable, a king ruled not by discipline… but by emotion.

Let them whisper.

I had already given the order that “No one approaches Ophelia without my permission. No one.”

A king’s word should have been enough, but I saw the way their eyes widened, the way they looked at her. As if she were a threat. As if I had lost control.

Maybe I had, but I wanted it.

Her fire still burned behind my eyelids. A power that should not exist. A power that had saved her life.

And reacted only to me, only my touch makes her wrist glow.

I clenched my jaw as I entered the east wing of my private area, where I had assigned her to stay. A reckless decision, a dangerous one.

But I needed her close. For answers, control and something else I refused to name.

I stopped in the shadows before her door. She sat on the floor inside, arms around her knees, breathing shakily, in fear not for me.

She has been like this since the assassin died, she trusts nobody but me, it haunted me to see her like this. I feel hopeless.

My chest tightened, and before I could stop myself, I stepped inside.

“Ophelia.”

She looked up sharply. Her wrist glowed faintly around me. Why?

I knelt beside her, holding her hand. I can feel her pain, I saw the connection she has with me. It made me more curious. What she is hiding. What behind her glowing wrist.

“Why does your magic only react to me?” I asked quietly, staring into her eyes reading all of her expression.

She shook her head slowly, tears clinging to the edge of her lashes. “I… I don’t know.”

It wasn’t a lie. I knew her scent well enough now to detect deceit.

But the glow… the fire… something ancient stirred when she was close.

I held her wrist lightly. It flared brighter.

A shiver went through her and through me.

I released her quickly and stood, my gaze drafted away from her, my hand behind my back adjusting my silk.

“This power hasn’t been seen in centuries,” I muttered. “There are texts… old texts. I’ll show you.”

“Texts?” Her voice barely above a whispered.

“Yes. A hidden library,” I answered. “Somewhere only the kings can enter.”

She didn't remember the library, she lost her memories slowly, a s it's only when I am around her.

The library somewhere no one would dare spy on us.

This was… also part of my test.

I needed to know who, or what she was.

Ancient library built before I was born, mysteries and only listens to the Lycans command.

“Come,” I ordered, though my voice sounded softer than I intended.

She rose shakily and followed.

And I pretended not to notice how relieved I felt to have her near.

Ophelia's POV

The palace was too quiet.

As I followed King Logan through a hidden stone passageway, my heart thudded violently. I could still feel the echo of fire beneath my skin, the fire that had saved my life, the fire that terrified me.

The fire that reacted to him.

When he touched my wrist earlier… I almost fainted from the pull.

I didn’t know what this was.

I didn’t know what I was.

We reached a tall iron door carved with runes that hummed faintly when king Logan approached.

The door opened on its own.

A cold shiver rushed down my spine. The place is so familiar like I have been here before, it feels like a few memories of mine have been deleted, but what's it?

Inside, candles ignited one by one, illuminating shelves of ancient books, scrolls, and crystal spheres.

“Where… is this place?” I whispered.

“Only kings know of it,” King Logan replied. “And now you.”

Why me?

“Come,” he said again, walking deeper into the library.

I followed, hesitating.

He pulled an ancient book from the top shelf and placed it gently on the table.

“Fire magic,” he said. “Banned. Lost. Some believe it died with the first kings.”

He opened to a page with a drawing of a woman made of flames.

My chest tightened.

Below it, written in ancient script

Child of Fire, Bringer of Balance, or Bringer of Doom.

I took a step back.

King Logan watched me closely. Too closely.

“Why me?” My voice cracked. “Why would I have this?”

“I was hoping you’d tell me,” he said.

I swallowed hard.

“I don’t know anything.”

He studied me for a long, heavy moment. I couldn’t look away. His eyes felt like chains, holding me there, stripping me bare.

And then…

Something