75

75
Thalia’s POV
The moon followed me back to my room that night.
It hung low and pale outside the window, its light spilling across the floor like silver water, too calm for what was storming inside my head.
The air still smelled faintly of smoke, even here. I didn’t know if it clung to my clothes from the council chamber or if the whole castle had soaked it in. Either way, it made sleep impossible.
I sat on the edge of the bed, my hands trembling slightly. They were blistered where I’d touched Jaden’s burning skin earlier. Nancy had wrapped them in a salve, but the memory of heat lingered deeper than the wounds.
He had nearly burned the Elders alive.
And I had touched that fire.
I should’ve been afraid. Any sane person would’ve been. But the only thing I could think about was the look in his eyes just before he broke — that split second where he’d seen me, and not the curse.
“You’re not afraid of him,” Nancy said softly from the doorway.
I looked up. She stood half in shadow, her expression unreadable.
“Should I be?” I asked.
Her lips pressed into a thin line. “He’s still a man bound to a beast. It doesn’t matter how much you love him—if that curse wins, he won’t remember your name.”
I flinched at the word love, though she hadn’t meant it cruelly. Still, it landed somewhere deep, too close to something I didn’t want to name.
“I don’t love him,” I said.
Nancy raised an eyebrow. “Then why did you walk into fire for him?”
I didn’t answer.
She sighed. “Be careful, Thalia. Power like his draws blood from anyone who stands too close.”
When she left, the silence thickened again. I lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, and let the bond hum faintly between us — that invisible thread still warm from earlier.
For the first time, I wondered if it had changed somehow.
If by touching his curse, I’d taken a piece of it into myself.
My eyelids grew heavy, but sleep came like falling into deep water — too fast, too dark.

I was back in the council chamber.
Only now, the room was filled with ash instead of people. The walls dripped soot. The table burned endlessly, the flames whispering names I couldn’t understand.
“Thalia.”
I turned. Jaden stood at the far end, his eyes molten gold, but his expression was wrong — twisted with pain. Fire poured from his chest like liquid sunlight, scorching the floor wherever it touched.
“Don’t come closer,” he rasped.
“Jaden,” I tried to move, but my feet wouldn’t obey. The floor beneath me turned to glass, and beneath it, I saw shadows moving — wolves with eyes like dying stars.
They were whispering my name now.
One voice rose above the others, soft but venomous. You think you can tame the cursed?
The glass cracked. I fell—
And woke up gasping, drenched in sweat.
My heart hammered so hard it hurt. The air in the room was heavy, wrong, as though the dream had followed me back. The candle beside my bed flickered wildly, its flame bending toward the window.
“Jaden?” I whispered, though I knew he couldn’t hear me.
Still, the bond pulsed faintly in response — weak, distant, like he was dreaming too.
I slid out of bed and went to the window. Outside, the moon had shifted behind clouds, its light gone pale and sickly. The courtyard below was empty except for the guards, their armor glinting dully in the dark.
And then I saw it.
A flicker — small, quick — near the training yard. Like a spark of fire in the shadows.
My heart skipped. I pressed my palm to the cold glass, the bandages rough against my skin. “Jaden…”
The flame vanished.
For a long time, I stayed there, staring into the dark, waiting for the bond to stir again. It didn’t.
But the air didn’t feel empty either. It felt watchful.

I must have dozed again, because the next thing I knew, the door creaked open.
“Thalia?”
I sat up sharply. “Nancy?”
But it wasn’t Nancy. It was Nyra.
Her presence filled the doorway, tall, shadowed, her dark hair spilling loose around her face. The moonlight made her eyes glint oddly — like frost over steel.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said, her tone softer than usual. “You looked restless.”
I swallowed, still shaken. “I was dreaming.”
“About him.”
It wasn’t a question.
I nodded once.
Nyra’s gaze dropped to my hands. “You touched his fire.”
“Yes.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
“I had to.”
Her jaw tightened, but something flickered in her expression — not anger, not pity, something closer to sorrow. “You remind me of someone,” she murmured.
“Who?”
She hesitated. “Someone who believed love could cure a curse.”
There was so much pain behind her words that I didn’t dare ask more. She turned toward the window, her silhouette sharp against the faint light.
“You don’t understand what’s coming,” she said quietly. “Coran won’t let this rest. The Elders will move before dawn. They think he’s lost control.”
My breath caught. “They’re going after Jaden?”
She didn’t answer directly. “Keep your door locked. If anyone asks where he is—say you don’t know.”
“Nyra—”
But she was already gone.
The door shut softly, leaving the air colder than before.
I sank back onto the bed, trembling.
Outside, the first faint streaks of dawn began to creep over the horizon, but they brought no warmth.
Only the hollow certainty that by sunrise, everything would change.