Whispers in the Flame
Seraphina’s POV
I didn’t sleep.
The stone ceiling of my chamber seemed to press down like a second prophecy cold, unyielding, and watching. My skin still hummed with heat that wouldn’t die down, as if the fire I’d summoned in the woods had left a permanent mark on me.
Rael hadn’t said a word after we entered the stronghold. No lingering glances. No almost-touch. Just silence, and that terrifying calm he wore like armor.
But I felt him.
Through the walls, through the bond that hadn’t fully formed but pulsed like a secret promise. The air between us had changed.
So had I.
I sat up in bed, dragging fingers through my tangled hair, still dusted with soot. I half expected my sheets to catch fire when I swung my legs over the edge.
They didn’t.
Maybe that was the
