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The smell of smoke still clung to the air.
Aria’s legs were trembling as Kael guided her out of the council chamber. The coronation had ended, but its echoes were still burning in her mind — the whispered vows, the eyes that followed her, the unexpected burst of fire that had surged when her palm met Kael’s under the Moon’s light.
She hadn’t meant for it to happen. One moment she was simply following the ritual, the next… flames had curled up her arm, glowing an unnatural silver and gold before vanishing into her skin like they’d always been a part of her.
The pack had gone silent in that moment. Even Kael’s grip had tightened — not in warning, but in something that felt dangerously close to awe.
Now, as they walked through the dim corridors of Blackthorn Hall, Kael kept one hand
