Claimed By Fire And Crown

Chapter 22

“I’m going outside.”

The words came out fast enough that neither of them had time to stop me before I pushed back from the table and headed toward the front door. I could still feel the heat crackling unevenly beneath my skin after the last flare from the fireplace, and staying inside suddenly felt like a terrible idea.

Behind me, Vaelor was still laughing.

“I’m serious,” I called over my shoulder as I pulled the door open. “If the house catches fire, that’s on both of you.”

“Technically,” Vaelor replied, still sounding far too entertained by this entire situation, “it would be on you.”

I shot him a glare sharp enough to kill lesser men before stepping outside.

Cold air hit my skin immediately, cutting through some of the lingering warmth curling beneath my ribs. I exhaled slowly as I moved off the porch and into the clearing, damp morning grass brushing against my bare feet while pale sunlight filtered through the trees surrounding the house.

Everything looked too peaceful.

Too normal.

Like my entire life hadn’t completely fallen apart in less than two days.

I walked farther from the house automatically, rubbing both hands over my face as I tried forcing my thoughts into something manageable. My head still felt crowded with too many impossible things at once: dragons, living fire, hidden factions, and the growing realization that everyone seemed to know more about my life than I did.

Somewhere beneath all of that confusion, though, something inside me kept reacting to this world like it recognized it already.

That part scared me the most.

The warmth beneath my ribs pulsed softly again as I slowed near the edge of the clearing, wrapping my arms loosely around myself while I stared deeper into the trees.

“I don’t even know who I am anymore,” I muttered.

The breeze shifted lightly around me.

Then warmed.

I frowned immediately.

Morning air should not have felt like that.

Heat brushed faintly across my skin in uneven waves, subtle but unmistakable, and my attention sharpened as I glanced around the clearing again. Nothing looked different at first. The trees stood still except for the occasional movement of leaves overhead, and the mist hanging low against the ground drifted lazily between the trunks.

Then I saw it.

Smoke curled faintly above the treeline farther ahead.

Not from the house.

From deeper in the woods.

My pulse jumped hard enough that I instinctively took a step forward before stopping myself. Wandering into mysterious smoke in the middle of dragon territory felt like the exact kind of decision that usually got people killed.

Still…

The warmth inside me reacted again.

Not fear.

Recognition.

The pull came sharper this time, low and steady beneath my ribs, like something inside me knew exactly what waited deeper in those woods.

“Please don’t do something reckless.”

I jumped slightly before turning to find Rhaegar standing a few feet behind me, arms crossed loosely over his chest as he watched me with entirely too much awareness for this early in the morning.

“You really need to stop appearing silently.”

“You’re distracted again.”

“There’s smoke,” I said immediately, pointing toward the trees.

Rhaegar followed the direction with his gaze before looking back at me. Unlike me, he didn’t seem remotely alarmed.

“I know.”

I blinked. “You know?”

“It’s controlled.”

“That’s somehow not reassuring.”

“It isn’t dangerous.”

I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously before glancing back toward the smoke drifting above the trees.

Then the warmth beneath my ribs pulled again.

Stronger.

I went still immediately.

Rhaegar noticed the shift in my expression without missing a beat. “What?”

I hesitated before answering. “It feels…” I frowned slightly, struggling to explain something I barely understood myself. “Familiar.”

Something subtle changed in his expression.

Without another word, he turned and started walking toward the woods.

I stared after him in disbelief. “That’s it? No explanation?”

“You’re coming anyway.”

The irritating part was that he was right.

Again.

I muttered something under my breath before following him into the trees, stepping carefully over roots and damp earth while morning light filtered through the branches overhead. The farther we walked, the warmer the air became—not naturally warm, but alive somehow, carrying the same strange awareness I’d started noticing in the fire inside the house.

The feeling under my ribs strengthened with every step.

Rhaegar stayed slightly ahead of me, pushing branches aside when the path narrowed without ever fully taking his attention off me for long. Every now and then I’d catch him glancing back, watching my reactions carefully.

“You’re doing that thing again,” I said.

“What thing?”

“Observing me like I’m some kind of experiment.”

“You’re significantly more dangerous than most experiments.”

“That’s still not comforting.”

A faint shift touched the corner of his mouth before he looked forward again.

The smoke thickened as we moved deeper into the woods until finally the trees opened into another clearing smaller than the one surrounding the house. Blackened stones circled the center where flames burned low inside an enormous fire pit.

I slowed automatically.

Something about the fire was wrong.

Not dangerous wrong.

Impossible wrong.

The flames didn’t move like normal fire. Gold and orange twisted together in slow spirals that never fully settled, bending and shifting like something alive beneath the surface was breathing through them.

Heat rolled instantly across my skin.

And something inside me answered.

My breath caught sharply as the warmth beneath my ribs surged hard enough to make me dizzy for half a second.

The fire lifted.

Not upward.

Toward me.

I stumbled back instinctively as flames curled higher along the edge of the pit, twisting in my direction with unmistakable awareness.

Rhaegar watched me carefully but didn’t move closer.

The heat inside me spread rapidly through my chest and arms while the fire responded again, brighter this time, the flames moving with growing excitement rather than aggression.

“What is this?” I whispered.

Rhaegar’s gaze stayed fixed on the fire.

“Dragon fire.”

The words settled heavily into the clearing.

I stared at the flames in disbelief as they continued reaching toward me in slow twisting waves, reacting to my presence like they recognized me.

Like they’d been waiting for me.

“That’s impossible,” I breathed.

“No,” Rhaegar said quietly. “It’s yours.”