Chapter 13 — Ash Between Us
1561 Words
The corridors beyond the throne hall were a maze of fractured stone and starlit ruin, still trembling from the Queen’s approaching presence. Eirena and Kael moved quickly through the shadows, their footsteps echoing like whispers behind them.
But the silence between them was louder.
Kael kept two steps ahead, sword drawn, shoulders tight with tension. He didn’t look back at her not once since they’d escaped the hall. Eirena watched the lines in his back, the way he moved with sharp, contained anger, as if each step carried the weight of everything he hadn’t said.
Finally, she couldn’t bear it.
“Kael,” she called softly.
No answer.
“Kael, stop.”
He didn’t. If anything, he moved faster.
The ember in her chest stirred uneasily. It didn’t like it when he pulled away. It didn’t like anything that wasn’t him close.
She forced her pace quicker. “Kael, please.”
That one word stopped him cold.
He halted at the end of a broken archway, one hand braced against the stone, head bowed. His breath was rough not from exertion, but from restraint.
Eirena approached slowly. The corridor beyond him glowed with faint, eerie luminescence from collapsed skylights where starlight bled through.
“Talk to me,” she said, gently.
Kael didn’t turn. “I’m trying to keep us alive.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
A muscle in his jaw twitched.
Finally, he turned his head just enough for her to see the tightness in his expression. His eyes weren’t angry. They were afraid.
“You lost control back there,” he said quietly.
Eirena’s chest constricted. “I know.”
“You didn’t just use the power you let it use you.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
Kael faced her fully now, in one sharp motion. “You always have a choice.”
The words hit harder than any blow.
Eirena swallowed. “If I hadn’t used it, the envoy would have killed you.”
Kael stepped closer, anger flickering beneath the fear. “Then it would’ve killed me. That is better than losing you to that thing inside you.”
She stared at him, stunned. “You can’t mean that.”
“I do.”
The honesty in his voice was a blade, slicing clean through her defenses.
He took another step toward her, lowering his voice. “Eirena… when you used that power, your eyes changed.”
She stiffened. “Changed how?”
“They weren’t yours.”
Her heart thudded painfully. The ember pulsed nervously, hungry, listening.
“I’m still me,” she insisted.
“For how long?” Kael countered.
Silence pressed between them again.
Eirena looked away, hugging her arms around herself. “You think I wanted this? You think I asked to be… whatever this is?”
Kael’s expression shifted at the tremble in her voice. His anger softened, but the fear didn’t.
“I don’t blame you,” he said gently. “I blame the Queen.”
Eirena lifted her gaze. “She says I’m her heir.”
“I heard.”
“Do you believe it?”
Kael hesitated.
It was a tiny pause barely there but she felt it like a knife twisting.
“You’re not her,” he said at last, quietly. “But she will try to make you.”
Eirena closed her eyes. For a moment, the corridor tilted, her heartbeat thundering in her ears. The Queen’s whisper echoed faintly, like a memory of cold fingers brushing the inside of her skull.
Born of starlight. Bound by fate.
She flinched.
Kael saw. Instantly, he reached out and gripped her shoulder. “What did she say?”
Eirena shook her head. “Nothing new. Nothing I want to repeat.”
But the ember stirred again wanting to answer him, wanting to reveal itself like a loyal pet.
She shoved it down.
Kael’s touch on her shoulder was warm, solid. She leaned slightly into it without meaning to. His voice dropped to a whisper.
“What scares me isn’t the Queen,” he said. “It’s how quickly she found you. How strong her pull is.”
“I can resist her.”
“For now.”
She looked up sharply. “You think I’m going to betray you.”
Kael looked stricken. “Eirena, no.”
“You think I’ll turn on you the second she calls hard enough.”
“No,” he repeated, firmer this time. He cupped her face with one hand, forcing her to meet his eyes. “I think you’re fighting a war inside your own chest, and I’m terrified you’ll lose it.”
Eirena’s breath hitched. Her hands trembled. She pressed them against his wrists, holding onto him like he was the only thing anchoring her.
“She wants me,” Eirena whispered. “She wants to control me.”
“She won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
Kael swallowed. “Then I’ll die keeping her from taking you.”
The rawness of his voice shattered something inside her.
“That’s what terrifies me,” she whispered. “Not the power. Not the Queen. Losing you.”
He exhaled sharply, emotion breaking through his composure. He rested his forehead against hers, their breaths mingling.
“You’re not going to lose me,” he said. “Not unless you push me away yourself.”
Her eyes stung. “I’m trying not to.”
Kael brushed his thumb across her cheek. “Good. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
The ember pulsed again but this time, not with hunger.
With warmth.
As if Kael’s touch soothed it too.
Eirena gasped softly as the sensation rippled through her, startling and strangely gentle. Kael immediately stepped back, worry flashing in his eyes.
“What happened?”
“I… don’t know,” she said, placing a hand over her heart. “It reacted to you.”
Kael’s brows pulled together. “Is that good?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
But if the Queen’s power could react to Kael response to him, what did that mean?
Before either of them could speak, the corridor trembled. A faint, distant boom echoed from somewhere deep in the ruins, followed by a pulse of violet light along the cracked ceiling.
Kael stiffened. “She’s forcing the breach.”
Eirena nodded, tension coiling in her stomach. “We don’t have long.”
They turned to keep moving but Kael caught her hand before she could step away.
She met his gaze, startled.
“I meant what I said,” he told her. “I’m with you. Even if this thing scares the hell out of me.”
Eirena squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”
“And Eirena?” he added, voice low. “Don’t shut me out. Not now.”
A breath trembled from her lips. “I won’t.”
Kael nodded once, then let go, but the loss of contact felt sharp, like stepping from warmth into cold wind.
They continued forward, deeper into the ruins, where the air grew colder and the Queen’s presence more tangible. But the emotional weight between them lingered, a fragile thread stretched taut.
As they turned down another corridor, Kael suddenly said:
“When that envoy spoke to you… what exactly did it say?”
Eirena’s pulse stuttered.
She remembered the words clearly:
She calls you home.
You are hers.
Eirena hesitated.
Kael noticed.
His voice hardened, hurt flickering beneath it. “You’re still not telling me everything.”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“That’s not protection. That’s distance.”
His words struck deep. She felt exposed, raw, and she hated it.
“I’m afraid,” Eirena said quietly. “If I tell you everything… you’ll look at me differently.”
Kael stopped walking, stepping in front of her. His face was an open ache.
“I am already looking at you differently,” he said. “Not because of fear. Because you’re carrying something impossible, and you’re still fighting. Because you’re stronger than I’ve ever been.”
Eirena blinked hard, emotion tightening her throat.
“And because I...” He cut himself off, jaw clenching.
Eirena stepped closer. “Because you what?”
Kael looked away, trying to regain control. “This isn’t the time.”
“It’s exactly the time.”
Their breath mingled again, too close, too charged.
Kael finally met her eyes.
And just as he opened his mouth,
A scream tore through the corridor.
Not human.
Not mortal.
A cosmic, piercing shriek that cracked the stone beneath their feet.
Eirena grabbed Kael’s arm. “She’s through the veil.”
Kael lifted his sword. “Then emotional confessions can wait.”
But as they ran toward the sound, Eirena heard a whisper threading through her thoughts.
Cold.
Familiar.
You cannot hide from me, heir.
You cannot hide from what you are.
Eirena stumbled, clutching her chest. Kael caught her instantly.
“Eirena what is it?”
She swallowed hard. “She’s inside my head.”
His face darkened with fury.
“Then she’s about to regret that.”
He lifted her, steadying her, holding her close as another ripple of violet power shook the walls.
For the first time, the Queen wasn’t distant.
She wasn’t whispering from afar.
She was here.
And she wanted her heir.
- Writer
