CHAPTER ELEVEN: BENEATH THE ASHES
345 Words
The echoes of last night’s attack had faded, but the scent of smoke still lingered in the air.
Kaelen sat alone in the tower garden, wrapped in a cloak too thin for the cold. The sun had not yet risen, and the frost on the stone benches bit into her skin. But she didn’t move.
She didn’t want warmth.
She wanted clarity.
The magic hadn’t surged again not since it burst from her in defense. Three attackers, burned to cinders. Three lives taken not by her fists, but by something ancient that lived inside her.
She hadn’t summoned it.
She hadn’t even known it was there.
But now the whole court knew.
Footsteps approached, slow and steady.
“Shouldn’t you be resting?” Dareth’s voice, careful as always.
Kaelen didn’t look at him. “Resting feels like a lie.”
He stood beside her. “The court is spinning tales already. Some say you’ve inherited the flame of the old kings. Others think you’re cursed.”
Kaelen scoffed. “Which do you believe?”
“I believe you need guidance. And you won’t find it hiding up here.”
She finally turned to face him. “I don’t want to be their symbol. I didn’t ask for this.”
“No one asks to carry old power,” he said. “But if it chooses you, you have a responsibility to understand it.”
Kaelen looked down at her hands, still marked with faint red lines where the sigils had appeared. “What if I can’t control it?”
Dareth met her gaze. “Then you learn. Not for them for you. Because running from what you are will only make the fire hungrier.”
She nodded slowly.
Before Dareth turned to leave, he added, “Come to the Hall of Trials at dusk. There’s something you need to see.”
When he was gone, Kaelen exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
The flames had revealed something within her.
And it was time she faced it.
Not with fear.
But with fire.
- Writer
