Chapter 33: When the Flame Returns
The wind howled against the windows of the castle as dusk fell, painting the sky in bleeding shades of crimson and violet. Thunder rumbled low in the distance, and the air buzzed with the tension of a storm that hadn’t yet broken.
Lucien stood on the balcony still, unmoving, his eyes fixed toward the east.
He felt it in his bones before he saw it like the slow burn of fire kindling in dry wood, the stir of old magic returning home.
Aria.
She was close.
“Your Highness?” came Varion’s voice behind him.
Lucien didn’t turn. “She’s alive.”
“You’re certain?”
Lucien’s jaw clenched. “I would know if she wasn’t.”
Elder Varion stepped beside him. His normally stern face was drawn, thoughtful. “And if what she brings back threatens everything we’ve built?”
