Chapter 19 – The Fire’s Warning
[LYRA'S POV]
I haven't slept since the fire.
Not truly.
I close my eyes and see it—
The smoke curling like fingers around my throat,
The hooded figure walking away without a single glance back,
The flames obeying me like I was their queen.
But queens are protected.
And me?
I was a target.
---
Kairo barely left my side.
His energy was quieter than usual—tense, wound tight.
When he thought I was asleep, I'd hear him pacing near the door.
Muttering names.
Cursing under his breath.
I wanted to reach out.
Tell him I was okay.
But I wasn't.
Because something else happened that night.
Something I hadn't told him.
---
The fire whispered a name.
> Not of my attacker.
Of my future.
---
I was scared to say it aloud.
Scared that speaking it would make it real.
---
[KAIRO'S POV]
I didn't want her to know how close I came to tearing a pack member apart.
But Selene's warning had made one thing clear:
The danger wasn't coming for Lyra.
It was already here.
And maybe part of it… was me.
Because no matter how much I tried to protect her—
The more I held her close, the more they pushed back.
---
So I decided to leave.
One night.
One meeting.
To track the lead Selene gave me.
Just a few hours.
I told Elyna. Swore her to keep Lyra safe.
And left under the shadow of dusk.
---
[LYRA'S POV]
I knew the moment he was gone.
The energy in the cabin changed.
Colder. Quieter. Too still.
I got up. Looked out the window.
Only stars stared back.
---
But then…
It happened.
---
My body jolted like lightning had struck through my spine.
The mark on my chest blazed to life.
Not just glowing—
Burning.
Branding.
The air in the room thickened like smoke.
And the walls around me started to melt—
Not with fire…
But with flame-born vision.
---
I wasn't in the cabin anymore.
---
I stood in the middle of a blackened forest.
Ash on my feet.
A sky the color of blood.
And ahead of me—
A burning throne.
Empty.
Cracked.
Waiting.
---
I stepped toward it—
And the flames parted like curtains.
Behind it, shadows formed.
Dozens. Hundreds. A sea of faceless figures whispering in one voice:
> "Choose your crown.
Or lose your soul."
---
A flash—
Me, wearing the mark in full bloom, standing alone.
Kairo lying on the ground beside me—bleeding, unmoving.
My voice screaming his name.
And the flame answering back:
> "Power or Love.
You only get one."
---
I snapped awake—gasping.
Smoke. Real this time.
The lamp beside the bed had shattered.
The curtains were on fire.
Elyna burst into the room seconds later.
"LYRA!"
---
I turned to her, eyes wide, breath frantic.
"I didn't light it— I swear— I—"
She held up her hands. "It's not you. It's the mark."
---
I looked down.
My chest—right over the mark—was glowing so hot I could see it through my shirt.
The pain was unbearable.
But worse than the pain… was the truth the vision left behind.
---
[KAIRO'S POV – SAME TIME]
I stopped walking.
Fell to one knee.
A blinding heat slammed into my chest like a wave.
Lyra.
She was in pain.
I could feel it.
Not just through the bond—through something older.
Stronger.
A pull I couldn't explain.
> She'd seen something.
Something that changed everything.
---
[LYRA'S POV] – LATER THAT NIGHT
I sat on the edge of the healer's bed, skin still tingling from whatever that was.
Elyna didn't ask questions.
Just gave me tea, covered my shoulders, and said, "Tell him when you're ready."
But I didn't know how to say it.
Didn't know how to tell the boy who swore to protect me…
> That I saw him die in my future.
That the flames gave me a choice.
That they wanted me to pick power.
---
So instead… I whispered one sentence into the firelight:
> "I won't let the fire take you."
---
And far away, I knew he heard it.
Because the flames flickered once—
And then bowed.