Chapter 104
*Jiselle*
The sky had bled dry by the time Kaet summoned me. Twilight swallowed the sanctuary in long shadows and moten edges, and the flames that never truly went out in the stone corridors seemed to bom brighter as if they knew something
didn’t
As if they were preparing to witness & Coronation
I walked alone. No escorts. No guards. Just the sound of my own breathing and the bow, pulsing Rum of heat against my spine as 1 descended into the lower wing–Keef’s private domain, rarely visited by anyone but his inner circle. He harder’t told me where we were going when he sent word He never did. But something in the silence of the stone beneath my feet made my bones ache
There was purpose in this vish
And I was already tired of being shaped for someone else’s purpose
He waited at the end of the hall, standing before a tall iron gate that glowed faintly with embedded nunes. His cloak hung heavier than usual, the edges lined with dark red stitching I didn’t recognize. His eyes, however, were the same–sharp. unreadable, and quiet like the stillness before a storm
“You came,” he said simply
” always come when summoned,” I replied, stepping closer. “You know that.”
Kael studied me for a long moment, then turned and pressed his palm to the gate. The runes flared to life beneath his touch, one by one, until the iron shimmered and began to shift. It didn’t creak open. It melted, folding inward without a sound, revealing a chamber unlike anything I’d ever seen in the sanctuary.
The heat hit first–not wild or aggressive, but deep. Primordial. The kind of heat that came from the earth itself, steady and heavy and ancient. Flames flickered along the walls, drawn through thin rivulets carved in the stone, flowing like veins filled with fire. The chamber was circular, domed high, and at its center sat something that didn’t belong in any world I had ever imagined for myself.
A throne.
It rose from a pedestal of blackened stone, carved from obsidian laced with silver cracks that pulsed faintly like living magic. Flames encircled it, held in place by invisible runes etched into the floor. It didn’t look forged. It looked unearthed. As if it had always been here, waiting.
Waiting for me.
I stopped at the threshold.
Kael stepped beside me. “It’s time.”
I didn’t move. “Time for what?”
“For you to claim your place. To accept who you are.”
I turned to look at him, trying to hide the nausea twisting in my gut. “And who is that, exactly?”
His voice was calm. Steady. “The Ethereal Sovereign.”
The words dropped between us like stone. Heavy. Final.
“No,” I whispered.
“You’ve already felt it,” Kael said. “The fire isn’t just growing. It’s recognizing. The throne was carved by those who came before. Meant for the one whose flame doesn’t obey, doesn’t yield. You were born of the convergence, Jiselle. Born when the leyline fractured and the bond broke. The prophecy speaks of one who burns what binds.”
“I didn’t ask for this,” I snapped, stepping away. “I didn’t ask to be your weapon or your queen or whatever this twisted fairytale is supposed to end with.”
“You weren’t asked,” Kael replied. “You were chosen.”
My hands clenched at my sides, the magic stirring again beneath my skin, restless, unsettled. I stared at the throne, its edges glowing like embers, and felt something curl in my chest–a pull. A temptation. A recognition.
No.
I closed my eyes and breathed. Just air. Just silence.
But the fire didn’t leave.
It waited. Patiently. Mockingly.
“Kael,” I said slowly. “What happens if I sit on that throne?”
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Chapter 104
He didn’t answer
That was answer enough
Behind us, the chamber doors echoed with the sound of footsteps. I tagged in fime to sea two wolves enter–both cloaked, both marked with the symbols of Keel’s inner ranks I didn’t know their fames I didn’t need to their faces were dreven fight with suspicion. Their magic danced on the all–not aimed at Kaet
At me
One of them, the taller of the two, stepped forward. “We heard rumors, he said, vo love “That she questioned your orders. That she disobeyed the last rite”
I said nothing
“She’s not bound to the flame,” the other added. “Not the way we were
“She doesn’t carry our mark
“She walks like she still remembers the leash.”
Kael didn’t respond.
Neither did I.
Not until the taller one reached for his blade.
The heat surged so fast the flames in the walls recoiled.
I didn’t lift my hand.
I didn’t need to.
My magic snapped through the room like a whip, slicing the air, hitting the blade before it could clear its sheath. The metal shattered. Not melted. Shattered.
Both wolves froze.
Kael’s expression didn’t shift, but his shoulders tensed.
The silence after was heavy.
They didn’t move again.
I stared at the two wolves who had dared to challenge me. Wolves who had likely fought and bled for Kael’s vision. Who had bound themselves willingly to fire and thought that made them worthy.
I could’ve finished it. I could’ve made an example.
Kael was waiting for it.
But I didn’t move.
The fire curled back inside me.
I let them live.
Because I needed to know I still could.
Kael’s voice was soft behind me. “You could have crushed them.”
“I know.”
“They’ll question your strength now.”
“Let them.”
He stepped closer. “A sovereign rules through power.”
“A true sovereign chooses how and when to use it,” I said.
He didn’t argue.
He only nodded, once. Then turned back toward the throne.
“You’ll need to decide soon,” he said. “The solstice draws near. The crowning must happen before the flame splits again.”
“I’m not ready.”
“You won’t ever be. The fire waits for no one.”
I left without another word.
That night, I didn’t go to my quarters.
I climbed to the northern terrace instead, the highest ledge in the sanctuary. From there, I could see the horizon–jagged mountains outlined by a sky that bled between night and morning.
I sat on the cold stone, letting the wind bite through my sleeves, my palms pressed flat to the ledge.
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The words came again.
Not whispered by a voice.
Etched into memory.
Burn the mate to awaken the stars.
I closed my eyes, and for a heartbeat, I saw him.
Nathaniel.
Not in battle. Not in pain.
Just standing still, staring at me like I was still his.
And the fire beneath my skin cracked.
Because I didn’t know anymore if I was.
