Ashes of the crown

POV: Ariya 🔥🌙💔

Ariya always believed her fire would protect her.

It had been her armor. Her warning. Her strength.

But lately, it just… hurt.

Every time she summoned it, it reminded her of her mother's voice, of broken villages, of the twisted message Ruvan had sent through that mirror-formed mockery.

And worst of all — her own doubts.

The ones that said maybe she wasn't a hero.Maybe she was the reason people got hurt.

She sat on the stone steps outside the sanctuary that night, the dagger resting in her lap. Kael had given her space since their conversation — not too far, not too close. Like he knew exactly how much she could take.

"You okay?" he asked, approaching with quiet steps.

"I'm fine," she replied automatically, then winced at her own lie. "No. I'm… still trying to remember who I'm supposed to be."

He sat beside her without hesitation.

Not asking more. Not expecting her to rise and be brave again.

Just there.

She stole a glance at him. He was watching the stars like he belonged to them — quiet, steady, always present.

And somehow, it made her chest feel warmer than her fire ever could.

"Back when we were in the Ember Vale," she said softly, "I thought if I burned bright enough, I could scare the darkness away."

"Did it work?"

She looked at him, eyes tired but honest.

"No. But it made me feel like I could survive it."

"You did more than survive," Kael said. "You carried everyone else through it."

Ariya looked away, afraid of what might show on her face.

But Kael's hand brushed hers — light, uncertain, but real.

"I don't want to carry it alone anymore," she whispered.

"Then don't."

His voice wasn't a promise. It wasn't a vow.

It was a fact.

Ariya didn't pull her hand away.

And when his fingers laced with hers, she let them.

Something fluttered in her chest — not like magic.Like something older. Deeper.

For the first time in weeks, she felt still.

Later that night, her dreams returned.

But they were different.

No longer cold mirrors or icy voices.

Instead, she saw flames and frost tangled together, the mark on her skin pulsing — not with fear, but warning.

And in the shadows beyond the dream, a figure watched.

Not Kael.

Ruvan.

His eyes weren't cruel this time.

Just… lonely.

And Ariya woke up angry — at him, at the bond, at the fact that even in her most vulnerable moments, he still found a way in.

"You don't get to haunt me," she whispered into the dark. "Not anymore."

But far across the mountains, in a frozen hall, Ruvan sat up in bed — gasping.

He had felt it.

Not the flame.

The shift.

Ariya's heart… had turned.

And not toward him.