The thorn crown

Chapter 31: the tether



The ambush came fast.

Too fast.

One second, we were crossing the riverbed.

The next...arrows. Screams. Fire.

Kael yanked me behind him, already crackling with flame.

I saw the sigil on the soldier's armor—

Not Sentinels.

Not Seekers.

Crownless.

The fanatics who believed Kael should burn for what his bloodline did.

They didn't want to capture him.

They wanted to end him.

He fought like he always did unhinged and beautiful. Fire from his palms, death in every swing.

And me?

I stood still.

Heart racing.

Hands numb.

Useless.

Again.

Until he screamed.

"Ariya...MOVE!"

I turned.

Too late.

The blade caught my side hot and clean, a flash of agony.

I dropped to the ground. Blood soaked through my tunic.

And suddenly....

I felt everything.

Pain.

Fear.

Kael's panic.

The dying soldier's hatred.

The screaming wind.

It all slammed into me, brutal and too much and alive.

And then...

I broke.

The air around me pulsed.

Gold. White. Red.

The Crownless dropped their weapons, eyes wide in horror.

Kael turned.....eyes blazing.

"Ariya"

My body lifted from the ground.

My breath caught.

Emotion roared through me like a tidal wave

... I'm scared. I'm angry. I'm not nothing. I'm not nothing.....

The earth cracked beneath me.

The soldiers screamed and ran.

Kael reached for me.

"Breathe," he said. "Just breathe."

But I couldn't.

Because for the first time in my life

I was alive.

And it hurt like hell.


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