The city hummed around her, alive with secrets.
Amber wandered Virelan's spiraling paths alone, the cloak of her borrowed robes brushing the shimmering stone beneath her boots. The Hidden City was unlike anything she'd imagined—vibrant, strange, and laced with ancient magic that seemed to breathe with its own will. Every step she took felt like she was walking deeper into someone else's memory. Or her own.
She passed a young girl weaving flames between her fingers like ribbons, her mother watching with serene pride. Two old men argued beside a levitating chessboard, their words laced with spells. A trio of winged creatures soared above, laughter trailing in their wake.
But everywhere she went, people watched her. They didn't bow or speak—they simply stared, like she was a prophecy cracked wide open and walking among them.
The Phoenix Queen, they whispered.
She hated it.
She found herself drawn to the Hall of Echoes, a quiet chamber carved into the mountain's heart. It was said to hold the voices of those who had lived and died in Virelan, etched into the stones themselves. When she stepped inside, the air shifted—cooler, denser, and filled with whispers that brushed against her ears like falling leaves.
Amber sat cross-legged in the center of the room, closed her eyes, and listened.
You were fire. You were wrath. You were mercy.
You burned the world to save it.
And still they feared you.
The whispers came from nowhere and everywhere, and though they spoke of a past life, they curled into her chest like truth.
She was changing.
The magic inside her felt less like a gift now and more like a second heartbeat—ancient and insistent. Her mark flared hotter by the day, especially since Kael's intrusion. It no longer simply connected her to Nate. It throbbed with something... more. Something she didn't understand.
And every time she tried to hold onto who she'd been before—just Amber, just a girl—something inside her slipped further away.
---
She returned to the guest chambers by nightfall, her boots dusty and her eyes raw. Nate was there, seated by the window, his silhouette backlit by the glowing spires outside. He looked like a storm trapped in stillness.
He turned as she entered. "You've been gone all day."
"I needed space," she said softly.
He nodded but didn't rise. "Are you alright?"
"No," she admitted. "But I don't think I will be for a while."
Silence stretched between them.
Then Nate spoke, voice low. "You're pulling away from me."
Amber didn't deny it. "I don't know how to hold onto you when I don't even know who I am."
"You're Amber."
"I was." Her voice cracked. "Now I'm something else. Something... dangerous."
He stood and crossed to her, lifting her chin gently. "You're not a danger to me."
"But what if I am?" she whispered. "What if the magic changes me into something I can't control? What if Kael was right, and this power was never meant to be shared with anyone?"
Nate's eyes burned. "Kael says what he says to twist you. But I know you. I see you."
Tears welled in her eyes. "I'm scared."
"Then let me hold you," he said. "Even if just for a moment. Let me be the place you fall apart."
Amber hesitated only a second before stepping into him. His arms wrapped around her, grounding her in the present, in the here and now. She clutched his shirt, pressing her face against his chest.
"I don't want to lose myself," she whispered.
"You won't," he murmured into her hair. "I won't let you."
But even as he held her, she could feel the edges of something sharp within her, something old waking up, rising.
---
Later that night, Amber sat at the edge of the bed, fingers curling in the soft linen as Nate sat behind her. He was brushing her hair—slow, rhythmic strokes that said everything he couldn't.
She closed her eyes, letting the intimacy settle between them like warm rain.
"I used to dream of a simple life," she said. "A cottage, a garden, someone to love. I never wanted to be important."
"You don't have to be," he said quietly. "Not to them. Just to me."
Her heart twisted.
"I don't think that's possible anymore," she whispered. "Even if I wanted to run, they'd find me. Kael would find me."
"Then we'll face them," he said. "Together."
She turned to him. "But what if it breaks me, Nate? What if I let it?"
His hands slid to her waist. "Then I'll fight for what's left. I'll fight you if I have to."
Their eyes locked, and the air between them shifted.
Desire coiled low in her belly. The bond between them pulsed, slow and heavy, like a drumbeat under her skin.
"I want you," she breathed.
"I know," he said, voice rough. "But I don't want to be a chain around your neck."
"You're not."
He cupped her face. "Then say it. Say that even if the fire swallows you whole, you'll still reach for me."
She stared at him, the words on the edge of her lips.
But they didn't come.
Instead, she kissed him.
Slow. Deep. Desperate.
He responded in kind, hands tangling in her hair, pulling her closer. The bond lit up between them—sparks skimming across her skin like stardust. Her body ached for him. Every brush of his fingers was a promise and a plea.
But just as her tunic slipped from her shoulder, she pulled back, breathing hard.
"I can't," she said, shaking. "Not yet."
He didn't move. "Okay."
"I thought I was ready, but I'm not."
"It's alright," he said softly. "You don't have to explain."
She covered her face with her hands. "I'm so messed up."
He pulled her into his arms again, kissing the top of her head. "You're not messed up. You're surviving."
They stayed like that for a long time—tangled together, not speaking.
Outside, the city glowed like a jewel beneath the stars.
Inside, Amber's heart was a war of fire and flesh, longing and fear.
---
Later, when Nate was asleep, she rose quietly and went to the balcony. The moon hung high, silver and cold, casting pale light on the city below.
Amber touched the mark on her wrist.
It flared—not with Nate's heartbeat, but something else.
Kael.
He's still in me, she realized. Still watching.
The whisper of magic stirred the air beside her.
"I said I wouldn't come back," Kael's voice murmured, disembodied. "But you're calling to me, little flame."
Amber closed her eyes. "Get out of my head."
"I'm not in your head," he said. "I'm in your blood. Your soul. We're more alike than you want to admit."
She clenched the railing. "You don't know me."
"I do. And when the time comes, you'll have to choose. Not just between me and Nate… but between who you were and what you're becoming."
"Leave me alone."
Silence.
Then only the wind.
Amber stood alone under the stars, her chest aching.
Not because of Kael.
But because of the truth.
She was changing.
And no matter how tightly Nate held her…
He might not be able to hold on forever.