Elira didn't sleep that night.
She lay awake in silk sheets that felt more like chains, the scroll hidden beneath her pillow, its words branded into her thoughts.
> When flame marries crown, the kingdom shall drown...
By dawn, she made her choice.
She would confront him
---
Prince Auren wasn't in the throne room or training yard. Not in the gardens, or the hall where his advisors hissed in secret. No one would say where he was — or worse, some looked afraid to even speak his name.
It was nearly nightfall when she found him.
In the palace chapel, of all places — kneeling beneath a broken stained glass window. The light hit his face in shards of red and gold, like fire caught in mourning.
She didn't wait to be invited in.
> "You knew," she said.
He didn't move.
> "Knew what?" he asked quietly.
> "About the prophecy. About the girls before me. About what I am."
A muscle twitched in his jaw. Not denial. Not surprise.
Guilt.
> "You weren't supposed to find it so soon," he murmured.
> "So it's true?" she asked. "You brought me here to die?"
That made him look up — fast, sharp, like she'd struck him.
> "No. I brought you here because you survived the trial."
> "What trial?"
> "The fire."
Her breath caught.
> "You set that fire in the village."
He didn't answer. He didn't have to.
The fire that consumed her orphanage had always been blamed on outlaws. But she'd never seen any soldiers. No tracks. Only smoke. Only fear.
Only the flicker of her power awakening.
> "You wanted to see if I'd live," she whispered. "If I'd burn… or burn everything else."
Auren stood slowly.
> "The prophecy isn't about a girl destroying the kingdom," he said. "It's about the kingdom destroying her — every time she's reborn. I was trying to end it."
"By marrying me?" she asked bitterly.
"By protecting you," he said. "As long as you're at my side, they can't kill you."
"Then what happens to me?" she asked. "To us?"
Auren didn't speak. But she saw it in his eyes — the flicker of fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
> "You don't know how to stop it," she said, softer now. "Do you?"
> "I know only one thing," he said. "If you fall in love with me… you'll die."
Outside, the chapel bells began to toll.
A summons.
A warning.
Or perhaps the first sound of the end.
And still — Elira didn't move.
Even knowing everything, her hand burned to reach for his.