Thunder rolled over Stormfang Keep as dusk fell, casting deep shadows across the stone walls. Rain streaked the windows like tears the sky refused to hold back.
Aria stood before the training dummies, breathless, fists clenched. Her coat lay discarded, damp with sweat and fury. Around her, scorch marks marred the ground, and three of the practice targets had already been reduced to charred splinters.
"Again," she whispered to herself, panting.
She thrust her palm forward.
Flame burst out—wild, silver-tinged fire that danced erratically in the air before exploding against the far wall.
Aria stumbled back, the wind knocked from her chest. Her heart pounded. Not from exhaustion.
From fear.
Her powers were evolving—no longer just healing, no longer just visions. Something elemental was cracking through her skin like a caged god clawing free. And she couldn't stop it.
Behind her, someone clapped slowly.
"Impressive," Karis said.
Aria turned, eyes narrow. "What do you want?"
Karis stepped forward, hands clasped behind her back. Her leather boots made no sound on the damp stone. "You've come a long way from the weakling they pulled out of the servant's quarters."
Aria didn't reply.
"But raw power without control?" Karis tilted her head. "That's a ticking bomb. You could take out a battalion. Or your own allies."
Aria's fingers sparked.
"I can control it."
"Can you?" Karis said sweetly. "Because rumor has it, the last time your emotions got the better of you, you almost collapsed the Moon Gate chamber."
Aria's silence was answer enough.
Karis stepped closer, voice low. "You don't belong here, Aria. You're not one of us. You're a prophecy with a pulse, and Kael—Kael's already bleeding for it."
Aria's pulse jumped. "You think I haven't seen the way you look at him? The way you touch him like he still belongs to you?"
Karis smiled without warmth. "He and I have history. Bonds forged in war. In blood. You can't fake that with a few moonlit stares."
"Maybe not," Aria replied, "but I've seen the way he looks at me. And it terrifies you."
The smile faltered.
Aria walked past her, flames trailing from her fingertips, and didn't look back.
---
Kael stood in the war room, hands braced on the table, eyes scanning the latest map. Another caravan had gone missing. A scout had found tracks—massive, clawed, and far too close to the borders.
Shadowbeasts. The Whisperer was growing bold.
But even that wasn't the weight pressing on his chest.
"She's not sleeping," Nyla said quietly from behind him. "Not eating, either. You haven't spoken to her since the spar."
"I'm giving her space."
"You're giving her doubt," Nyla snapped. "Which is more dangerous."
Kael turned to her, tired. "You think I don't know that?"
"Then stop letting Karis bait her like a hunting dog."
He stared at her.
Nyla crossed her arms. "I don't know what Karis is playing at, but Aria is unraveling. And I think you're the only one who can pull her back."
---
The rain had turned to sleet by the time Aria found herself on the cliffs above the keep, cloak whipping behind her in the wind. The sea below churned like her thoughts.
Why couldn't she breathe around him anymore?
Why did she want to scream every time she saw Karis touch him?
A sound behind her.
She didn't need to turn to know it was him.
"Aria," Kael said.
"Don't," she replied. "Unless you're here to say what you actually feel, just… don't."
His silence cracked something in her.
"You were there," she said, voice trembling. "You heard her. And you said nothing."
"She's wrong."
"She's not," Aria said, spinning around. "Not entirely. I am changing. Every day I feel more... other. And it scares me."
Kael took a step closer. "Then let me help you."
"Like you helped me this past week?" Her voice rose. "By disappearing? By letting her feed my fears like poison?"
"I didn't mean to—"
"But you did." Her eyes glowed faintly. "You let her twist the truth. You let me feel alone."
Wind howled between them.
Kael stepped forward again, until their chests were almost touching. "I was afraid."
That silenced her.
He continued, voice lower. "I've fought battles most wolves would run from. I've led armies. Buried friends. But you… you terrify me, Aria."
Her eyes burned. "Why?"
"Because you make me want something I thought I buried a long time ago. A future. A mate. Peace."
Aria's breath caught.
Kael touched her face, gently. "And because I know that one day soon, you'll be stronger than me. Maybe stronger than anyone. And I don't know what that means for us."
She leaned into his touch. "Then don't run from it. Run with me."
And then he kissed her.
It wasn't soft. It was desperate, fiery, bruising. Hands tangled in hair, breath stolen between kisses that tasted like rain and pain and longing.
But just as her magic began to rise—warm and wild—he pulled back.
"I have to go," he said, eyes still on her lips.
Aria's heart dropped. "What?"
"A Shadowbeast was spotted near the east gate. I'm leading the response team."
Her voice was barely a whisper. "Now?"
"I'll come back. I promise."
But the wind had already shifted.
And deep below the earth, something was waking.
---
Karis stood in the central hall when Kael descended.
"You're going out?"
He didn't stop. "Shadowbeast threat."
She jogged beside him, armor clinking. "Let me come."
Kael paused. "You're not cleared."
She smiled. "I'm more than cleared. You trained me, remember?"
Kael hesitated.
Then nodded.
---
Aria watched them from the upper archway, rain soaking through her cloak. Karis mounting beside Kael. Their silhouettes vanishing into the storm.
Something inside her snapped.
---
That night, Aria's dream was not a dream.
She stood in the ruined hall of a castle, walls scorched and bodies at her feet.
At the far end of the room, a woman in silver robes beckoned her forward.
"Elara?" Aria whispered.
But the woman turned—and it wasn't Elara.
It was her.
A mirror version. Crowned. Eyes glowing like twin stars.
"You are what the world fears," the double said. "Not because of what you will do—but because of what you could."
"What am I becoming?"
The figure smiled. "The storm."
---
Aria woke gasping. Her palms were smoking. The room was freezing, though no windows were open.
Raekon burst in seconds later.
"You felt that?" she asked.
"Everyone did," he said. "Your magic—it's flaring across the entire keep."
"I didn't mean to—"
"You need training," he said. "Real training. Before it devours you."
Aria nodded.
But a part of her already wondered… if she wanted to be devoured.
---
Hours later, the riders returned.
Without Kael.
Aria met them at the gates, eyes wild.
"Where is he?"
Karis dismounted, grim. "He stayed behind to draw the creature away from the supply caravan."
"He's alone?"
"Not for long," Karis said, gripping her sword. "We're going back out at dawn."
"No," Aria said. "We're going now."
"You can't," Raekon said. "You're unstable."
Aria's hair lifted in a wind that wasn't blowing. "Then pray the shadows fear me more than you do."
She shifted into her wolf form—a radiant white blaze with streaks of silver fire down her spine—and ran into the night.
---
In the frozen woods east of the keep, Kael stood bleeding beside a smoldering beast. Its claws had torn through his armor, but it was dead.
Barely.
He dropped to one knee.
And then—he felt her.
Not saw. Not heard.
Felt.
She burst into the clearing like moonfire on wings of rage. Her wolf form was nothing short of celestial—power surging with each step.
"Kael," she breathed, shifting back. "Gods—Kael."
He smiled, even as he fell.
She caught him before he hit the ground.
---
By the time they returned, dawn had broken.
Karis watched them enter the gate—Kael slumped against Aria's side, her eyes glowing fiercely, her arm wrapped around his waist.
And Karis knew in that moment: she'd lost.
Not to prophecy.
To love.
---
That night, Kael woke in the infirmary. Aria was asleep beside him, curled like a flame at rest.
He brushed her hair back and whispered, "I'm not afraid anymore."
Because whatever came next—he'd face it at her side.
Even if it killed him.
---