Eira's POV
The wind sang through the mountains, high and cold. But it was the fire inside her that howled louder.
She stood alone on the jagged cliff's edge, overlooking the remains of the ancient Ember Path. Below, the blackened ruins of the last Fireborn outpost slept beneath ash and frost. Silent. Forgotten.
She wasn't supposed to come here yet.
But the dream had pulled her.
Not a dream—a summons.
The Phoenix Flame within her pulsed with longing. This place called to her blood, to her bones. She could feel the memories trapped in the stones. Hear whispers in the ash.
This was where it all began, the voice inside murmured. This was where she was born.
Not in flesh.
In fire.
Kael's POV
He found her by the light of her flame.
She hadn't told him she was leaving. One moment they'd been wrapped together in sleep, limbs tangled in shared warmth. The next, he'd awoken to cold furs and a dying campfire.
But the bond between them was a compass.
It had led him through wind and shadow, all the way here.
To her.
She stood motionless, hair lifted by the wind, the glow of her skin too bright, too warm, too dangerous.
"Eira," he called, voice low.
She didn't turn.
He came closer, slowly, as one might approach a wild animal or a living flame.
When he reached her, he rested a hand on her shoulder.
It was burning.
"What's happening to you?"
She closed her eyes. "It's waking."
"What is?"
"The flame. The real flame. The one they buried. It's beneath us, Kael. It's alive."
He looked down the slope. Nothing but ruins and snow.
But the heat radiating from her was no illusion.
"You're scaring me," he whispered.
She turned then. Her eyes were glowing. Not metaphorically. Actually glowing—gold threaded with crimson.
And when she kissed him, it wasn't passion.
It was a warning.
Eira's POV
"I'm going in," she said.
Kael's grip tightened. "Then I'm going with you."
She shook her head. "No. This… this was meant for me. The fire chose me."
He cupped her face. "I chose you too. Doesn't that matter?"
She kissed his palm. "That's why you have to let me go. Because if I lose control in there, I'd rather burn alone."
Kael growled under his breath, eyes darkening. "I would burn the world for you."
"I know," she said softly. "And that's what terrifies me."
Then she turned and stepped over the edge.
Not falling—descending.
Fire caught her, lifted her, carried her down through crumbling air and memory.
Into the Ash Vault.
The Descent – Eira's POV
It wasn't a ruin.
It was a womb.
The Ash Vault pulsed like something alive. Every wall was covered in carvings—spirals and flames and wings. Voices echoed around her, some in languages she didn't know, some whispering her name.
She walked without seeing, led by instinct.
Down, down, down. Her feet never touched the ground.
At the center was a dais of obsidian and gold. On it, a crown.
No.
Not a crown.
A coil of flame.
She reached out. Her hand trembled.
The fire leapt to meet her.
Kael's POV
He paced.
Above the vault. Around the cliff. Inside the remnants of their camp.
He hated doing nothing.
But this wasn't a battle he could fight with steel.
Still, every instinct screamed at him to break the stone, to chase her down, to dive headfirst into the fire and drag her back out.
He knew what fire could do to people. What it could take.
Then he heard the scream.
Eira's.
He ran.
Eira's POV
The flame entered her like a thousand knives.
She collapsed. Convulsed. Her skin cracked with golden fissures.
Visions poured in—of her ancestors, of the first Phoenix Queen, of fire burning across continents.
And of her mother.
"Eira."
She looked up.
The woman standing before her had her hair. Her eyes. Her mouth.
"Mother?"
But the woman only smiled and reached for her.
"Finish what I could not."
Then everything exploded.
Kael's POV
He tore through the ash.
He didn't feel the heat. He didn't feel the cuts on his hands. He only felt her.
He reached the dais.
Eira lay at its center, unconscious, burning, and levitating.
Her entire body glowed.
Kael stepped into the light.
And it accepted him.
The fire didn't burn. It welcomed him, wrapped around him like arms. He fell to his knees beside her.
"Come back to me," he whispered. "I can't do this without you."
Her eyes fluttered open.
The fire dimmed.
She fell.
He caught her.
Eira's POV
She woke to the sound of Kael's heartbeat.
His arms. His warmth. His breath in her hair.
And she was still alive.
No. Changed.
The mark on her chest was no longer red. It glowed with golden embers, its edges laced in frost.
His frost.
Her fire.
The bond was no longer a tether.
It was a flame between them.
Balanced.
Whole.
She looked at him. "I saw my mother."
He touched her cheek. "And?"
"She told me it's time."
"For what?"
Eira sat up, wincing.
"To take back the Flame Court."
Later That Night
The fire crackled softly outside the cave as they lay wrapped in furs, hearts still racing from what they'd survived.
Kael traced her collarbone with reverence. "You scared the hell out of me."
Eira smiled sleepily. "I scared myself."
He leaned in, kissed her shoulder. "But you're still here."
She rolled atop him, hair cascading like fire across his chest. "I'm not just here, Kael. I chose to come back."
His hands roamed her waist, slow and sure. "Then let me remind you why."
They came together like flame meeting wind—hungry, wild, claiming. His touch was ice and reverence; hers was fire and surrender.
She moaned against his mouth as his hand slid lower. "Make me forget everything but us."
He did.
Over and over.