LOGINRory’s POV
The classroom door slammed shut with a force that made the windows rattle.
“You think this is a game?” Elias’s voice cracked like thunder in the silence. His golden eyes burned as furiously as the runes etched across his desk.
My stomach knotted. “I wasn’t trying to break rules. I”
“Silence.” His order cut through me, sharp enough to slice the air in half. He stalked closer, his robe brushing the floor, his presence so overwhelming I shrank back against the desk behind me.
I swallowed hard. “You gave me detention for defending myself? For living?”
His look pinned me like a blade. “You lit half the courtyard on fire with your heartbeat. Do you even understand what you’ve done?”
Heat rushed to my face. The memory of Darius, his flames bending to my pulse, burned through me. “I didn&
I chained her because I love her. I hate myself for it.I never feared war.I never feared death.But I feared this.Her chains shook. Her breaths came sharp and angry.And every sound was a sword in my chest.I chained the woman I loved.And I could not breathe under the weight of it.She lifted her head slowly.Eyes black. Voice cold enough to cut spirit.&nb
Lucien watched us like we were a promise bleeding.“You cannot run from what you are. Fighting your fate only feeds the darkness.”I spun to him. “So I should give up? Let it take me? Become something hideous and call it destiny?”“Or accept who you are and become ruler rather than weapon.”“I don’t want a crown!”Silence. Thick. Violent.Kael stared at me, voice low. “You think a crown is the danger? The crown is kindness. The throne is safe. The power is what will kill you.”
“You say that now,” Dark Kael mumbled. “Until she burns you.”“She won’t.”Rory muttered, “But what if he’s right? What if my evil demands something you can’t give?”“Then I’ll give it anyway.”Her eyes softened and darkened.“You would bleed for me.”“I already did.”“You would die for me.”“I already did.”“You would chain yourse
“There is a question,” Elias said suddenly, voice shaking. “A test. To see which path she stands on.”“Do not” Kael warned, but Elias continued.“You must ask yourself one thing, Rory. Are you here to love the world… or to rule over the ashes of it?”A slow smile curved my lips. Sharp. Curious. Honest.“Maybe both,” I said.Selene’s eyes gleamed in victory.Elias paled. “If you surrender to that path, everything burns.”“Fire cleans,” I answered. 
My vision blurred black at the edges. Power cracked the ground under my feet.“Kael,” she whispered, “breathe.”“I can’t.” My voice shook. “If I let go”“You break the world.”“Yes.”“And if you hold too tight,” she whispered, “you break yourself.”I laughed. Broken. “I am already breaking.”ThenA flash of silver.A blade.&
I did not fall alone.I took the balance of the world with me.And the last thought I heard was not mine at all:Now let them fear their chosen girl.Love should soothe. Ours sharpened teeth.War did not come in music or marching boots.It came in a name.Hers.“Where is Rory? ” I demanded.No one answered. They only stared some with fear, some with hate. As if the air had changed. As i







