Novel & Cerita Burned Hopkins Novel

The mansion felt larger without him, echoes of their shared routines bouncing off walls that had witnessed too many sleepless nights. She decided to busy her hands kneading dough for fresh bread. The rhythmic push and pull helped calm the swirl of worries in her chest. As she worked, memories flooded in, unbidden. It had been a cold night two years earlier when the estate caught fire. Alex had charged inside to reach Sophia, shouting her name through choking smoke, refusing to wait for the crews, ignoring every warning. The beams collapsed around him, trapping him long enough for the flames to claim skin on his chest and arm — forever marking the man who controlled billions yet couldn't cont

I sent chapter 97 incorrectly; I sent a chapter from another story, but I've already corrected it. I just need my editor to approve the change. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Glenfinnan Castle is on fire. I feel the heat before I even see the flames. The air is hot, thick, and heavy with smoke. The smell of burning wood, gunpowder, and blood mixes in a way that makes me nauseous. I'm in the middle of the main hall, still with one handcuff loose on my wrist, my entire body aching. My shoulder throbs where Richard's bullet grazed me. There's blood on my hands—I can't tell how much is mine.

Someone had just tried to kill me. The words before the alcohol was thrown against me danced in my head: Greetings to Zachary Malik's new whore. The defective hose jumped and flamed, spreading fuel and fire through each blow with which it hit the ground, moving like a mechanical bull. I couldn't distinguish smoke, fire or burnt skin. The man had his body entirely fused by the flames. The smell of burnt meat was unbearable, unpalatable, but I couldn't get out of there. Even with Kendall pulling me, warning about the heated floor below bombs crammed with gasoline. I couldn't.

My breath grows still. A mountain of corpses, burned, charred, not fully turned to ash, covers the center in front of the old pack house. Gideon’s is on top of it; the fire didn’t even reach him yet, before it died out. It feels like I’m underwater as I take in the sight, shudders passing through my body, and I can’t hear anything. If cruelty had a name, it would be Malphas.

--- Burning Empire Chapter 1 Matteo’s heart hammered like a drum as he slipped through the crowded streets, clutching the small leather pouch tight beneath his coat. The city buzzed all around him — neon signs flickering, voices shouting, music pounding from nearby bars. But Matteo barely heard it. All he could focus on was the pounding in his chest and the sharp, cold weight in his pocket. This was it. His first real score.

Jayce whispered, “And we burned.” BOOK ONE COMES TO AN END

Red engines lined the road, spraying precious water at the blaze. Black patches of burnt grass hissed and steamed, still defiant against the hoses even as they sputtered. The flames still leaped and danced, their light highlighting the concern filling the fire chief’s face. It was already too late. The flames had too much of a head start. He knew the flames would win the battle tonight, but he called for more men to fight the war. ***

One day, when we were drinking together, he reached out to cup my cheek for the first time. Under the moonlight, as his lips slowly moved toward mine, I shyly closed my eyes. But the kiss I awaited never happened. When I opened my eyes, he had disappeared. After that day, he rejected all of my calls and attempts to reach him. He refused to see me, even when I went to the fire department. I was lost. Every day, I waited at the entrance of the fire department just to see him and ask him why he was being like that. In the end, I couldn't take it anymore and rushed into the fire department with a bouquet of roses.

But because my sister, Raven Webster, thought Snowviper was too terrifying to look at, she stole Blazewing for herself. A month later, the whole world turned hotter, and the heatwave apocalypse began. Snowviper's power, just like his name, could lower the temperature within ten feet of him, creating a living shield against the burning world. Blazewing, on the other hand, carried the opposite—heat and fire. Raven took Blazewing, but she died of heat stroke in the heatwave apocalypse, while I survived thanks to Snowviper's cooling power. In her final moments, Raven was convinced I had stolen her husband. She whispered poison into Snowviper's ear, and he killed me.

I snapped at him, annoyed he was able to grab my attention like he had. “Very well, let’s see where was I? Oh yes, one day I saw the God Anubis and was convinced I had died, I was starving and hallucinating. Anubis approached me and asked if I wanted to avenge my family and escape the dreadful place I was in. Of course, I told him I did, and before I knew it, he was biting into my neck and feeding me his blood. Only when I had awakened did I realize what had happened. I had heard rumors from the guards of monsters that hid in the dark, killing those that crossed their path or making them into the same kind of monster. Confused, I stared at an ordinary man that sat across from me, laughing wi