Ember Academy
Sera thought of the vision in her own flame, the throne, the crown, hanging suspended in fire like it had been waiting for her to finally look properly.
"That's why it showed me that. The throne. The crown."
"Perhaps." Oren turned another page, more carefully now, like the book itself might crumble entirely if he moved too fast. "The old fire shows the truth of what's coming, not simply what's hidden. If it showed you a throne, Sera, that isn't a metaphor. Somewhere, somehow, that vision means something real."
A sound echoed somewhere below them, footsteps, slow and deliberate, climbing the spiral stair.