Wings Of Fire New Book 2023 Novels & Stories

Prologue II: Pyre, 3113 Pyre Av 5, 3113 Stephan Caliphus, King Everything was on fire the night he finished the book in the back room of a borrowed house. He laid his glasses down on the desk in front of him and rubbed his tired eyes. The crackling of flames could be heard as the city burned all around them. The blood curdling screams of the men in the streets where they died was enough to make the blood of the fiercest warrior run cold, but he was a man of empathy and it hurt him more than it did the others.

Her breath trembled as something inside her cracked—not with breaking, but with release. She closed her eyes, drawing the wildfire closer, not to crush it, not to run—but to face it. The whispers tore at her, but she pushed back with her own voice, raw and burning: “I am not your kindling. I am not your ruin. I am flame, and flame is mine to carry.” The wildfire shuddered, sparks bursting outward like a thousand tiny stars. The dark edges burned away, leaving only fierce, golden light that wrapped around her like a mantle.

Exhaustion is taking over, and I am having trouble keeping my eyes open. Right before my eyes close, the last thing I see is Braxius's blue-green eyes filled with love and sorrow. Except, I somehow know everything will be all right with him. That only thought is making my leaving easier, and I stop fighting the darkness. I am floating away towards total oblivion. I am having a few brief flashbacks of my short life of twenty-two years and growing up in New Jersey with Meena, my younger sister of nine months. I accepted my entry-level position at a prestigious marketing firm and graduating from college with honors as a business major with a minor in history.

He looked at me with eyes full of terror—the look of a man who knew he had failed. ​“The West Wing is a furnace, ma'am!” a firefighter shouted, his voice muffled by his mask. “The fire started in the crawlspace—it went up like tinder! We can’t get a team inside yet!” ​I looked up. The West Wing. The stone was blackened, and orange flames were licking out of the windows like greedy tongues. ​That was Finn’s wing. He was supposed to be napping. I left him sleeping. ​“Finn!” I screamed, the sound tearing my throat raw. I tried to run toward the heat, toward the screaming orange light, but a pair of strong arms caught me around the waist.

She screams again, twisting and blowing her fire at me. I use the shield to block the fire and take a diving leap across the room. I feel the glass from the shattered windows cutting into my body. I have blisters on my arms and legs where her fire caught me. But it doesn’t matter. I meant what I said. She is mine and I am willing to die if that’s what it takes to claim her.

Believed she might destroy Aiden, Rowan—everyone. But then—Aiden’s hand squeezed hers, grounding her in the storm. His voice was steady, certain, unshakable. “No,” he said firmly. “You are not the fire, Evelynn. The fire is you.” And with those words, everything shifted. The flames within her no longer felt like chains. They felt like wings. Evelynn raised her hands, and the fire answered. Not in wild, reckless bursts—but in a controlled blaze that lit the storm-torn night like dawn breaking. The creatures hesitated, shadows quivering. Even Cassian faltered, his expression twisting for the first time into doubt.

I hadn’t understood what she meant until now. Maybe she knew. Maybe the fire was never meant to destroy me. The moon slides out from behind the clouds. For a second, the ashes around me glow faintly, stirred by a soft gust. They spiral upward, forming the faint outline of wings. Phoenix wings. I blink, and they’re gone. The world feels too still. Too empty. No guards. No scent of wolves. They must have thought there was nothing left to find. No one survives a fire like that. I crawled towards the river. The reflection that greets me isn’t mine.

They flare on either side of me and when I stand, the points arch to encompass a wide scope of the ground, causing the others to back away in shock. Because I have wings. Wings of fire.

They had a plan. Reyes turned slowly in place, taking in the scorched earth, the silence. The evidence was gone, scrubbed clean with fire and time. He exhaled through his nose, jaw clenched. Not defeated. Just angry. He raised the camera. “Bramley Lot—burned down. No signs of occupants. No heat. They’re gone.” A beat of silence. Then quieter: “They’re cleaning house.” He stood still a moment longer, then turned and walked back to the car.

Damon passed around a tray of cups filled with honey-sweet tea. “No speeches,” he said. “Just presence.” They sat in silence. Together. Listening. Breathing. Grateful. And then, from the shadows, Grace spoke up. “Grandpa?” “Yes, my light?” “I want to make a new Flamekeeper’s book.” Everyone turned. “But this time… it’s not about the past. It’s about the future.” Cassie smiled. “What will you call it?” Grace looked up at the stars and whispered: “The Fire We Haven’t Lit Yet.”