Chapter 3 Ashes

Sera ran. She did not decide to run. Her legs simply began to move, as if her body understood something that her mind did not. She pushed through the edge of the crowd, slipped past the guards at the side gate, and disappeared into the dark. Behind her, the sounds of the courtyard slowly faded. The clapping, the whispers, and the cruel laughter became a faint murmur on the wind. Ahead of her, the forest rose like a black wall. She did not slow down. Branches scratched her arms and pulled at her hair. Roots caught her feet. Twice she stumbled and almost fell, but she kept going until her lungs burned and her side ached. Her thin shoes were soaked with cold dew, and the hem of her cream dress was torn. She did not care. She only wanted to be somewhere that nobody could see her. At last she reached a small clearing and dropped to her knees beside a fallen log. She wrapped her arms around herself and fought to catch her breath. For a while, the only sounds were her ragged breathing and the soft rustle of the leaves. Then the tears came again. She cried for the girl who had stood in front of the Moon Stone with hope in her heart. She cried for the prince who had looked at her as if she were nothing. She cried for her mother, who had died when Sera was only seven years old and had left her a small wooden bird and a name. "I only wanted to belong somewhere," she whispered to the empty forest. "That was all." The trees did not answer. The night was silent. Sera pressed her hand against her chest, where the bond had been. Only a raw, aching hollow remained. It felt as though someone had cut a piece out of her and left the wound open to the cold air. She remembered the wooden bird sitting on the shelf above her bed, and a fresh wave of grief rolled over her. She could not go back for it. She could not walk through those gates again, not after tonight. She remembered Kaelen's face as he spoke the words of rejection. It had been like carved stone. And yet, at the very end, she had seen sweat on his forehead and the way his hand had gripped his chest. "It does not matter," she told herself bitterly. "He made his choice." She wiped her face with her sleeve and tried to breathe slowly. In the morning, she could walk to the nearest village and ask for work. She had no money and no family, but she had two strong hands that knew how to scrub, cook, and carry. That would be enough to begin again. "I will never go back," she whispered. "Whatever happens, I will never go back." It was then that she noticed the light. At first she thought it was the moon. A soft golden glow had spread across the clearing and painted the grass and the fallen log in warm colors. But when Sera looked up, she saw that thick clouds had covered the sky completely. The light was not coming from above. It was coming from her. She stared down at her hands. The same faint shine she had seen in the courtyard was glowing beneath her skin, and now it was much stronger. Thin lines of gold ran along her fingers, her wrists, and her arms, like rivers of melted metal shining under glass. "What is happening to me?" Her voice cracked. She crawled backward and rubbed her arms hard, as if she could wipe the glow away. It did not fade. If anything, it grew brighter. Her heart began to race. She had heard stories of rejected mates. Some became weak and sick. Some lost their minds. Some, people said, simply faded away. But no one had ever spoken of a light. A wave of heat surged through her chest, so sudden and so strong that she cried out. It was not the cold, tearing pain from the courtyard. It was something completely different. It felt like a great fire waking up after a very long sleep. Sera pressed her palms against the ground to steady herself. The grass under her hands curled and turned black. A thin line of smoke rose into the air. She snatched her hands back and stared in horror. Two small handprints were burned into the earth. "This is not real," she said, and her voice shook. "This cannot be real." She closed her eyes and tried to calm down. She remembered what the other girls had told her about calling their wolves. Breathe slowly, they had said. Listen carefully. Your wolf will speak when you are ready. Sera had listened for two years. She had heard nothing. But now, in the stillness of the forest, she tried once more. She reached deep inside herself, past the pain and the fear, searching for a growl, a whisper, or even a heartbeat that was not her own. There was no wolf. The silence inside her was as deep as ever. But the silence was not empty, she realized. It was waiting. Something lay very still in the dark center of her, like a sleeper on the edge of waking. It was not a wolf. It was warm, ancient, and enormously powerful. Being near it felt like standing beside a great furnace. Sera could feel it slowly turning toward her, as though it had finally heard her call. Her eyes flew open. "Who are you?" she breathed. There was no answer. But the heat in her chest swelled, and the golden light around her blazed so brightly that the clearing looked as bright as noon. Shadows leaped and danced between the trees. A flock of sleeping birds burst from the branches and scattered into the sky. Sera tried to stand, but her legs would not hold her. The fire was pouring through her now, rushing along her veins and filling every part of her. Her skin grew hot, then hotter, then almost too hot to bear. Her breath came in short, shaking gasps. "Stop," she begged. "Please stop. I do not know what you want from me." The fire did not stop. Her vision blurred and turned gold. The clearing seemed to tilt and spin around her. She fell onto her side in the scorched grass and could not move. The last thing she saw was a ring of small flames that had sprung up around her fingertips, glowing red and orange in the dark. They did not hurt her at all. Then, from somewhere deep inside her, a voice spoke. It was not a wolf's voice. It was not like any voice she had ever heard. It was low, warm, and fierce, like the crackle of a great fire, and it spoke only three words. "Wake up, daughter."