Nyra
They were close.
I could feel them, hooves pounding against the frozen ground, steel clinking in rhythm with the wind. The cold air bit into my skin, but the fire in my chest kept me warm. Always burning. Always waiting.
I pressed my back against the jagged rock and kept still. From here, I could see the break in the trees where the mist hung low. It wouldn't be long now.
They were here for me.
Again.
A part of me wanted to run. The same part that remembered what happened when I stayed too long, trusted too easily. But I wasn't the same girl who fled Ignara in the dead of night. Not anymore.
The first rider appeared, his black horse cutting through the fog like a blade. Soldiers followed, six of them, maybe seven. But it was the man in front that made my breath catch.
Kael.
Prince of Glacium. Cold-blooded war tactician. My once almost-betrothed.
His presence wrapped around me like frostbite, numbing, sharp, unwelcome.
He rode with the confidence of a man who'd already won. Arrogant. Unshaken. Focused. His eyes swept the forest, and for a heartbeat, I thought he saw me. But he looked away.
He didn't recognize me. Not like this. Not cloaked in ash and flame.
I stood slowly, stepping out from behind the rock, no longer interested in hiding.
"Looking for me?" I said, loud enough to stop them in their tracks.
Kael's head jerked toward the sound. His eyes locked on mine.
And there it was, the flicker of recognition. Then disbelief. And finally… something softer. Guilt, maybe. Regret.
I didn't care.
"Nyra," he said, dismounting. His voice was steady. Always steady. "You're a hard woman to find."
"I wasn't hiding," I lied.
"You fled every time we came close."
"Maybe I was waiting for the right moment," I said, lifting my chin. "Or maybe I was just tired of being hunted."
Kael took a step forward. His soldiers tensed behind him, hands inching toward their weapons. I didn't move.
"I was told you're dangerous," he said.
"I am."
"You burned a village."
"No," I said. "I burned a trap."
His jaw twitched.
I let the silence stretch between us. The fire within me stirred, licking at the edges of my control. I didn't want to hurt him. Not unless I had to. But I also wasn't going with him. Not now. Not ever.
"The Council wants peace," he said. "They think if you come back, if we marry, it'll satisfy both our people. They want to bind flame and frost."
I laughed. A bitter, sharp sound. "They want to tame me."
"They want to protect the realm."
I stepped closer. "You don't protect people by caging them, Kael. You do it by standing with them. Did you ever stand with me?"
He didn't answer.
The flames in my veins surged. I raised my hand, and fire leapt to my palm, dancing like it knew what I was about to do. The soldiers panicked, drawing blades. Kael raised a hand to stop them.
"I'm not here to fight you," he said.
"Good," I whispered, then hurled the fireball at the ground between us. It exploded in a flash of light and heat, sending them all stumbling back.
When the smoke cleared, I was already gone.
But I knew he'd follow.
He always did.