Screams flowed down the stone halls. Not the usual kind, not the nameless ones Kaelen had forced himself to tune out. This one cut different. The sound crawled right under his ribs, sharp, familiar.
The cloaked woman.
Kaelen pressed his head against the iron bars, chains cutting into his wrists as he strained to hear. The guards were laughing, boots scraping stone, water splashing on the floor. Then another scream, higher, hoarse, broken. His throat burned just hearing it.
He had told himself he wouldn't care. That he wouldn't let her face stay in his chest. But the empire had a way of bringing out the only soft parts you had left and burning them right in front of you.
A door groaned open down the corridor. Kaelen lifted his head, his whole body tense. Torches threw ragged light. Two soldiers dragged her past, her cloak half burnt , blood across her face. She was limp but her eyes flicked once toward his cell, and that one look was enough.
Something in Kaelen snapped.
He pulled against the chains, fire sparking under his skin, hotter than before. He bit back a yell as the cuffs seared into his flesh, the iron glowing faint red. The guards cursed, one stomping toward him with a spear.
"Stay quiet , fire brat, or we'll carve your tongue too!"
Kaelen didn't hear. His blood was a furnace, every breath flame clawing to get out. Another scream tore from the torture room. His mind went white.
The chains cracked.
The guards froze. Kaelen lifted his hands, fire leaking out like the walls themselves were bleeding light. Then the explosion came, short, brutal. Bars twisted open, iron melted into slag. The nearest soldier didn't even have time to scream before Kaelen's fire swallowed him.
Kaelen stumbled forward, half blind, half mad, fire dripping from his fingers like it was alive. He ran. Not thinking, just moving toward the sound of her pain.
The torture chamber door wasn't locked anymore—his heat had blown the bolt loose. He shoved it wide. The stink hit him first. Burned flesh, wet stone, iron blood. She was strapped to a frame, wrists raw, her body cut open in places just to see how much she'd endure. A man in black leather gloves held a blade glowing red from coals.
The man turned, smug grin ready—until he saw Kaelen's eyes.
Fire surged. The torturer screamed once, then nothing but smoke filled the room.
Kaelen broke her chains with his bare, burning hands. She dropped into his arms, too weak to stand. Her lips trembled but no words came, only blood at the corner of her mouth.
"I got you," Kaelen said , his own throat raw. "We're not staying here."
Guards were already shouting, horns blasting through the dungeon.
Kaelen pulled her over his shoulder and ran. Flame spilled out of him without control, burning torches off walls, sending smoke ahead like a signal fire. His bare feet slid in blood, but he didn't stop.
More soldiers came at the stairwell. Kaelen threw his arm out, flame bursting from his palm. They screamed and fell back, their armor glowing. More came behind them. Arrows cut the air. One grazed his arm, another buried in his leg. He staggered but the fire roared louder, carrying him forward.
Stone cracked under the heat. The dungeon ceiling rumbled.
"Stop him! Don't let them out!"
Kaelen didn't care. He burst through another door, up another flight, dragging the woman with him. Her breath was shallow, her weight heavy, but he clung tighter.
They broke into the main hall. Gold walls. Red banners. The heart of the empire's palace. And waiting for him—rows of soldiers, shields locked, spears braced.
Kaelen's knees buckled. His fire was nearly eating him alive now, his skin blistering under it. But he held the cloaked woman tighter and stared at the wall of blades.
No way forward. No way back.
Then the ground trembled.
The fire inside him answered something older, deeper. A roar—not human, not close, but real—rolled through the city, shaking the palace walls.
The soldiers faltered. Kaelen's fire surged again, wild, towering up like wings behind him. He didn't even know if it was him or something waking in the distance.
The cloaked woman opened her eyes just a crack, her lips forming a single word he couldn't catch before she passed out again.
Kaelen set his feet, fire spilling across the marble floor.
The emperor himself stepped into view at the far end of the hall. No armor, no shield, just robes black as night and eyes colder than any blade.
And he was smiling.