The chamber burned brighter than any sun Kaelen had ever known. It was not the warmth of a hearth, nor the blaze of a battlefield—it was judgment, pure and merciless. Fire roared in the runes on the walls, and every breath he drew scorched his lungs.
Yet the coldest thing in that chamber was not the flame. It was the silence that followed Ariselle's words.
My fate is bound to his.
Kaelen's heart thundered. She had spoken the truth aloud, without hesitation, before the eyes of her own people. Her courage filled him with awe, with terror, with something he dared not name.
Then the silence shattered. The councilors erupted in fury, their blended voices like a storm of firestorms.
"Treason."
"Blasphemy."
"Madness!"
The white-flamed councilor rose, her brilliance so fierce Kaelen had to shield his eyes. With a single strike of her staff, the chamber fell quiet once more.
"So be it," she intoned. Her voice cut deeper than the flames, sharper than any sword. "Both shall be bound. Both shall be tried. Their fates burned in the fire of judgment."
Kaelen's muscles tensed, but before he could move, the floor itself betrayed him. Light burst upward in chains of molten silver, wrapping around his wrists and chest. The heat was unbearable—not just on his skin, but in his very soul, as though the fire sought to tear apart his essence. His sword clattered from his grip, ringing uselessly against the stone.
He bit back a cry, grinding his teeth as the chains pulled him to his knees.
"Kaelen!" Ariselle screamed, rushing to his side—only for the same chains to rise from the floor and seize her. They coiled around her arms and waist, forcing her down beside him. The emerald silk of her cloak shriveled where the heat touched it, filling the air with the acrid stench of smoke.
Kaelen struggled against his bonds, fury surging through him. "Release her! She has done nothing!"
The council ignored him. Their gazes fixed upon Ariselle as though Kaelen were already ash.
"You," the white-flamed woman said, her eyes narrowing to molten slits. "Daughter of flame. You betray your kin. You bind your fire to shadow, to a mortal curse. Do you deny it?"
The chamber held its breath.
Ariselle's shoulders trembled under the weight of the chains, her skin damp with sweat, yet she lifted her chin. "I deny nothing." Her voice cracked, but it carried across the hall, fierce and unyielding. "I stand with him."
The words blazed brighter than any flame. For Kaelen, they cut through the chains, through the fire, through the curse that haunted his blood. He stared at her, his chest tight with something that terrified him more than the council's wrath.
The council erupted again, their fire flaring so high it licked the vaulted ceiling. Sparks cascaded down like burning rain. Their accusations rang out like thunder:
"She condemns herself!"
"She weakens the threads!"
"She risks us all for a mortal!"
Kaelen forced himself upright against the bonds, every muscle screaming. His voice thundered over theirs. "If there is guilt, it is mine. She owes you nothing! I crossed the threads. I defied your laws. Judge me—"
"Silence, mortal!" another councilor roared, his flames violet with rage.
But Kaelen pressed on, his voice raw, desperate. "If you condemn us, then know this: it is not fire that will save your realm when the shadows break through. It is those who will stand together, no matter the cost!"
His words echoed, swallowed by the cavernous hall. For a heartbeat, there was only silence. Even the flames seemed to waver.
Then the white-flamed woman lowered her staff, her expression unreadable in the glare of her light. "Your defiance is noted. It will be weighed. But know this—your bond, forged in defiance of law and flame, has already cursed you both."
At her signal, the chains tightened. Kaelen gasped as the heat seared deeper, not into his flesh but into the marrow of his soul. He could feel something being stripped away—his strength, his will, the very core of what he was. Beside him, Ariselle cried out, the sound breaking him more than the pain.
He turned his head, forcing his body against the chains just to look at her. Their gazes locked, hers blazing with fire and fear and something more—something that steadied him even as the chains dragged him lower.
"I won't let them break you," Kaelen rasped.
Her lips trembled into the faintest smile. "Nor I you."
And in that moment, as the chamber darkened with fire and judgment, Kaelen realized the truth he could no longer deny. Whatever fate awaited them—trial, torment, or death—they would face it together.
The council's flames rose, swallowing the chamber in brilliance. Their trial had only just begun.