The sky cracked like glass.
I was running...
Boots slipping on wet rocks. Arrows whistling past my ears.
Then...BOOM!
Lightning hit me square in the chest.
It didn't kill me, it grabbed me and threw me.
Next thing I know, I'm falling through black clouds.
Wind screaming, my hair on fire.
I thought: This is it, Ash. You're dead.
I hit something hard.
Not the ground.
It was a balcony.
I rolled, smashed into the rail, almost went over the edge.
A hand grabbed my wrist.
Strong and Warm.
Blue sparks jumped from my skin to his.
I looked up.
A guy.
Black hair, blue eyes, Fancy cloak flapping like a flag.
He stared like he'd seen a ghost.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked.
I tried to pull free but couldn't.
My arm burned where he held me.
Blue fire crawled up his hand too.
He didn't let go.
Behind him, doors slammed open.
Six guards in silver armor.
"A stormborn!" one yelled, "Kill her!"
They raised crossbows.
He should've stepped back, and let them shoot.
Instead, he yanked me inside, slammed the glass doors and locked them
The guards pounded.
"Open up, Prince Cassian! That's an order!"
Prince.
Of course. I had crashed into the royal palace, perfect.
I sat up, coughing blood...My ribs hurt, my head spun, but I smiled.
"You just broke the law, prince. Touching me is death."
He looked at his hand, the blue sparks were gone.
But a mark glowed under his skin... right over his heart...A storm rune.
Same as the one burned into my neck when I was seven.
He saw me staring..."What is this?" he asked.
I laughed... Short. Bitter.
"Your problem now."
The pounding outside stopped.
There was silence.
Then a new voice ...old, creaky, like dry paper.
"Open the door, Your Highness. The seer must see the mark."
Cassian, that was his name... looked at me.
He really looked, like he was trying to read my soul.
I looked back, let him try.
He opened the door... an old man in gray robes walked in, white beard down to his belt.
He took one look at the mark on Cassian's chest, then at mine.
His eyes went wide.
"Soul-Bond," he whispered.
"The Storm Crown has chosen."
Cassian frowned, "Explain."
The seer bowed.
"The girl is Stormborn, you touched her, now your lives are tied.
If she dies, you die.
If you die, she dies.
Within the hour."
I snorted.
"Great. Stuck with Prince Perfect."
Cassian ignored me.
"Break it."
The seer shook his head.
"Impossible. Only death breaks a Soul-Bond.
Or… the crown itself.
But the Storm Crown was lost twenty years ago.
When they burned the Stormborn clans."
I went still, burned.
My mom, my little brother...the smoke that never left my dreams.
I clenched my fists.
Lightning flickered outside the window.
Cassian noticed.
He stepped between me and the seer.
"Chain her," he said. "Null-iron, now!"
Two guards came in with black cuffs, cold and heavy.
The second they touched my wrists, the storm in my blood went quiet.
Like someone turned off a radio.
They dragged me to a chair, locked the chains to the floor.
I didn't fight...not yet.
Cassian watched, face, hard.
But his eyes kept going to the mark on his chest.
It pulsed.
Slow.
Like a second heartbeat.
The seer spoke again.
"The council meets at dawn. They will vote to execute her.
The law is clear: no Stormborn may live."
Cassian nodded.
"Take her to the west tower, No visitors!"
They hauled me up.
As they pulled me past him, I leaned close.
Whispered so only he heard:
"I didn't fall by accident, prince.
I came for something.
And now you're going to help me get it."
He grabbed my arm.
Hard.
"What thing?"
I smiled.
Blood on my teeth.
"Your throne."
They dragged me away.
Down stone halls. Past gold statues and red carpets.
Into a cold room with one window.
Slammed the door and locked it.
I sat in the dark.
Listened to the storm outside.
It sounded angry.
Good.
So was I.
Hours later, the door opened again.
Cassian walked in alone.
No guards.
He carried a key.
Unlocked my chains.
Just the wrist ones.
Left the null-iron collar.
"Talk," he said.
"Why are you here?"
I rubbed my wrists.
"You first, Why save me?"
He didn't answer.
Just stared.
Like he was trying to figure me out.
I stared back, same way.
Finally, he said:
"I don't know."
I laughed.
"Honestly...I like that."
He stepped closer.
The mark on his chest glowed brighter.
Mine too...it was warm, it was pulling...like magnets.
"Don't," I warned.
"Get too close and it gets worse."
"Worse how?"
I showed him my neck.
The rune was spreading.
Black lines crawling toward my jaw.
"Every hour, it grows, feeds on us...on touch, on feelings."
He looked scared.
For the first time.
"What happens when it reaches the heart?"
I shrugged.
"We burn."
He swallowed.
Hard.
"Then we don't touch."
I smirked.
"Too late."
He looked at his hand.
The one that caught me.
Still had faint blue lines.
Like veins.
We heard footsteps in the hall...he got tensed.
"Hide," he said.
Pushed me behind a curtain.
Thick velvet.
Smelled like dust and roses.
The door opened.
A woman's voice.
Cold. Sharp.
"Cassian. The emperor wants you. Now."
"Coming, Seraphine."
Seraphine?
I knew that name.
Daughter of the Iron Coast.
Rich, Powerful.
Engaged to the prince...Great!
I peeked through the curtain.
She was beautiful. Blonde, tall, her dress... like liquid silver.
She looked at Cassian like he was a prize.
He looked at her like she was a duty.
She left.
He locked the door again.
Pulled me out.
"You're staying here tonight," he said.
"Tomorrow they vote to kill you.
I need to know why you came. Everything."
I crossed my arms.
"Give me one reason to trust you."
He thought.
Then took off his heavy gold ring, carved with a crown...put it in my hand.
"Because if you run, I lose more than my life.
I lose my crown."
I turned the ring, felt its weight, I smiled.
"Deal. But I keep this."
He nodded once, then left, then locked door from outside.
I sat on the bed, looked at the ring, looked at the storm outside.
I whispered to the dark:
"Tomorrow, prince, you learn what happens when lightning chooses its own master."
Thunder answered.
Loud.
Close.
Like it agreed.