Seraphina's POV
Lucian's screams echoed through the basement like knives scraping my soul.
"NO!" I lunged toward him, but Vesper grabbed me, her grip iron-strong despite her ghostly appearance.
"Don't touch him!" she hissed in my ear. "His memories are tearing through his mind—if you interrupt the process, it could kill him!"
Lucian writhed on the floor, clawing at his head. Blood trickled from his nose. His silver eyes rolled back, showing only whites.
Evangeline laughed, the sound sharp and cruel. "Poor Lord Gravemire. I stole those memories three years ago when he got too close to discovering my plans. Now they're flooding back all at once—every secret, every pain, every moment he forgot. His mind might not survive it."
"You monster!" I screamed, fighting against Vesper's hold. "Let him go!"
"Oh, I will. Once he's too broken to interfere." Evangeline stepped closer, her Inquisitors fanning out to block the exits. "But first, let's talk about you, dear niece. Did you enjoy your little memory session? Did you learn the truth about what you really are?"
My heart hammered. She knew. Of course she knew.
"I'm the Phoenix heir," I said, forcing my voice steady even though I was terrified. "The rightful Empress. That's why you killed my parents—you want the throne for yourself."
"Smart girl." Evangeline smiled like a proud teacher. "Your mother was the Phoenix Queen's daughter, hidden away as a baby during the coup. She grew up not knowing her own heritage until it was too late. But I knew. I've always known." Her eyes glittered with mad ambition. "And once I have you and the Flamebringer's Crown, I'll take your power, your bloodline, and your throne. The Empire will be mine."
"Never," I spat.
"We'll see." She nodded to Commander Aldric. "Take the girl. Kill the others."
The Inquisitors charged forward.
Vesper shoved me behind her, ripping off her cloak. Underneath, dozens of small vials hung from her belt—each one glowing different colors. She grabbed three and hurled them at the floor.
They exploded in blinding light and choking smoke.
"RUN!" Vesper shouted, pushing me toward a dark corner. "There's a hidden passage behind the third shelf! Go!"
"Not without you! Not without Lucian!"
"I'll get him! NOW GO!"
An Inquisitor burst through the smoke, sword raised. Vesper moved like water, dodging the blade and pressing her palm to his forehead. The man's eyes went blank, and he collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
"She's stealing his memories!" another Inquisitor yelled. "Don't let her touch you!"
But Vesper was already moving, her hands finding two more Inquisitors. They dropped instantly, their minds emptied.
I stood frozen, torn between running and helping. Then I saw Lucian still convulsing on the floor, Evangeline walking slowly toward him with that terrible smile.
My hands started tingling.
Heat rushed through my veins like liquid fire.
"Touch him and die," I heard myself say, my voice coming out strange and echoing.
Evangeline paused, turning to look at me with genuine surprise.
Then she saw my hands.
Silver-white flames danced across my palms, brighter than before. Hotter. More real.
"Impossible," Evangeline breathed. "Your magic is still suppressed—you shouldn't be able to—"
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I screamed, and the flames exploded outward.
A wall of silver fire erupted between Evangeline and Lucian, forcing her back. The heat was so intense that nearby Inquisitors cried out and retreated.
But I felt no pain. The flames were part of me, responding to my fear and rage like extensions of my own body.
"Remarkable," Evangeline said, her initial shock replaced by hungry fascination. "Your power is awakening faster than expected. The stronger you get, the more valuable you become."
She raised both hands, and dark purple magic gathered around her—the same magic that had hurt Lucian before.
"But raw power without control is useless, child. Let me show you real magic."
The purple energy shot toward me like a spear.
My silver flames rose instinctively to block it. The two magics collided in an explosion that shook the entire basement. Jars fell from shelves, shattering and releasing ghostly memories that swirled through the air like confused spirits.
I fell to my knees, exhausted. Creating that wall of fire had drained me completely.
Evangeline smiled, barely winded. "You see? You're powerful, yes. But untrained. Weak. You can't even sustain your flames for thirty seconds." She advanced slowly. "Come quietly, Seraphina. I'll teach you to use your power properly before I take it from you. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Stay... away..." I gasped, trying to summon more fire. Nothing came. My hands felt cold and dead.
An Inquisitor grabbed my arm, yanking me to my feet.
Suddenly, Vesper appeared from nowhere, slamming into the Inquisitor with inhuman strength. They crashed into a shelf, more memory jars exploding around them.
"Sera!" Vesper tossed me something—a small crystal vial filled with swirling silver mist. "Drink this! Now!"
"What is it?"
"Trust me!"
I uncorked the vial and swallowed the contents. It tasted like lightning and burnt sugar and—
Memories that weren't mine flooded my mind.
A young woman with my face—my mother—standing before a massive throne made of flames. She's only sixteen, tears streaming down her face as she watches her own mother die.
"Run," the dying Phoenix Queen gasps. "Take the crown and run. Hide it where no one can find it. Keep the bloodline alive."
My mother grabs a magnificent crown made of living silver fire and flees through secret passages as explosions rock the palace.
Years later, she's older, married to my father. They're in our house in Ember Hollow, arguing in hushed voices.
"We have to tell her," my father insists. "She's getting older. Her magic will manifest soon—"
"No!" my mother cries. "The moment she knows what she is, she becomes a target. Let her be a normal child for as long as possible."
"And the crown?" my father asks.
My mother's face hardens. "I hid it in the one place no one would ever think to look. Inside a memory."
The vision ended abruptly, leaving me gasping.
"What did you see?" Vesper demanded, fighting off two Inquisitors at once.
"The crown!" I choked out. "My mother hid it inside a memory! She—"
"Enough talking!" Evangeline's magic lashed out, wrapping around Vesper like invisible chains. My sister screamed and collapsed.
"No more tricks," Evangeline snarled. "No more games. Seraphina, you're coming with me RIGHT NOW, or I kill everyone in this room starting with your sister."
She raised her hand toward Vesper's throat, purple magic crackling.
"Wait!" I shouted. "I'll come! Just don't hurt her!"
"Sera, no!" Vesper gasped.
But what choice did I have? I couldn't let my sister die. I couldn't let Lucian die. I was powerless, exhausted, and surrounded.
I took a step toward Evangeline, my hands raised in surrender.
That's when Lucian surged to his feet with a roar that shook the walls.
His silver eyes blazed with fury—but more than that, they blazed with memory. His stolen memories had returned, and whatever he'd remembered made him terrifying.
"You want to know why I recognized Seraphina the night of the fire?" he growled at Evangeline. "You want to know my connection to all of this?"
Silver flames erupted around him, so bright I had to shield my eyes.
"I'm not just a Flamebringer, Evangeline. I'm the Phoenix Queen's bastard son. Seraphina's half-brother. And you killed my mother thirty years ago during the coup!"
The basement went dead silent.
I stared at Lucian in shock. Half-brother? He was my brother?
Evangeline's face went pale. "That's impossible. All the Queen's children were executed—"
"All except the one she had with her secret lover before she married the Emperor," Lucian snarled. "The one she hid away to protect. The one who's been hunting you for three decades, waiting for proof of what you did."
His flames grew hotter, melting the stone floor beneath his feet.
"You made a mistake stealing my memories, Evangeline. Because now I remember everything. Including where my mother hid the evidence that will destroy you."
He turned to me, his silver eyes—my eyes, I realized with shock—filled with desperate urgency.
"Sera, the crown isn't just hidden in a memory. It's hidden in YOUR memory. Your mother placed it inside your mind when you were a baby, locked it away so deeply that even you don't know it's there."
My hand flew to my chest. "Inside my mind?"
"That's why they wanted you alive," Vesper breathed, understanding dawning. "You're not just the heir. You're the vault."
Evangeline's face twisted with rage and triumph. "Then I'll cut open her mind and take it! Aldric, grab her NOW!"
The Inquisitors surged forward.
Lucian grabbed my hand, his flames mixing with mine. "Hold on tight. This is going to hurt."
"What—"
He slammed his free hand against the wall, and his magic poured into the stone. The entire basement began to shake.
"What are you doing?!" Evangeline screamed.
"Collapsing the Memory Market," Lucian said grimly. "If I can't have these memories, neither can you."
Cracks spider-webbed across the ceiling. Stones began falling.
"You'll kill us all!" Aldric yelled.
"Maybe!" Lucian yanked me and Vesper close, his flames forming a protective sphere around us. "But better dead than letting you have her!"
The ceiling came down.
Tons of stone and earth crashed into the basement, crushing Inquisitors and shattering thousands of memory jars. The ghosts of stolen thoughts swirled through the chaos, screaming silently.
Through the flames protecting us, I saw Evangeline's face twisted in fury as a massive beam fell toward her—
Then everything went black.
I woke up choking on dirt, buried under rubble. My whole body ached. But I was alive.
"Lucian?" I coughed. "Vesper?"
"Here," Lucian's voice came from nearby, strained with pain. "Vesper?"
"Alive," my sister groaned. "Barely."
Lucian's flames dimmed, and we could see again. We were in a small pocket of space, protected by his magic. Above us, tons of collapsed basement pressed down, but his flames held it back like a glowing dome.
"We need to dig out," Vesper said. "Before his magic fails."
"Wait." I grabbed Lucian's arm, my mind reeling. "You're my brother? You're really my brother?"
His silver eyes—our mother's eyes—met mine. "Half-brother. Same mother, different fathers. I didn't know for certain until Evangeline returned my memories. But I suspected when I first saw you." He smiled weakly. "You have her face. Our mother's face."
Tears burned my eyes. "You knew her? The Phoenix Queen?"
"For twelve years. Until they killed her." His voice broke. "Until Evangeline and her conspirators murdered the entire royal family and stole the throne. I've been hunting them ever since, waiting for proof that would stand up in court. Waiting for another Phoenix heir to emerge." He squeezed my hand. "Waiting for you."
"But if the crown is in my head," I said slowly, "how do I get it out?"
Vesper and Lucian exchanged dark looks.
"That's the problem," Vesper said quietly. "The only way to extract a memory-locked object is through deep memory magic. The kind that requires you to relive every moment of your entire life in perfect detail."
"It could take weeks," Lucian added. "And you'd be completely vulnerable the whole time. If Evangeline finds us—"
A massive chunk of rubble shifted above us.
Dust rained down.
"Speaking of Evangeline," Vesper whispered. "I don't think we buried her."
Through the cracks in Lucian's protective dome, we heard it:
Evangeline's voice, muffled but alive and furious, coming from somewhere in the collapsed basement.
"Find them! They can't have gone far! The girl is injured and weak—she can't run!"
More voices joined hers. Inquisitors digging through the rubble.
Coming for us.
"We have to move," Lucian said urgently. "There's an escape tunnel on the east side. If we can reach it—"
"You can barely stand," I protested. "You're hurt—"
"We don't have a choice." He grabbed both Vesper and me. "When I drop the shield, run. Don't look back. Don't wait for me. Just run."
"No!" I grabbed his coat. "I'm not leaving you! Not now that I finally have family again!"
His expression softened. "That's exactly why you have to run, little sister. Because I just found you too." He pressed something into my hand—a small crystal. "This contains the location of a safe house. Get there. Let Vesper help you unlock the crown. And when you're ready..." His silver eyes blazed. "Burn this corrupt Empire to the ground and take back what's ours."
"Lucian, no—"
He kissed my forehead. "I love you, Sera. I've loved you since the moment I pulled you from those flames. Now GO!"
His shield dropped.
The rubble began falling.
Vesper grabbed me and ran, dragging me through a narrow gap that appeared in the collapsed stones.
I looked back once.
Lucian stood alone in the falling chaos, his silver flames erupting in a massive column that held back the entire basement's weight. He was buying us time. Sacrificing himself so we could escape.
"LUCIAN!" I screamed.
But Vesper yanked me through the gap, and it collapsed behind us.
We ran through darkness, my sister half-carrying me, my brother's crystal clutched in my fist.
Behind us, I heard Evangeline's triumphant scream and the sound of more rubble falling.
Was Lucian alive? Dead? Captured?
I didn't know.
All I knew was that somewhere inside my head, locked in my own memories, was the key to saving the Empire.
And I had no idea how to find it.