Sera's POV
"Put me down!"
I twisted in Cassian's arms as he carried me up another flight of stairs. My whole body ached from using powers I didn't understand, and my brain felt like mush.
"Not until we're somewhere safe," he said calmly, like carrying random girls through the city at night was totally normal for him.
"I can walk," I protested.
"You can barely stand." He wasn't wrong, but I didn't have to like it.
We reached the top floor of the building. Cassian shifted me to one arm—seriously, how strong was he?—and unlocked a heavy wooden door.
The apartment inside made me forget how to breathe.
Books lined every wall from floor to ceiling. A huge window showed the city lights twinkling below. Weapons hung on racks—swords, daggers, things I didn't even have names for. It was part library, part armory, and completely amazing.
Cassian finally set me down on a soft leather couch. "Wait here."
He disappeared through a doorway. I looked at my hands again, half expecting them to burst into flames. They looked normal. Felt normal. But I could still sense something inside me, warm and waiting.
What was happening to me?
Cassian returned with water, bread, and cheese on a tray. My stomach growled loudly. I couldn't remember the last time I'd eaten.
"Eat," he said, setting the tray on the table. "You used a lot of energy tonight."
I grabbed the bread and stuffed half of it in my mouth. Cassian watched me with those weird silver eyes, not saying anything. It made me nervous.
"Stop staring at me," I mumbled through the bread.
"I'm trying to figure out how you're alive."
I swallowed hard. "What?"
Cassian sat in the chair across from me, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "That woman tonight—Vivienne—she's one of the most dangerous people in the kingdoms. The fact that you broke free from her memory magic and then unleashed fire powerful enough to scare her off..." He shook his head. "Most people don't survive meeting her once. You survived and made her run away."
"I didn't do anything special. The fire just... happened."
"That's my point." His eyes were intense. "You have no training. No control. Yet your power manifested exactly when you needed it most. Do you know how rare that is?"
I didn't know what to say, so I ate more cheese instead.
Cassian stood and walked to a shelf, pulling down a heavy book. He flipped through pages until he found what he wanted, then turned the book toward me.
It was a painting. A woman with red hair and a crown that looked like flames sat on a throne. Around her neck hung a pendant identical to my mother's.
My pendant.
"That's the Phoenix Empress," Cassian said quietly. "She ruled three hundred years ago. That crown she's wearing? It was called the Ember Crown, and that pendant was its key."
I touched my mother's pendant through my shirt. It felt warm against my skin.
"The Phoenix Court was the most powerful ruling family in history," Cassian continued. "They could control fire, heal from almost any wound, and according to legends, they could even come back from death itself. But they were betrayed. The entire royal family was murdered in a single night. Or so everyone believed."
"What does this have to do with me?" But even as I asked, I knew. The pendant. The fire from my hands. My mother's last words: Remember who you are.
Cassian pulled out more papers—reports, documents, maps. "I've been investigating your family for two years, Sera. After the Thornwick fire, something didn't add up. The authorities called it an accident, but the burn patterns were wrong. Someone used accelerants. Multiple ignition points. It was arson, carefully planned."
My chest tightened. Hearing him say it made it real.
He spread out more papers. "I tracked down witnesses the official investigation ignored. A merchant saw three men leaving Thornwick hours before the fire started. A farmer noticed your uncle Damien meeting with strangers in the woods that week."
"Uncle Damien died when I was little," I whispered.
"No." Cassian's voice was gentle but firm. "That's what your parents told you to protect you. Damien Ashborne is very much alive. And he's the one who ordered the fire that killed your parents."
The room spun. I gripped the edge of the couch. "You're lying."
"I wish I was." Cassian knelt in front of me so we were eye level. "Your uncle isn't just a murderer, Sera. He's hunting for something. For someone. I think he was looking for you."
"Why would he want to kill me? I'm nobody!"
"Because you turned seventeen six months ago, didn't you? The day of the fire?"
My birthday. The day my world ended.
"Phoenix heirs awaken their powers on their seventeenth birthday," Cassian explained. "Your uncle knew that. He tried to kill you before you could become dangerous to him."
This was insane. Completely insane. "Even if any of this is true, why do you care? Why are you helping me?"
Something painful flashed across Cassian's face. "Because three hundred years ago, my family—House Veylan—swore a sacred oath to protect the Phoenix bloodline. We were their sworn shields, their most trusted allies. When the royal family was betrayed, my ancestors failed them. That failure has haunted my family for generations."
He stood and walked to the window, staring out at the city. "And because Damien and his allies destroyed my family too. They killed my parents, my sister, everyone. Then they used memory magic to make me think I was the one who killed them. I lived with that guilt for years before I discovered the truth."
My anger at him softened. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Be smart." He turned back to me. "Damien won't stop hunting you. Neither will Vivienne or whoever else wants you dead. You can't go back to the streets. You can't run away. The only way you survive is if you learn to control your power and fight back."
"I don't know how to fight."
"I'll teach you." Cassian's voice held a promise. "Magic, combat, strategy—everything you need. But you have to trust me."
Trust. That word felt dangerous. I'd trusted my uncle was dead. Trusted the authorities would help me. Trusted that I was safe.
All of those trusts had turned to ashes.
But what choice did I have?
"Okay," I said finally. "I'll stay. I'll learn. But I need to know everything—no more secrets."
Cassian nodded. "No more secrets."
He showed me to a bedroom with an actual bed and told me to rest. I was so exhausted I could barely keep my eyes open. But after he left and I lay down in the darkness, my mind kept racing.
Fire powers. Phoenix heir. Ancient bloodlines. It sounded like something from a story, not real life.
I touched my mother's pendant. "Did you know?" I whispered into the dark. "Did you know what I was?"
Remember who you are, she'd said.
I was starting to think she knew exactly what she was asking.
I must have fallen asleep eventually, because I woke up to voices. Cassian was talking to someone in the next room, his voice low and urgent.
Curious, I crept to the door and pressed my ear against it.
"—found her, just like you said I would," Cassian was saying.
"And the pendant?" An unfamiliar woman's voice, old and raspy.
"She has it. It reacted to danger exactly as predicted."
"Good. Once she learns to access its power fully, we can begin."
"Begin what?" Cassian asked.
The old woman laughed softly. "The real plan, dear boy. Did you think protecting the girl was the end goal? She's just the key. Once her powers fully awaken, we can finally unlock the Phoenix Vault and claim what's rightfully—"
"She'll never agree to that," Cassian interrupted sharply. "She's not a tool. I gave my word to protect her, and I will."
"Protect her?" The woman's voice turned cold. "Or control her? Don't forget who you really work for, Cassian Veylan. The girl must open the Vault, whether she wants to or not. We didn't spend two years searching for her just to—"
I stumbled backward, my heart pounding so hard it hurt.
Cassian had lied.
He wasn't protecting me out of some noble oath. He was using me. They wanted me for something called the Phoenix Vault, something I apparently could unlock with my powers.
Everything he'd said about trust and no more secrets—all lies.
My mother's pendant grew hot against my chest, almost burning. As if warning me.
I had to get out. Now.
I grabbed my shoes and moved silently toward the apartment door. My hand touched the doorknob—
"Going somewhere?"
I spun around. Cassian stood in the hallway, his silver eyes unreadable in the darkness.
And suddenly, I wasn't sure if he was my protector or my enemy.