Sera's POV
"Lesson one starts now."
Cassian's words hung in the air like a threat and a promise.
"Now?" I looked at the unconscious hunter on the ground, the scorch marks from my fire, the alley that suddenly felt way too exposed. "Shouldn't we, I don't know, hide or something?"
"Hiding is over," Cassian said. "Your uncle knows you're alive. He knows you've awakened. Every minute we waste is a minute he uses to send more hunters." He held out his hand. "So yes. Now."
I stared at his offered hand. Taking it meant accepting everything—the powers, the danger, the impossible truth about who I was.
Not taking it meant running again. Being helpless. Letting my parents' deaths go unanswered.
I grabbed his hand.
"Good." Cassian pulled me to my feet. "Mirage, we need a safe training space. Somewhere—"
"Already on it." Mirage—no, Princess Elara, or whatever she was—had her mismatched eyes closed, concentrating. "There's an abandoned warehouse three blocks north. No one's used it in years. I can get us in."
"Perfect. Let's move."
We ran through the early morning streets, dodging merchants setting up their stalls and workers heading to jobs. My legs still felt weak from manifesting all that fire, but fear pushed me forward.
Fear and anger.
My uncle planned to murder me. He succeeded in killing my parents. And if I didn't get stronger, fast, he'd finish what he started.
The warehouse was massive and dark inside, with high ceilings and broken windows that let in dusty beams of sunlight. It smelled like rust and old wood.
"This'll work," Cassian said, turning to face me. "First lesson: your power responds to emotion. You felt angry, so fire exploded out of control. You felt scared, so it went wild trying to protect you."
"How do I stop that?"
"You don't stop the emotion. You channel it." He moved closer, his silver eyes intense. "Think of your power like a river. Right now, it's flooding everywhere, drowning everything. You need to build banks, direct the flow. Use it instead of letting it use you."
That sounded way easier said than done.
"Okay, so how—"
"Hold out your hand," Cassian interrupted. "Palm up."
I did. My hand trembled slightly.
"Now, remember the moment you saw that memory crystal. When you learned the truth about your uncle. Let yourself feel that anger again."
I closed my eyes. Damien's voice echoed in my head. The girl must burn before her seventeenth birthday.
Heat built in my chest instantly.
"Good," Cassian's voice came from nearby. "Feel it building. But don't let it explode. Imagine directing it down your arm, into your palm. Just your palm. Nowhere else."
I pictured it like he said. The heat flowing like water through a pipe, down my arm, pooling in my hand.
"Open your eyes."
I looked.
A small flame danced in my palm. Just one flame, controlled and steady. Red and gold like a tiny sunrise.
"I did it," I whispered, afraid that talking too loud would make it disappear.
"You did it," Cassian agreed, and I heard the smile in his voice. "That's called a controlled manifestation. Now make it bigger."
I focused harder. The flame grew from the size of a coin to the size of an apple.
"Smaller."
I pulled back on the heat. The flame shrank to barely a flicker.
"Now put it out completely."
I tried to smother the fire feeling in my chest. The flame sputtered and died, leaving just a wisp of smoke.
My legs gave out. Cassian caught me before I hit the ground.
"That was amazing," he said, helping me sit against the wall. "Most Phoenix heirs take weeks to manage their first controlled flame. You did it in minutes."
"Why does it make me so tired?"
"Because you're using raw life energy to fuel the magic. Your body isn't used to it yet." He handed me water that Mirage had found somewhere. "Drink. Rest for a moment. Then we go again."
"Again?" My muscles already felt like wet rope.
"Damien won't wait for you to feel rested," Cassian said, but his voice was gentle. "I know it's hard. But you need to master the basics before sunset."
"Why sunset?"
Mirage sat down beside me. "Because that's when we leave for the Moonwhisper Court. And the journey there is dangerous. You need to be able to defend yourself."
Right. The hidden court. Where Mirage was apparently a kidnapped princess.
"Are you scared?" I asked her. "About going back?"
Mirage's expression flickered with something—fear, hope, confusion. "Terrified. I don't remember them. I don't remember being a princess. What if they're disappointed? What if I'm not who they want me to be?"
I understood that feeling perfectly. "I don't remember being a Phoenix heir either. Yesterday I was just a thief. Today I'm supposed to be royalty with fire powers and a destiny. It's insane."
"We can be insane together," Mirage said with a small smile.
"Deal."
Cassian cleared his throat. "Touching moment. But we're burning daylight. Literally." He pulled me back to my feet. "Again. This time, try to maintain the flame for a full minute."
We trained for hours. My hand. Both hands. Flames big and small. Shooting fire in a straight line. Creating a wall of fire. Pulling it all back in.
By noon, I could create fire without thinking about it too hard. By afternoon, I could throw fireballs at targets Mirage set up. They weren't very accurate, but they were destructive.
"You're a natural," Mirage said after I accidentally set a pile of crates on fire. "Or a natural disaster. Hard to tell."
"Both," Cassian said dryly, putting out the flames with a fire blanket he'd found. "But she's learning fast."
I sat down heavily, exhausted. Every muscle hurt. My head pounded. But I also felt... powerful. For the first time since the fire that destroyed my life, I didn't feel helpless.
Cassian sat beside me. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I got hit by a cart. But also like maybe I could fight back if someone attacked me."
"Good. That's the goal." He hesitated, then asked, "Why do you want these powers, Sera? Really? Is it just revenge?"
I thought about lying. But what was the point?
"My parents died protecting me," I said quietly. "They died believing I was special, that I mattered. For six months, I've lived like I was nobody. Like their deaths meant nothing." I looked at my hands, where phantom flames still flickered beneath my skin. "If I have power, then their sacrifice wasn't for nothing. I can make the people who killed them pay. I can make sure no one else loses their family like I did."
Cassian was quiet for a moment. "Revenge is a dangerous path."
"I'm not looking for revenge," I said, meeting his eyes. "I'm looking for justice. There's a difference."
A slow smile crossed his face. "There is. And I can help with justice."
Mirage walked over, suddenly serious. "We have a problem."
We both looked up. She held a small mirror that showed... wait, that wasn't a normal reflection. The mirror showed a bird's-eye view of the warehouse from outside.
"What is that?" I asked.
"Spy magic. Someone's watching the warehouse." Mirage turned the mirror, showing different angles. "Multiple someones. At least twenty people surrounding this building."
My blood went cold. "Damien's hunters?"
"Worse." Cassian stood quickly, his hand moving to his sword. "Those are Shadow Guard. Elite assassins. If Damien sent them, he wants you dead badly enough to spend serious money."
"Can we fight them?" I asked, flames already sparking in my palms.
"Twenty trained assassins versus a wolf shifter, a memory thief, and a Phoenix heir with exactly four hours of training?" Mirage shook her head. "We're good, but we're not that good."
"Then we run," Cassian said.
"To where?" I demanded. "They've surrounded us!"
Cassian's eyes gleamed. "Not everywhere. There's always one direction people forget to guard."
He pointed up.
The warehouse had huge skylights in the ceiling, most of them broken. If we could get up there...
"Can you climb?" Cassian asked me.
I looked at the rusty pipes and support beams leading to the ceiling. It was high. Really high. One slip and I'd break every bone in my body.
"Do I have a choice?"
"Not really."
"Then I can climb."
Mirage went first, moving like a spider up the pipes. Cassian gestured for me to follow. I grabbed the first pipe and started pulling myself up, ignoring my screaming muscles.
Below us, I heard a door crash open. Voices shouted. Footsteps echoed through the warehouse.
"Faster," Cassian hissed below me.
I climbed faster. My hands slipped once, twice. Each time I caught myself, heart hammering.
We were almost to the skylight when someone below yelled, "There! On the ceiling!"
A crossbow bolt whizzed past my head.
"Go, go, go!" Cassian roared.
Mirage smashed through a skylight and disappeared through it. I lunged for the opening, felt hands grab my ankles—
Heat exploded from my feet. Fire erupted from my legs, burning whoever held me. I heard screams and let go, and then I was through the skylight, landing hard on the warehouse roof.
Cassian burst through behind me, his clothes smoking. "Run!"
We ran across the rooftops, jumping gaps between buildings that seemed way too wide. Somehow I made each jump, adrenaline and terror pushing me forward.
Behind us, assassins followed, impossibly fast.
"They're not giving up!" Mirage yelled.
We reached the end of the connected rooftops. Ahead was a huge gap—at least twenty feet—to the next building. No way to jump it.
Below, the street was packed with people. If we went down, we'd be trapped in the crowd.
"Dead end," I gasped.
Cassian looked at the gap, then at me. "How much do you trust me?"
"What? Why?"
"Because the only way across is if I carry you. Both of you."
"In wolf form?" Mirage asked.
"Yes."
"Wolves can't jump twenty feet!"
Cassian smiled, and it wasn't human. "Normal wolves can't."
He changed faster this time. One second, a man. Next second, a massive black wolf the size of a small horse.
Mirage climbed onto his back without hesitation. She held out a hand to me. "Come on, Princess. Trust him."
I grabbed her hand and climbed up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist.
The wolf-Cassian backed up, getting a running start.
"This is insane," I whispered.
The assassins burst onto the rooftop behind us.
Cassian ran straight at the gap and jumped.
For a moment we flew through the air, wind whipping my hair back. Below, people looked up and pointed. I heard someone scream.
We weren't going to make it. We were falling short.
"Sera!" Mirage yelled. "Use your power! Propel us forward!"
"How?!"
"Just do it!"
I threw my hands back and released fire. Huge jets of flame shot from my palms like rockets.
The blast of heat shoved us forward through the air. We sailed over the gap and crashed onto the other roof in a tumbling heap.
Cassian changed back to human form, breathing hard. "That... actually worked."
Across the gap, the assassins stared at us. One started to back up for a running jump.
"We need to move," Mirage said. "Now."
We ran for ten more minutes, putting distance between us and our pursuers. Finally, we collapsed in an alley, gasping for breath.
"Is everyone okay?" Cassian asked.
"Define okay," Mirage muttered, checking herself for injuries.
I looked at my hands. They were shaking. "I just used fire to fly."
"You used fire to keep us from dying," Cassian corrected. "There's a difference."
"That was amazing!" Mirage grinned at me. "Four hours of training and you're already improvising combat techniques. You're either brilliant or insane."
"Both," I said, echoing what Cassian had said earlier.
Cassian stood, helping us up. "We can't stay here. Those assassins will keep hunting. We need to leave the city immediately."
"It's not sunset yet," I protested.
"Doesn't matter. Damien knows where we are. Every moment we stay is a moment closer to dying." He looked at both of us. "Get what you need. Meet at the north gate in one hour. From there, we head to the Moonwhisper Court."
"And if they don't let us in?" Mirage asked quietly.
"Then we find somewhere else to hide. But one way or another, we're leaving Emberhaven tonight."
We split up. I had nothing to pack—everything I owned was in my pockets. So I spent the hour walking through the city one last time, saying goodbye to the streets that had been my home for six months.
At the north gate, Cassian and Mirage were waiting with supplies and weapons. Cassian handed me a simple dagger.
"Until you master fire, keep this on you," he said. "Just in case."
I took the dagger, feeling its weight. Six months ago, I'd never held a weapon. Now I was carrying a knife and could set people on fire with my mind.
Life came at you fast.
As the sun set, painting the sky orange and red, we walked out of the city gates. I didn't look back. Nothing in Emberhaven was mine anymore.
My future lay ahead, whatever that meant.
We'd been walking for about an hour when Mirage suddenly froze.
"What?" Cassian asked.
"Do you feel that?"
I didn't feel anything. Just the evening breeze and my tired legs.
Then I felt it. A trembling in the ground. Getting stronger.
Cassian's eyes went wide. "Run. Now!"
"What is it?" I asked, but started running anyway.
The trembling became shaking. The shaking became thunder.
I looked back.
A massive stone creature was rising from the earth itself. Twenty feet tall, made of rocks and dirt and pure rage. Its eyes glowed red—the same red as Damien's hunters.
"What is that?!" I screamed.
"Earth golem!" Mirage yelled. "Someone summoned it to hunt us!"
The golem roared, a sound like a mountain falling, and charged straight at us.
Cassian changed into wolf form mid-run. Mirage threw something behind us that exploded in smoke, trying to slow the creature down.
It didn't slow down. It smashed through the smoke like it wasn't there.
"It's gaining on us!" I gasped.
"Sera, you need to stop it!" Cassian's voice came from the wolf, somehow.
"How?!"
"Fire! Golems are weak to heat! Crack its core!"
I turned while running, threw my hands back, and released fire. The flames hit the golem's chest and... did nothing. Just bounced off like I'd thrown water at a rock.
"It's not working!"
"Hotter!" Cassian roared. "Make it hotter!"
I dug deeper, pulling more heat from inside my chest. The flames turned from red to orange to white-hot. I poured everything I had into the fire stream.
The golem's chest began to glow. Cracks appeared.
"More!" Mirage encouraged.
I gave it everything. The heat built and built until I was sure I'd burn out completely.
The golem's chest exploded.
Rocks flew everywhere. The creature collapsed, crumbling back into the earth it came from.
I stopped running and fell to my knees, completely drained. No energy left. Nothing.
"Sera?" Cassian changed back to human and knelt beside me. "Are you okay?"
"Tired," I mumbled. "So tired."
"You did it. You destroyed an earth golem on your first day of training." He sounded impressed and worried. "That's incredible and terrifying."
"Can we rest now?"
"Soon. We need to—"
A slow clap echoed through the darkness.
We all spun around.
A figure stood on the road ahead of us. A man in expensive clothes, with dark hair going gray at the temples. He smiled at us, and that smile made my blood freeze.
I knew that smile. I'd seen it in the memory crystal.
"Uncle Damien," I whispered.
"Hello, Seraphina." His voice was warm, friendly, like we were meeting for tea instead of a murder attempt. "I must say, I'm impressed. You've grown into your powers remarkably fast. Your mother would be proud."
Rage exploded in my chest. "Don't you dare mention my mother!"
Flames erupted in my hands, but they flickered weakly. I had nothing left.
Damien noticed. His smile widened. "You're exhausted. You've used all your power fighting my golem." He stepped closer. "Did you really think I'd face you at full strength? I've been hunting Phoenix heirs for years, child. I know how to tire you out first."
Cassian moved in front of me, sword drawn. "You'll have to go through me."
"A Veylan wolf. How nostalgic." Damien pulled out his own sword. "Your ancestors failed to protect the Phoenix bloodline three hundred years ago. History repeats, it seems."
They circled each other, weapons ready.
"Sera, run," Cassian said quietly. "Get Mirage and run. I'll hold him off."
"I'm not leaving you!"
"You have to. You're what matters. Not me."
"Both of you, shut up," Mirage interrupted. She held up her hands, and memory magic sparkled around her fingers. "I've got this."
She threw the magic at Damien.
He didn't dodge. Instead, he laughed. "Memory magic? Really? Did no one tell you?" He walked through her magic like it wasn't there. "I'm immune. Side effect of studying memory manipulation for decades."
Mirage's face went pale. "That's impossible."
"No, dear child. That's planning."
He moved faster than I could track. One moment he was ten feet away. The next, he stood in front of Mirage, his blade at her throat.
"Now then," Damien said pleasantly. "Sera, dear niece. You're going to come with me quietly, or I kill your friend. Your choice."
"Don't do it!" Mirage said.
Cassian started to move, but Damien pressed the blade tighter. A drop of blood ran down Mirage's neck.
"Ah, ah, wolf. One more step and she dies. I only need Sera alive. The rest of you are expendable."
My mind raced. I was too weak to fight. Cassian couldn't move without getting Mirage killed. We were trapped.
Damien smiled at me. "Come here, Seraphina. Come quietly, and I promise your friends live. Resist, and I kill them both right now. What's it going to be?"
I looked at Cassian. At Mirage. They'd risked everything to protect me, to train me, to help me escape.
I couldn't let them die.
Slowly, I walked toward Damien, my hands raised. "Okay. I'll come. Just let them go."
"Sera, no!" Cassian shouted.
Damien smiled like he'd won. "Smart girl. You're just like your father—too noble for your own good."
I stopped right in front of him. Close enough to see my reflection in his eyes.
Close enough for him to see the smile on my face.
"I'm nothing like my father," I said.
Then I grabbed his sword arm with both hands.
And set myself on fire.
Not just my hands. My entire body. Flames erupted across my skin like I was a walking bonfire, white-hot and furious.
Damien screamed and jerked backward, dropping his sword. His hand was badly burned where he'd touched me.
I grabbed Mirage and yanked her away from him.
"Impossible," Damien gasped, staring at his burned hand. "You were exhausted. You had no power left!"
"I lied." The flames still danced across my skin. It didn't hurt at all. "You taught me that, Uncle. Always keep something in reserve."
His face twisted with rage. "You think you've won? I have an army! Dozens of assassins! You're just three children playing at—"
A howl split the night.
Not just one howl. Dozens. Hundreds.
Wolves appeared from the darkness. Big wolves, small wolves, every color imaginable. They surrounded us on all sides, their eyes glowing in the firelight from my flames.
A woman stepped forward from among the wolves. She was old but moved like a warrior. She wore armor made of leather and fur, and her eyes were the same silver as Cassian's.
"Hello, nephew," she said to Cassian.
"Aunt Lyra," he breathed. "How did you—"
"Did you think the Veylan Pack wouldn't notice when you entered our territory?" She looked at Damien with pure hatred. "And did you think we'd forgotten what you did to our family?"
Damien's face went white. "The Veylan Pack was scattered. Destroyed."
"Wounded. Not destroyed. We've been waiting for the right moment." She smiled, showing teeth. "Thank you for giving it to us."
The wolves closed in.
"Retreat!" Damien yelled to someone we couldn't see. Shadows moved in the darkness—his hidden forces, running.
Damien looked at me one last time. "This isn't over, Seraphina. I will have your power, one way or another."
He threw something on the ground. Smoke erupted, and when it cleared, he was gone.
The flames on my skin finally died. I collapsed, and this time Cassian caught me before I hit the ground.
"You did it," he whispered. "You saved us."
"Did I?" The world was spinning. "Or did your aunt's wolf pack save us?"
"Both," the old woman—Aunt Lyra—said. She knelt beside us, studying me with curious silver eyes. "So this is the Phoenix heir everyone's hunting. She's strong. Brave. Foolish."
"Hey," I mumbled.
"It's a compliment, child. Only fools and heroes stand against monsters." She looked at Cassian. "We need to talk. All of us. About what comes next."
"Later," Cassian said. "She needs to rest. We all do."
Aunt Lyra nodded. "There's a Veylan safehouse two miles north. We'll escort you there." She stood and gestured to the wolves. "Come. Before more of Damien's forces arrive."
As Cassian carried me through the dark, surrounded by a pack of protective wolves, with Mirage walking beside us and my uncle's threat still echoing in my ears, I realized something.
My new life wasn't going to be safe or peaceful or easy.
But I wasn't alone.
And maybe, just maybe, that was enough.
I closed my eyes and let exhaustion take me, trusting the wolf who carried me and the fire burning in my chest to keep me alive.
Whatever came next, I'd face it.
I'd risen from the ashes once.
I could do it again.