The fire surged like it had waited for centuries. The floor split in two, ancient stone cracking with a sound like bone snapping. Candles blew out. The entire rotunda plunged into chaos—screams, shadows, panic. And in the center of it all: her.
Bride Seven. The Shade.
Dorian moved fast. Not toward the Shade—but toward Kaelira. He grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the opening chasm. But as her foot left the altar—a vision struck her like lightning.
---
She stood in this very chamber.
Long ago.
But the walls were burning. People screamed. A girl in red robes—her—held fire in her palms. At her feet: a body. Male. Bloody. Familiar. Her own voice—echoing in her skull:
"If you bind me to him, I'll burn this kingdom to the ground."
---
Kaelira staggered. Dorian caught her before she fell.
"What did you see?" he demanded.
"I've been here before," she whispered. "I said those words."
His jaw tightened. "Then it's beginning."
"What is?"
But he didn't answer. Because the Shade was now watching Kaelira—smiling, teeth sharp as broken glass.
"You remember," the Shade said. "You always do, eventually."
Kaelira stepped forward, trembling. "Who are you?"
"I am the echo of your wrath," the Shade said. "I was born in the moment your fire kissed your first love's throat."
Dorian's eyes darkened. "No. That wasn't her choice. She was used."
But the Shade only laughed.
"Poor little flame. You can't hide who you were behind silk and ceremony. You were a weapon, Kaelira. Forged in love. Sharpened by betrayal."
"And you?" Kaelira snapped. "What are you?"
"I am the consequence."
---
The Shade raised her hand again—and the fire obeyed. A wall of flame roared up between Kaelira and Dorian. Before he could break through it, the Shade's shadows wrapped around Kaelira's ankles and dragged her into the fire.
She didn't scream.
She didn't burn.
She fell—
—into memory.
---
A younger Kaelira—no, Anira—stood in a field of red poppies, holding hands with a boy whose eyes looked like storm clouds.
Dorian.
"You said you'd never leave me," he whispered.
"And I didn't," she replied. "They took me from you."
"You lit the pyres."
"No," Anira whispered. "I lit the truth."
The scene shifted—fire again. Screaming. A circle of Elders shouting curses. A blade pressed to her throat. And Dorian… on his knees… watching her burn.
---
Kaelira gasped awake. She was no longer in the rotunda. She was in a black chamber, walls made of ash. No doors. No light. Only the Shade sitting in the corner, watching her like a cat watches a dying bird.
"I brought you here to remember," she said.
"I remember enough," Kaelira growled.
The Shade shook her head. "Not yet. You still believe this story ends in love."
She leaned forward.
"Let me show you how it really ends."