The great court chamber of Theralune was as cold and vast as a tomb.
High arches loomed overhead, lined with etched names of ancient kings—men who outlawed magic and sealed away the truth Elira now carried in her blood.
She stood at the center, wrists bound in gold-threaded cuffs meant to suppress her power. Before her, the twelve members of the Council sat like vultures on their stone thrones.
Auren stood just behind her, dressed in royal blue, eyes dark with worry.
> "Lady Elira of Emberlight home,"
intoned the Chancellor.
"Accused of consorting with an imprisoned heretic. And of manifesting forbidden power."
Elira didn't flinch.
> "How do you plead?"
She looked up slowly, letting her eyes meet each of theirs. For a heartbeat, something shimmered behind her gaze—like heat over stone.
> "I plead guilty... to surviving."
Gasps echoed. Auren held his breath.
> "I didn't choose this gift. But I won't bury it."
---
Auren stepped forward.
> "This trial is a farce. You fear her because she's different—because she might be stronger than your decrees."
Lady Seraphine rose from her seat like a serpent uncoiling.
> "Silence, Your Highness. Your emotions make you foolish."
> "My emotions make me human," Auren spat back. "Something this Council seems to have forgotten."
Just as the Council moved to speak, a crack split through the center of the stone floor beneath Elira. Golden runes flashed. The cuffs on her wrists burned red-hot—then shattered.
Screams.
A rush of hot wind filled the chamber. Elira fell to her knees, gasping as flames raced up her arms and licked across her skin—but did not burn her.
Her voice came from everywhere and nowhere, like an echo carried on fire:
> "You call me cursed. But I am your reckoning."
The fire surged—then vanished. Not a single thing was harmed, yet the air smelled of scorched fear.
The Council stared in stunned silence.
Lady Seraphine, pale now, hissed:
> "She's no longer a girl. She's a Flameborn."
Elira was dragged from the room by the guards. But not to the gallows—to the high tower. The Council would decide behind closed doors what to do.
That night, as the moon rose, Auren found a way into her locked tower chamber. He reached for her hand.
> "You saved no one in that room, Elira. Except me."
Her eyes were full of fire and sorrow.
"They'll never let me walk free now."
Auren leaned close.
"Then let's stop asking for permission."