The hut smelled like rot and damp wood.
Kael laid me down on what passed for a bed matted straw and old blankets and started cleaning the blood from my side. Careful. Too careful.
I watched him through half-lidded eyes.
His lips were tight. His shoulders rigid.
Like he was trying not to feel.
Which was funny, considering I could feel everything.
"You don't have to touch me like I'll break," I murmured.
"You almost did."
I went quiet.
He wrung the cloth, red soaking into the basin like a sunset drowned.
Then....his voice, low and cracking. "You don't remember all of it, do you?"
I didn't answer.
Because I did.
Bits and flashes.
A scream. A wall of gold. Bones turning to dust.
"You didn't just defend yourself, Ariya." His hands stilled. "You erased them."
I turned my head away. "They came to kill you."
"I know." A pause. "But I think you scared me more than they did."
That stung.
Deep.
And wors.....I believed him.
He moved to wrap the bandage, but the door burst open, slamming against the wall.
We both snapped to our feet Kael already sparking with flame.
But it wasn't a soldier.
It was Lirien.
Her cloak torn, her braid loose. One eye blackened. One sword drawn.
"You lied to me!" she hissed, stalking forward. "You told me she was a Null!"
"I thought she was," Kael said. "She was."
Lirien's gaze snapped to me.
"You don't melt a riverbed if you're nothing," she spat. "You don't bury ten men in flame and ash. What the hell are you?"
"I don't know."
Wrong answer.
She lunged.
Kael blocked her, blade to blade, but she didn't stop.
"She has the crown, doesn't she?" Lirien snarled. "The Thorn Crown. The one that eats magic."
"She hasn't worn it"
"She doesn't need to! It's changing her!"
"I didn't ask for this!" I screamed.
Magic flared....hot and feral.
Lirien froze.
Her sword dropped.
She stared at me like I was something other.
Kael stepped between us again, breathing hard. "This isn't helping."
Lirien backed up, slowly. "Keep lying to yourselves. But the rest of us won't wait for her to go nuclear again."
She left.
Slamming the door behind her.
Kael didn't move.
Neither did I.
Because Lirien was wrong about one thing.
I wasn't going nuclear.
I already had.