Chapter 112
*Nathaniel*
By the time we crossed the last ridge into rogue territory, the whispers had already reached us.
They drifted through the wind like smoke–soft, fractured, half–believed. Traders and exiles along the old leyline trails spoke of a girl with fire in her veins and white flames in her wake. They called her a goddess. A weapon. A ghost. No one said her name. Not aloud. As though it might summon her.
But I didn’t need to hear it.
I knew.
I could feel it in the weight of every step.
In the way the Mirror Fang pulsed faintly against my ribs.
In the firelight that never quite left my peripheral vision.
She was close.
But so was something else.
The territory had changed since I last came this way. Trees leaned inward like they’d learned to fear the sky. The earth bore the blackened rings of recent surges–small craters, curled ash, the remnants of fire that didn’t scorch, but cleansed. Like something divine had passed through and everything beneath it forgot how to hold form.
Maximus, Ethan, Eva and I moved in silence most of the way, speaking only when we had to, eyes sharp, weapons ready. But the real tension had nothing to do with our surroundings.
It sat between me and Maximus like a waiting blade.
And today, it finally cut.
It started as a disagreement.
I suggested we approach the sanctuary through the leyline tunnels, where the magic was wildest but the patrols lightest. Maximus countered that we needed to wait–gather more intel before walking into whatever Kael had built. Ethan tried to mediate. Eva stayed silent, eyes distant, like her mind had already moved ahead of us.
Then I said Jiselle’s name.
And Maximus snapped.
keep saying her name like she’s still the girl you left behind,” he said, tone low and sharp.
I turned. “And you keep acting like she’s already lost.”
“She might be.”
say it.”
He stepped forward. “You think you’re the only one who cares? You think I haven’t spent every damn day wondering what she’s becoming? Hoping she’s still in there?”
“Then why are you already preparing to put her down?”
Maximus’s hands clenched. “Because if she crosses the line–if she lets Kael finish whatever it is he started–someone has to be willing to make the call. And I don’t think you’re ready.”
“And I don’t think you know her as well as you think you
We didn’t raise our voices.
We didn’t need to.
The magic between us was louder than words.
Maximus stepped closer. I didn’t move.
do.”
He was taller. He always had been. Broader. Stronger, maybe. But I’d fought harder battles than him. Loved deeper. Bled
more.
“You’re still chasing a version of her that’s gone,” he said.
“And you’re still trying to outrun what you feel, fred book hut we both know she was never yours to save.”
He moved first.
Successfully unlocked!
I caught his arm before the punch landed and drove him back a step, slamming him into the tree behind us hard enough to shake frost from the leaves. He twisted, broke the hold, spun, and his fist cracked into my ribs.
I staggered, pain blooming bright–but I didn’t go down.
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Chapter 112
Because this wasn’t about strength.
It was about control.
I grabbed the front of his shirt and shoved him backward. He hit the ground, rolled, and came up again, breathing hard. “Enough!” Eva’s voice split the air like lightning.
She stood between us, one hand raised, her palm glowing with rune–light. Ethan was already moving toward her, hand on his blade, just in case.
But Maximus and I froze.
Not because of the rune.
Because of Eva’s face.
She was pale. Shaking.
“I saw her,” she whispered.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
Eva swallowed hard. “Just now. When you said her name, Nathaniel. Something… something opened. I was pulled into it.”
“A vision?” Ethan asked.
She nodded slowly. “But different. I didn’t see the future. I saw her mind.”
My pulse stopped.
“She’s standing at the edge of a gate,” Eva said. “And it’s not just magic. It’s… a crossing: A tear in the veil. But she’s not alone.”
Maximus frowned. “Kael?”
“No.” Eva looked at me. “It wasn’t him. It was something else. Something in her.”
My stomach turned.
“She’s not just fighting to stay herself,” Eva continued. “She’s sharing space. With a memory. A voice. Maybe more.”
“What kind of voice?” Ethan asked.
Eva looked down. “It sounded like her. But not her now. Her older. Colder. Like something trying to take root through her memories. Every time she hesitates, it speaks.”
“And what does it say?” I asked, barely breathing.
Eva met my eyes.
“It says, burn everything.”
Silence fell again.
But this time, it felt different.
Colder.
Maximus turned away, jaw tight.
Ethan looked between us, his expression torn between logic and loyalty.
And I…
I thought of the first flame–bearer.
Of the pact carved into stone.
Of the words we found at the shrine.
If the flame rises again, the Veilborn must fall.
This was no longer about saving Jiselle.
This was about finding what was left of her.
And deciding if that was enough.
“We move tonight,” I said.
Maximus didn’t argue.
Eva touched my arm gently, a grounding pressure.
“You can’t go in as her mate,” she said. “She won’t recognize that anymore.”
I nodded, my jaw ticking at the intensity of his words.
Chapter 112
“I’m going in as her mirror,” I said. “Because if she’s not alone in her mind… then she needs someone who remembers what she looked like before she broke.”
And maybe, just maybe…
She’ll remember how to reflect that back.
Before the fire forgets her name completely.
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