Chapter 234
Chapter 234
*Jiselle*
“Swear it to me.”
Eva’s voice cut through the stillness of the chamber like steel through silk.
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I turned from the window where I’d been standing, the moonlight spilling across the floor in fractured pieces. She stood in the center of the room, beads in her hands, her eyes burning not with vision, but with something sharper. Choice.
“What are you asking me to do?” My throat felt dry, though I already knew.
She didn’t move closer, but the fire in her gaze pressed against me. “Swear that if you fall–if you burn, if you’re torn apart by this curse–you’ll leave her to me. The child will not be left unguarded. She will not be left alone.”
The words sank into me, heavy as stone. My chest tightened around them.
Nate had fallen asleep in the adjoining chamber after another long watch, his hand resting protectively against Solara’s cradle until his body gave out. Ethan had taken to pacing the halls, muttering runes under his breath that neither of us understood. The stronghold was quiet now, the leyline under our feet still pulsing with its strange rhythm, but Eva wasn’t quiet. She had carried silence long enough.
I swallowed hard. “Eva-”
“No excuses.” She stepped closer, holding up the prayer beads that always hung at her throat. They glowed faintly, each stone etched with small scratches from years of her fingernails digging into them during sleepless nights of prophecy. “I’ve prayed for too long. I’ve begged gods who never answered. But she-” She glanced toward the cradle. “She answers. With flame. With silence. With the way her eyes see straight through me.”
Her voice broke, just slightly, before she caught it again. “So I’ll stop praying. I’ll stop waiting. I’ll bind myself here. To her. To you. But I need you to know that if you fall, I will not hesitate.”
The beads in her hands trembled. For a moment, I thought she’d crush them.
I stepped closer, the moonlight painting her face in half–shadow. “Eva, do you understand what you’re saying? You’ve seen what she is. You’ve seen what she can do. You’d tie your life to her? You’d burn with her if it came to it?”
Her chin lifted. “Yes.”
The word wasn’t soft. It wasn’t hesitant. It landed like a strike.
And gods help me, I believed her.
***
– JJ …….1…. T、ne sitting on the floor with my back against the
9:27 Thu, Oct 2
Chapter 234
Chapter 234
*Jiselle
“Swear it to me.”
Eva’s voice cut through the stillness of the chamber like steel through silk.
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I turned from the window where I’d been standing, the moonlight spilling across the floor in fractured pieces. She stood in the center of the room, beads in her hands, her eyes burning not with vision, but with something sharper. Choice.
“What are you asking me to do?” My throat felt dry, though I already knew.
She didn’t move closer, but the fire in her gaze pressed against me. “Swear that if you fall–if you burn, if you’re torn apart by this curse–you’ll leave her to me. The child will not be left unguarded. She will not be left alone.”
The words sank into me, heavy as stone. My chest tightened around them.
Nate had fallen asleep in the adjoining chamber after another long watch, his hand resting protectively against Solara’s cradle until his body gave out. Ethan had taken to pacing the halls, muttering runes under his breath that neither of us understood. The stronghold was quiet now, the leyline under our feet still pulsing with its strange rhythm, but Eva wasn’t quiet. She had carried silence long enough.
I swallowed hard. “Eva-”
“No excuses.” She stepped closer, holding up the prayer beads that always hung at her throat. They glowed faintly, each stone etched with small scratches from years of her fingernails digging into them during sleepless nights of prophecy. “I’ve prayed for too long. I’ve begged gods who never answered. But she-” She glanced toward the cradle. “She answers. With flame. With silence. With the way her eyes see straight through
me.”
Her voice broke, just slightly, before she caught it again. “So I’ll stop praying. I’ll stop waiting. I’ll bind myself here. To her. To you. But I need you to know that if you fall, I will not hesitate.”
The beads in her hands trembled. For a moment, I thought she’d crush them.
I stepped closer, the moonlight painting her face in half–shadow. “Eva, do you understand what you’re saying? You’ve seen what she is. You’ve seen what she can do. You’d tie your life to her? You’d burn with her if it came to it?”
Her chin lifted. “Yes.”
The word wasn’t soft. It wasn’t hesitant. It landed like a strike.
And gods help me, I believed her.
***
I didn’t know when my knees gave out, only that suddenly I was sitting on the floor with my back against the
9:27 Thu, Oct 2
Chapter 234
cold stone wall, staring at her like I’d never seen her before.
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Eva, the girl who once laughed too loudly in the Academy halls, who used to braid wildflowers into my hair when she thought no one was looking, who whispered secrets about boys and dances and the color of the
stars.
Now she stood in front of me like a warrior made from vows instead of blades.
“Why now?” I whispered.
She exhaled, and this time, the beads snapped. She didn’t pull on them. They broke because her hands had tightened too hard. Beads scattered across the floor, clattering against stone, rolling toward the cradle where Solara stirred.
Eva’s voice lowered. “Because I saw it.”
I shut my eyes. “Tell me.”
“In the fire last night.” Her bare feet stepped over the fallen beads as if she hadn’t even noticed them. She crouched until we were face to face. “I saw the Gate again. It was cracked, but not open. And you weren’t there. Only her. She walked into the flame and it didn’t burn her–it crowned her. And when I looked for you, I realized… maybe that’s how it ends. Maybe she is the one who survives.”
The words gutted me.
“Eva-”
“No,” she cut me off. Her hand shot forward, gripping mine so tight it hurt. “I’m not telling you this to frighten you. I’m telling you this so you understand why I’m doing what I must. If you fall, she cannot fall with you. Someone has to anchor her here. Someone has to remind her of love, not prophecy. If that someone must be me, then so be it.”
I couldn’t speak.
The beads lay broken between us. But she wasn’t done.
***
Eva opened her palm. Fire sparked—not wild, not dangerous, but thin and deliberate. She held it like it belonged there. With her other hand, she plucked a single bead from the ground, rolling it between her fingers before dropping it into the flame.
It didn’t burn away.
It glowed.
The fire wrapped around it, weaving itself into a thread that thickened, lengthened, until she held not beads, but a thin pendant strung from woven flame itself. She pressed it against her chest, just over her heart, and the glow sank into her skin like ink into paper.
“I break my prayers,” she said softly. “And I make my promise. To her.”
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Chapter 234
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The fire flared once, then steadied. The pendant rested against her skin, humming faintly, alive.
She looked up at me then, eyes fierce but wet. “So swear it, Jiselle. Swear that if you fall, you’ll let me keep her safe.”
My throat closed. I wanted to argue. I wanted to tell her no, that I would never leave Solara, that I would burn down the world before I let someone else raise her. But the truth sat heavy in my chest. I didn’t know if I’d survive what was coming. And Eva–Eva was already willing to bleed for us.
“I swear,” I whispered.
The words cost me everything.
Her shoulders dropped, like she’d been holding her breath for years and only now exhaled.
The cradle creaked. Solara stirred, small fingers curling in her blanket, her breath soft against the quiet. For a moment, she looked every bit the child she was supposed to be. And then her eyes opened.
Not violet. Not gold. Both.
She looked at Eva first. Then at me. Then at the broken beads scattered across the floor.
And she smiled.
Not childlike.
Not cruel.
Just… knowing.
***
“Jiselle?” Nate’s voice called from the adjoining chamber, low and groggy. “Everything all right?”
I scrubbed a hand across my face quickly and forced strength into my voice. “Yes. Just… Eva needed me.”
He didn’t push, though his footsteps lingered by the door for a moment longer before retreating.
Eva rose to her feet, pendant glowing faintly against her collarbone, and whispered, “It’s done.”
I stayed where I was, knees pressed to the floor, staring at the child who watched me as though she’d already understood every word we had spoken.
And for the first time, I felt something colder than fear… Recognition.
She knew.
She always knew.
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Chapter 234
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The night carried on, the walls of the stronghold creaking under the weight of shifting magic. I tried to sleep, but when my eyes closed, I saw only Solara’s gaze, and Eva’s hands wrapped in flame.
I thought it would end there.
But as dawn crept through the cracks of the stone, I returned to Solara’s cradle. She was awake again, her tiny hands clutching the edge, her lips forming sounds that weren’t quite words.
And then she spoke.
Not in the tongues she usually muttered. Not in the babble of a child.
But clear.
Sharp.
Carved into the air like a rune.
“Witness.”
My breath caught.
Eva froze where she stood.
The pendant at her chest burned brighter, as though answering.
And then the floor beneath us trembled.
From the nursery window, a shadow passed over the courtyard. A raven–wings burned, feathers falling like ash–landed against the stone. It tilted its head, black eyes unblinking, and whispered in a voice far too human.
“She is already choosing.”
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9:28 Thu, Oct 2
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
