The garden was a cage of roses and thorns, but for once, Seris didn't feel trapped.
She stood with Kaelen Thorne beneath the crimson-flowering ashwood tree, its petals drifting around them like whispered promises. The morning sun filtered through the lattice of leaves, bathing them both in an amber glow that felt far too intimate for two strangers.
Only, he didn't feel like a stranger.
"Cael'Thorne sends envoys rarely," Seris said after a moment, her voice carefully neutral. "And never this far south."
Kaelen's gaze didn't waver. "The sky is shifting. We are taught to follow the winds when they change."
She folded her arms. "Poetic. But vague."
"I find poetry more useful than politics," he said with a small smile.
She should have pressed him, demanded the true reason for his visit. But she was still shaken. The same golden eyes. The same face she had seen in the fire—twice now. There was something ancient tethered between them. Something dangerous.
"And what do you seek in Solvyris?" she asked.
He tilted his head slightly. "Perhaps the same thing you do."
Her heart stuttered.
Kaelen turned then, walking slowly along the garden path, hands clasped behind his back. He moved like a man trained in silence and survival, every step deliberate. Seris followed, curiosity battling caution.
"How do you know what I seek?" she asked.
He looked back at her. "Because fire speaks louder than words. And yours has been crying out for months."
Seris stopped cold. "You've been watching me."
He didn't deny it.
"Your dreams have stirred echoes in the north," he said. "The other pacts—Air, Water, Earth—we felt it. Something is awakening. Or unraveling. The line between the two is thin."
No one outside Solvyris should have known about her visions. Not unless the elemental bonds between kingdoms were truly fraying.
"And what does Cael'Thorne plan to do about it?" she asked, her voice low.
Kaelen stepped closer, and the air shifted around him—cool, charged, restless.
"Stop what's coming," he said. "If we still can."
Before she could respond, footsteps broke the moment.
Lord Darek approached from the far archway, cloak sweeping behind him like the wing of a bird of prey. His eyes flicked from Seris to Kaelen, and a muscle twitched in his jaw.
"I wasn't aware Solvyris held an audience with foreign dignitaries in its gardens," he said coolly.
Kaelen offered a shallow bow. "Lord Varyn. An unexpected pleasure."
Darek didn't return the gesture. "You'll find little pleasure here, skyborn."
Seris stepped forward, voice steady. "Kaelen is a guest of the crown."
"He's a spy," Darek said without looking at her. "No doubt sniffing around for fire secrets."
Kaelen didn't flinch. "Careful, Varyn. Your breath reeks of desperation."
Darek's hand went to his sword.
"Enough," Seris snapped.
Both men froze. The flames in her blood surged. The roses behind her quivered in their beds as the petals blackened at the edges from her rising heat.
"This is Solvyris," she said, voice sharp as a blade. "And I am the heir. If you draw steel here again, I'll melt it down your throat."
The silence that followed was absolute.
Kaelen's expression was unreadable, but Seris saw a flicker of something in his eyes—respect, or perhaps recognition.
Darek, however, merely smirked. "As you wish, my lady. I forget how fond you are of stray birds."
He turned and strode away, his boots crunching the petals underfoot.
Kaelen raised a brow. "Your betrothed?"
"Regrettably."
"Then the fire really is crying out."
Seris almost laughed—almost.
"Why are you really here, Kaelen?" she asked again, quieter this time.
He studied her face, and something unreadable passed through his gaze.
"I came looking for a key," he said. "To unlock a power long forgotten. I didn't expect to find it staring back at me."
He touched his chest briefly in a gesture of respect, then walked away, vanishing down the garden path without another word.
Seris stood alone under the ashwood tree, heart pounding, the scent of burning roses thick in the air.
She didn't know what he truly wanted, or whether she should trust him—but for the first time in years, the fire inside her felt like it was listening.
And that was more terrifying than anything.