The sea wind roared, carrying smoke and the metallic tang of blood.
Aresha Lilith Silas stood with Saleena's arms looped desperately around her neck and Draven pressed to her side. The flames painted her silver hair in streaks of crimson, making her look less like a woman and more like a specter.
Darius Nyx Vale's approach was silent, but every step felt like thunder. His presence—razor-sharp, commanding—cut through the chaos until even his guards fell back, unwilling to breathe too close.
His eyes found hers.Dark against silver.Storm against fire.
"Put. Them. Down." His voice was low, controlled—but beneath it, a storm brewed, one that could drown nations.
Aresha didn't flinch. She tilted her chin, lips curving in something almost mocking."You should keep a tighter leash on your children, Vale. They nearly burned alive."
Draven's hand clutched her cloak tighter, his voice steady despite his young age. "She saved us, Papa."
That single word—Papa—made Aresha's gut twist. A claim. A bond. A reminder these were not her children, no matter how the girl's little voice had called her Mama.
Darius's gaze flicked to his son, then back to her. The weight of his stare was suffocating, dissecting her, demanding answers."Saved them, or took them?"
The insult slid through the air like a blade.
Aresha's smile vanished. Cold replaced it, the kind of cold that silenced entire nations."If I wanted to take them, Vale…you wouldn't have even known they were gone."
The two stood locked in a tension thick enough to choke the fire itself.
Saleena's voice broke the silence, trembling but stubborn:"She isn't bad. She saved us."
Her tiny fingers curled tighter around Aresha's neck, as if the girl instinctively knew she belonged there.
Darius's jaw clenched. His phobia of touch was legend, yet now he fought an entirely different fear—seeing his children in the arms of a woman whose reputation was built on blood and terror.
He took a slow step closer. His voice dropped, quiet but sharp enough to pierce bone."Who are you to them?"
Aresha's heart skipped. For the briefest moment, the dragon-and-phoenix seal on her hand burned under her glove, as though mocking her. She forced her expression into impassive calm.
"No one," she lied smoothly, prying Saleena's fingers from her neck with gentle firmness and setting both children at Darius's feet. "Keep them out of fire if you wish to keep them alive."
She turned, her cloak swirling, ready to disappear back into the flames.
But Darius's voice stopped her."I'll find out who you are."
She glanced back just once, her eyes meeting his storm-dark gaze. The promise between them was unspoken, but undeniable.
Their first collision had left only sparks.But sparks, given time, could burn the world to ash.