"He burns without flame, without cry, without witness.
His kingdom is an invisible blaze.
They think he sleeps. He fights.
They think he rules. He survives.
And me?
I am the one who watches the fire and refuses to look away."
SCENE 1: The King's Chamber
The scream cut through the night like a blade.
Sérenya opened her eyes all at once. Her heart was pounding too fast.
For a second, she thought it was a dream. Then she heard the footsteps.
Silent Guardians knocked at her door. Three sharp knocks. No words.
Kamintha appeared, already awake, wrapped in a shawl of smoke.
- He's burning, she said simply.
The Queen asked no questions.
She threw a heavy cloak over her nightgown and followed the masked figures through the empty palace halls.
They crossed stone arches, descended stairways where the wind howled like a wounded beast.
No one spoke.
At the end of a corridor guarded by two black-clad soldiers, a half-open door let flickering light spill out.
And there, in the quivering shadows, she saw him.
Sylus.
Lying on a ravaged bed.
His limbs stiff. His shirt drenched. His eyes rolled back, open onto a sky no one else could see.
Around him, three men in dark cloaks whispered without getting too close.
A woman in a white robe a healer? A mage? held a bowl of ash and murmured a prayer in ancient Comorian.
- "Maishapvé ya mwema... Maishapvé ya mwema..."
(Let hope rise. Let hope rise.)
Sérenya did not wait to be addressed.
She entered.
The healer looked at her but did not stop her. As if she had been expecting her.
Or already knew.
Sylus was still convulsing, his lips twisted, his fingers clenched in the sheets.
He murmured incoherent words between gasps:
- ..Efama... the stars... the silent sea...
Then suddenly, one word. Clearly:
- Sérenya.
She froze.
He had said her name. Like a breath. A call.
She stepped closer, slowly. The others stepped back. Even the healers.
The fire in the air seemed to gather around him as if his body radiated an invisible heat.
She knelt.
- I'm here, she whispered.
He didn't reply. But he no longer trembled.
His eyelids fluttered.
His eyes found her.
Not like a king looking at a wife.
But like a man looking at the only shore he no longer believed real.
SCENE 2: The Red Dawn
The sun had not yet risen. Yet the light behind the windows had changed.
Sérenya hadn't moved.
She had stayed beside him all night, seated on the cold floor, back straight.
Listening to him deliriously ramble, breathe, fall silent.
She hadn't touched him. Not after that look.
He had whispered things in languages she didn't understand.
Fragments. Prophecies. Regrets.
- They still watch me.
- The sea hasn't forgotten what I did.
- I was born under Efama. I wasn't meant to live.
And always, between visions, one thing returned:
Her name. Sérenya.
The physician came back before dawn, with servants and a sacred herb infusion.
He thanked her in silence, as if her presence had calmed the king more than any of their rituals.
- He'll wake soon.
She nodded.
- I will stay.
SCENE 3: The King and the Queen
When Sylus opened his eyes, the room was silent.
The world seemed suspended.
He turned his head slowly. His gaze was blurred, trembling but lucid.
She was there.
Seated. Noble. Exhausted, but poised.
He tried to speak. He coughed first.
- You stayed.
She didn't answer.
He sat up with effort, like a man who had spent the night fighting his own mind.
- Why?
She looked him straight in the eyes.
- Because I heard you call me.
He lowered his gaze.
A long silence.
Then, his voice softer:
- I didn't mean to.
- You didn't choose the fire inside you.
- No. I didn't mean to call you.
- Why not?
He looked up. For the first time, unmasked.
- Because I don't want you to burn with me.
SCENE 4: The Naked Truth
They were alone.
The world felt far away even the court.
Sylus spoke slowly, as if opening a box he had sworn never to touch again.
- I have seizures. Since childhood. They say it's the stars. The priests speak of gifts. The doctors of illness. I call it a curse.
He looked at her.
- My father wanted to lock me away. My mother protected me. Then she died. So I learned... to hide.
- And now?
- Now I'm king. I'm light. And I burn.
- Why didn't you tell me? Why leave me alone?
He hesitated. Then:
- Because I didn't want to love you.
She felt something crack in her chest.
- And now?
He smiled. Sadly. Defeated.
- Too late.
SCENE 5: The Pact of Silence
They stayed there.
Two monarchs. Two strangers. Two mirrored solitudes.
But for the first time, no walls stood between them.
Sylus spoke low. Each word seemed expensive, torn from years of silence.
- Each time I close my eyes, I see things. Memories that aren't mine. Faces that speak dead tongues. Voices singing underwater.
Sérenya didn't move.
- Sometimes I'm lucid. Other times I'm someone else. A child. A monster. A king. I don't know what you see when you look at me, but I see a storm I don't deserve.
She finally answered, gently:
- You didn't choose me.
- No.
- Neither did I. But I'm here. And I see you.
She stepped closer. One step. Two.
She reached out and touched his cheek.
- And I'm staying.
Sylus closed his eyes.
- Why?
- Because I won't run from a man who dares to say, "I burn."
SCENE 6: The Almost-Kiss and the Stolen Confession
Silence fell again. But it was no longer empty. It was a space tense, fragile, suspended between two breaths.
Sylus took her hand. He looked at it like it was the first real thing he had ever touched.
- I've learned to survive. Not to love.
- Then let's learn together.
- What if I destroy you?
- I've already fallen. All that's left is to burn with you.
A breath. A second. The world could have tipped.
His lips neared hers.
She didn't move.
But he stopped. Just a breath away.
- Not yet.
She tilted her head.
- Then wait. But don't pull away again.
He released her hand.
- They won't show you mercy. The others. They prefer me broken and alone. You will disrupt the order.
- Good. I was born to disturb the silence.
A servant knocked on the door.
- Majesty... An urgent summons. The Council requests your presence. And the Queen's.
Sylus stood. Slowly. Still weak. But straighter.
He looked at Sérenya.
- They want to crush you. They think you're soft. Gentle. Tell me, Queen from the islands...
He held out his hand.
- Are you ready to show your fangs?
She smiled. A smile no one had ever seen on her face before.
- Not fangs. Flames.
They walked out together.
Chapter 4 – The Throne of Salt
A throne is only a cold stone.
But when fire dares to sit upon it...
the whole kingdom may burn.