Sera's POV
I threw the memory vial against the wall as hard as I could.
It shattered into a million pieces, the glowing liquid inside evaporating like smoke. But the image I'd just seen was burned into my brain forever.
Mirage. Meeting with a hooded figure in a dark alley. Handing over papers. Taking a bag of coins.
"It's fake!" Mirage screamed, tears streaming down her face. "I would never—Sera, you have to believe me!"
But I'd seen it with my own eyes. Marcus's memory didn't lie.
"Get out," Cassian said, his voice colder than ice. His hand was on his dagger. "Get out before I do something I'll regret."
"Please!" Mirage reached for me, but I stepped back. The hurt on her face almost broke me. Almost. "That memory is fake! Someone altered it! Marcus is lying!"
"Why would I lie?" Marcus demanded, still clutching his bleeding arm. "I nearly died getting that information!"
"Because you're the real traitor!" Mirage shouted.
"ENOUGH!" Cassian roared. "Mirage, leave. Now. If I see you again, I'll treat you as an enemy."
Mirage looked at me one last time, her purple-streaked hair falling across her face. "Sera, please. You know me. You know I wouldn't—"
"I don't know anything anymore," I whispered.
She flinched like I'd slapped her. Then she ran out the door and disappeared into the night.
The silence she left behind was deafening.
"We move tonight," Cassian said flatly. "Pack only what you need. We're going to the Ashen Wastes."
"But Mirage had all the maps—"
"Marcus has copies. We don't need her." He wouldn't look at me. "We never did."
But the way his jaw tightened told me he was lying. To me or to himself, I wasn't sure.
Three days later, I was still replaying that scene in my head as our horses walked slowly across dead ground.
The Ashen Wastes stretched out forever—grey dirt, dead trees like skeleton hands reaching for a grey sky, and ruins of buildings that had crumbled centuries ago. The air tasted like burnt paper.
"How much further?" I asked, my voice scratchy from breathing the dusty air.
"Another day," Cassian answered from behind me. We were sharing a horse because Marcus said we needed to travel light. "Maybe less if we don't run into trouble."
I shifted uncomfortably in the saddle. Cassian and I had been riding together for three days, my back against his chest, his arms on either side of me holding the reins. It should have felt awkward. Instead, it felt... safe.
Which was stupid, because nothing about this was safe.
"Tell me about your family," I said, desperate for distraction. "You said they swore to protect the Phoenix bloodline?"
Cassian was quiet for so long I thought he wouldn't answer. Then: "My great-great-grandfather made an oath to yours. Our family would guard the Phoenix family forever. We were the Shadow Walkers—protectors who moved in darkness so the Phoenix could shine in light."
"That's why you're helping me? Because of some old promise?"
"No." His voice was softer now, almost gentle. "I'm helping you because I know what it's like to be alone. To lose everything. And because..." He trailed off.
"Because what?"
"Because you remind me that there's still something worth fighting for."
My heart did a weird flutter thing. I was glad he couldn't see my face getting red.
"Why are you always so serious?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. "I've never even seen you smile."
"When you lose everyone you love," Cassian said quietly, "happiness feels wrong. Like you don't deserve it anymore."
I understood that. After Mom and Dad died, I'd felt guilty every time I laughed. Like I was betraying their memory by not being sad every second.
"They wouldn't want us to stop living," I said. "Your family. My parents. They'd want us to find happiness again."
"Maybe." But he didn't sound convinced.
That night, we made camp under dead trees that provided zero shelter. Marcus fell asleep almost immediately, snoring loudly.
I tried to sleep but couldn't. My mind kept spinning. Mirage's betrayal. The Eternal Flame. Uncle Damien. What if we failed? What if we died out here in this wasteland and no one ever found our bodies?
"Can't sleep?" Cassian sat down beside me near our small fire.
"Too much thinking," I admitted.
"Are you scared?"
"Terrified," I said honestly. "But I'm more scared of doing nothing. Of letting Uncle Damien win. Of my parents dying for nothing."
Cassian looked at me for a long moment, the firelight making his silver eyes almost glow. "You're braver than you know, Sera. Most people would have run away by now. Hidden. But you keep moving forward."
"I don't feel brave. I feel like I'm faking it."
"That's what courage is. Being scared but doing it anyway." He reached into his pack and pulled out something wrapped in cloth. "Here. I've been meaning to give you this."
I unwrapped it carefully. A dagger, smaller than Cassian's but beautiful, with a handle carved to look like flames.
"It was my sister's," he said quietly. "She would have been about your age now. I think she'd want you to have it."
My throat got tight. "Cassian, I can't—"
"Take it. For protection."
When I reached out to accept it, our hands touched. Just for a second, but it felt like lightning ran through my whole body. Electric. Warm. Confusing.
I pulled back quickly, my face burning. What was that?
Cassian looked away, clearing his throat. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow gets harder."
But I couldn't sleep. Not after that strange feeling. Not with my heart beating so fast.
What was happening to me?
The next morning, everything changed.
We rode deeper into the Ashen Wastes as the temperature dropped even more. My breath came out in white clouds. Dead trees got thicker, blocking out what little light there was.
"Stay alert," Cassian warned. "This place is full of dangers."
"Like what?" I asked.
"Ash Wraiths. Creatures made of smoke and hate. They feed on life energy."
"You're joking."
"I wish I was."
Marcus rode ahead, checking his map. "The Eternal Flame should be two miles north! There's supposed to be a temple—"
He never finished his sentence.
The ground beneath his horse exploded.
Not with fire. With hands. Dozens of grey, skeletal hands bursting from the dirt, grabbing, pulling.
Marcus screamed as his horse reared. He fell, and the hands dragged him down into the earth.
"MARCUS!" I jumped off our horse, but Cassian grabbed me.
"Don't! You'll get pulled down too!"
The hands retreated back into the ground, taking Marcus with them. In three seconds, there was no sign he'd ever been there. Just disturbed dirt.
"No, no, NO!" I fell to my knees, digging frantically. "We have to save him!"
"Sera, he's gone—"
"We can't just leave him!"
A sound made us both freeze. Laughter. Cold, cruel laughter echoing from everywhere and nowhere.
Then a voice I recognized. A voice that made my blood turn to ice.
"Hello, niece."
Uncle Damien stepped out from behind a dead tree, smiling. He wasn't alone. Twenty soldiers in black armor surrounded us, weapons drawn.
We were trapped.
"Did you really think I didn't know you were coming?" Damien asked pleasantly, like we were having tea instead of facing death. "Did you think I wouldn't track every move you made?"
My mind raced. Marcus. The memory vial. The proof of Mirage's betrayal.
Oh no.
"Marcus was yours," I whispered. "The whole time."
"Very good! Yes, my loyal servant played his part perfectly. Even let himself get a little cut to make it believable. And you fell for it completely." Damien's smile widened. "You sent away your only illusion-maker. The only one who could have hidden you from my seekers. Now you're alone. Powerless. Mine."
Cassian's hand found mine and squeezed. A silent promise: we're in this together.
"I'm never alone," I said, flames igniting in my palms. "And I'm definitely not powerless."
Damien laughed. "Oh, child. You have no idea what powerless really means. But you're about to learn."
He raised his hand, and every single soldier aimed their weapons at us.
"Kill the boy," Damien ordered casually. "Bring me the girl alive. I have plans for her."