Page 66 of Claimed By Flame


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It didn’t burn the Hollowborn—iterasedthem. Shadows shrieked as they were obliterated mid-lunge. Bodies turned to ash mid-air. The entire tunnel shook, and the stormfire inside her spiraled into something ancient. Somethingforbidden.

She didn’t care. She just wanted themgone.

When the dust cleared, when the shadows were finally silent—Cassian lay in the chamber.

Untouched. Unburned. Unmoving.

“Cassian…” Her voice cracked.

She stumbled forward. Fell to her knees. Her fingers brushed his cheek.

Cold.

“No, no,no…” she whispered, cradling his face. “You don’t get to leave me. Not after everything. Not likethis.”

His chest didn’t rise. His skin was gray beneath the blood.

She collapsed against him, sobbing into his shoulder, the fire flickering uselessly at her fingertips.

“Why?” she choked. “Why did it needyou?Why couldn’t the blade beenough?”

No one answered. Not the gods. Not the magic.

Nothim.

She pressed her forehead to his, whispering through clenched teeth. “I love you, damn it. And if you think I’m going to let you vanish without a fight?—”

Her voice trembled.

His skin was cooling too fast.

Her heart was splintering under the weight of something she couldn’t name—grief, fury, helplessness. All she knew was shecouldn’t let this be it.

Not like this.

Not after everything.

The fire behind her pulsed. A low hum, almost sentient. And in that thrum of flame and memory, something stirred—old and forgotten.

There wasonething left.

A magic older than Whitefire. Older than blood. Older than even the Hollow.

It was the magic ofoaths,legacy,anddebt.

Malrik owed her.

She pulled Cassian’s body into her lap, her hands shaking as she reached for the shard still sheathed at his side. Her fingers curled around it with purpose. The edge bit into her palm. Blood spilled hot and sharp.

She didn’t hesitate.

She smeared it across his chest, over the scars and sigils burned there by fate.

“Malrik!” she screamed, her voice echoing like a war cry across the hollowed chamber. “Malrik, come to me!”

Nothing answered.

Her eyes burned. She slammed her bleeding hand to the stone.