“I can’t,” I whispered, my voice breaking.“I can’t give it up.It’s part of who I am.”
The words shook from me—raw, anguished.Alchemy wasn’t just a practice—it was the rhythm of my soul, woven into the fabric of my being, how I touched the world, and how I understood it.
“I made a promise to my mother, Amir.”My voice cracked, but I pressed on, needing him to understand.“She devoted her entire life to alchemy.Before she died, she made me promise to carry on her work.I can’t turn away from that now.I won’t.”
I drew in a shuddering breath, tears streaking my cheeks, the weight of that vow pressing into my soul.“If I walk away now, I betray her.I betray myself.”
Amir’s gaze locked onto mine, intense and pleading, his fingers tightening gently around mine as if to tether me to him.
“You must, Elizabeth.”His voice was soft, but beneath it lay an urgency like a storm about to break.“You can never practice it again.You must have an ordinary job.Something simple.Safe.”
The cold truth of his words seeped into me, slow and unforgiving.A life stripped of alchemy felt like a sentence, not salvation—as if he’d asked me to sever a part of myself and still learn to breathe.
“There’s more, my love.”His hand brushed away a tear from my cheek, the gesture tender, even as the world beneath me shifted.
“While in the Americas, you met a man named Dancing Fire.He is my best friend.I asked him to watch over you, to protect you.Always.”
His confession wrapped around me, startling and strange, yet it settled the chaos of my thoughts—a protection I hadn’t known I’d been given.
“Even as I served Lazarus,” Amir continued, his voice thick with emotion, “I ensured you were never alone.You were cared for.You were watched over.”
The depth of his loyalty and the sacrifices made in silence struck me.Amid the storm of fear and uncertainty, his devotion filled me with gratitude.
As I met Amir’s unwavering gaze, the reality of my new, fragile existence hung heavy between us—a tapestry of protection he had woven, thread by thread, leaving me sheltered… but shackled.
My heart thundered against my ribs, each beat a drum of shock, the revelation crashing through me, fierce and unrelenting.Dancing Fire—Amir’s closest confidant?The man who had stood at my side through loss, through birth, through betrayal—a protector cloaked in secrecy?
The pieces clicked together, sudden and jarring.He had been my guardian angel in disguise, an invisible thread woven through my life, pulled tight by Amir’s unseen hand.
And I—I had never known I was bound.
“Amir,” I whispered, the name catching on my breath.“I… I cannot fathom…”
He sat beside me, the stoic mask he always wore softened by moonlight, casting silver across the sculpted angles of his face.“The last thing I ever wanted was to leave you, Elizabeth,” he said, his voice low and threaded with sorrow that mirrored the ache in my soul.“I did not choose to part ways with you, nor did I do so out of desire.”
A single tear traced down his chiseled cheek—silent, unbidden, and devastating.It glistened in the dim light, a testament to the war he fought within himself.
“Your safety is paramount.My presence alone endangers you.But tonight, when I saw you wandering the streets, alone, lost…” His voice broke.“Something inside me shattered.I could no longer remain hidden.”
“Can you stay?”The plea escaped me, raw and desperate, a choked whisper of longing.“Please, Amir… I cannot bear this solitude.”
He cupped my face in his hands, the warmth of his touch grounding me, as fear coiled tight in my chest.His thumb brushed away a tear, but the dread remained unmoving.
“Elizabeth,” he murmured, “my heart is tethered to yours.But our fates… they are cruel.Twisted with dangers greater than either of us can imagine.”His eyes—dark, bottomless wells of pain and resolve—held mine, refusing to let go.“Salvatore’s shadow looms.And he is ruthless.He hunts without rest.”
“Because of the flower?”The words escaped me, haunted by memory—the Noctyss flower, its beauty a lie, hiding the lethal power that flowed through its veins.
“Yes, my love,” Amir confirmed, his jaw tightening.“That flower holds the key—the only known force that can neutralize a Shadow Lord’s power.Salvatore seeks it.Seeks you.Though he knows not yet who you are.”
A chill lanced down my spine.
I had held the flower.
I had wielded its alchemy.
And now… I was the key to Salvatore’s downfall.
“Then what are we to do?”I breathed, desperation lacing every word, fear gnawing at the frayed edges of my composure.
