Page 150 of The Ashborn

“I love you,” he said. “From the first light of the morning to the last of the moon. I am madly in love with you.”

Kienna resisted the urge to step back. The words were real. Three syllables meant to carry such vastness. But what lived in her chest reached far beyond language, and she didn’t know how to fit it into sound.

You can tell him you love him, too, Little Flame. It will always be enough for him.

Kienna grabbed his hand and placed it on her chest. “My heart is there. It’s beating for you⁠—”

A sharp crack echoed through the ruins. She alerted, scanning the trees, and then looked at Danek. Her stomach turned. There was a wrongness in the air screaming at her to run. Something she felt her whole life crept into her bones like a leechbug. Ruva whimpered, too far away to help.

The air shimmered, a bright red light exploding out. Kienna held up her arm to shield her blue eyes from the strobes. Out of the flashes, King Vaerin stepped through, his dark figure twisting in an eerie translucence. His black cloak matched his black leather pants, and his shirt was a cream linen. He didn’t intend to be in any danger amongst them. Vaerin smirked, the scar above his lip rising. His dark brown hair brushed his shoulders in strict, orderly lines. Kienna was certain now. He looked like Ash, but the darkness within him would never match the old man in Dove Port.

Baila stepped out behind him, armored. The sight of her had Kienna boiling more than the King of River Storm. Kienna wanted her and feared she wouldn’t get the chance. King Vaerin was not here for Broan or Danek. In the end, he never truly cared about them. He only needed their magic.

Danek pulled his sword. From the strobes, Umbrin slipped out of the shadows, their blades catching sharp flashes of light. In the distance, Connak and Broan’s shouts carried through the chaos, threaded with the harsh clang of steel on steel.

Baila lunged for Kienna with her sword aimed with ruthless precision. Danek intercepted, his blade meeting Baila’s with a sharp clash. A sinister smile tugged at her lips. “Looking for a rematch?”

Kienna stepped back and drew her dagger. She’d have to rely on speed, considerably outmatched in the weapon department. King Vaerin stalked around her in slow, deliberate circles as Baila pushed Danek out of the way, swinging at him again. The image of the king flickered like a phantom. A mocking dance.

“I’m glad you finally made it here,” he said, but his usual hiss slipped into a smooth warmth, like a worried father greeting his child after a harsh night apart. Kienna gripped her dagger tightly, her knuckles turning white.

I’m coming! Connak’s voice slammed into her mind, Ruva’s competing. She pushed them out. She needed to focus.

“You think you can fight me?” Vaerin’s voice slithered through the air, amusement twisting in his eyes. “I implore you to give up this façade, my child. I’ve come to take you home.”

“You’ll have to kill me first.” Kienna spat at his feet. She lunged forward.

King Vaerin conjured a weapon from the void, blocking her strike with effortless ease. Metal hissed against the air. Kienna lunged again. Vaerin’s smirk deepened as he twisted his blade, deflecting her with a bored flick of his wrist. A powerful force slammed into her chest, knocking her backward. She crashed into Danek, and they tumbled to the ground in a tangled heap.

Kienna gritted her teeth, rolling to her feet at the sound of Vaerin’s laughter. “Still eager to fight battles you cannot win. Haven’t you learned anything by now?”

She ignored him, rushing forward. Her blade sliced through the air. Vaerin sidestepped, catching her wrist mid-swing and wrenching it back. Pain shot through her arm, but she refused to let go. She twisted, her foot hooking behind his knee to knock him off balance.

He didn’t budge.

“You’re predictable,” he whispered before flicking his fingers. A pulse of energy blasted Kienna back again, sending her skidding across the stone. Her vision blurred before she could force herself up once more, chest heaving.

Her eyes widened. King Vaerin held her shimmering charm in the air before tossing it into the corner of the ruins. Kienna’s heart leapt, panic surging inside her. She could feel him slithering inside her mind, the pinches and purple haze clouding her. Kienna fought against it, straining every muscle in her body.

“Ah, I see you’ve met my father.” A sly grin crinkled his eyes. It disappeared as quickly as it formed. “You were never meant to be this. You were never meant to fight me. It’s the Elvish. They are the tyrants.”

“You’re a liar.” Kienna’s teeth clenched as she growled. Broan and Connak grunted in the distance, fighting as the Umbrin continued pouring through Vaerin’s portals. “Get out of my fucking head!”

She pushed against the magic inside her, giving everything she had to keep it at bay. She could already feel the twinge of twisted power flaring. Her muscles cramped, twitching to hold it all in.

Vaerin opened his arms to embrace her. Kienna flinched back, slapping his chest to keep him away. She looked for Danek in the fray. They were behind a sea of Umbrin, he and Baila slashing at each other. Ruva was nowhere in sight.

The king had managed to get her alone. He didn’t falter. “I told you everything you need to know.”

“You held us captive and beat us.”

Vaerin tilted his head, watching her movements like a predator studying a cornered animal. “You always fought me,” he said, voice low and almost fond. “Especially in River Storm, before you knew you were anything. Always throwing yourself against a world you didn’t understand.”

Kienna tightened her grip on her knife, blood roaring in her ears. “I understand enough. You were never saving us. You put us in cages because you’re scared.”

“Caging you?” Vaerin chuckled darkly, circling her again. The sky above darkened with him. “No, Little Flame, I shaped you, tempering you in the only fire strong enough to make you survive. They would have devoured you out here with your power. I helped you control it.”

Kienna shuddered at the affectionate nickname as he coursed his way through her memories. Ruva’s words didn’t belong on his lips. She couldn’t bear the thought of how she used to look at him like a father.