The days turned into weeks
Kaelen didn't remember much of the first two. Just fever heat and cold sweats, drifting in and out, sometimes fire burning through his chest, sometimes darkness swallowing him. He thought he died twice, but every time he woke, the cloaked woman was there.
She sat beside him, even when the cloaked figures tried to pull her away. She pressed water to his lips, held his head when he coughed blood, muttered strange words under her breath that glowed faint in the dark. Sometimes her hands burned warm on his skin, but it wasn't fire like his. It was softer, healing, though it left her pale and weak after.
"Stop using yourself up," he rasped once, barely awake.
What are you? Soon you did know.
She looked down at him, eyes tired but steady. "Then you'll die. I'm not letting you."
He didn't have strength to argue.
A week passed before Kaelen stood again. His ribs still ached, his leg dragged, and scars ran like cracks over his chest, but he was alive. Fire sat inside him, quiet but there, like a beast waiting for command.
They found an old cellar deeper under the city, safer than the wasp tunnels. Dust, old stone, broken wine casks. The cloaked figures left food and herbs, then faded back to the fight above.
It was only him and her most nights.
Kaelen sat against the wall, shirt torn open, binding tight around his ribs. The cloaked woman sat near, her cloak still ragged, hair loose now that the hood was gone. Firelight from a single torch made her eyes shine strange, almost gold.
"You never told me your name," Kaelen said, voice rough.
She looked at him, quiet for a moment, then nodded. "Selena."
He rolled it on his tongue. "Selena… fits you."
So what are you? You seem more than a dragon .
Fire boy get some rest,she answered.
He gave a short laugh that turned into a cough. "Fire boy. I thought I was just a monster?.
"You are both," she said. "That's what makes you dangerous."
He frowned, looking at her sharp. "And you? You're not just some rebel running around with hoods."
Her face grew still, the firelight showing lines of wear. She leaned back, pulling her cloak tighter though the cellar was warm.
"I'm not just one thing either," she said soft. "My mother was witch-blood. My father… dragon-blood."
Kaelen's eyes widened. He sat up straighter, pain forgotten for a moment. "Half witch. Half dragon. Is that even real?"
"It is," Selena said, voice almost a whisper. "That's why the emperor wants me. That's why I have been hiding my whole life ."
Kaelen studied her, the way her fingers glowed faint when she touched her side, the way her eyes sometimes shone brighter than the torch. He thought of the night in the palace, how she whispered words that steadied his fire. It made sense now.
"You're like me," he said finally.
Selena's eyes lifted, locking on his. "No, Kaelen. You're more. You carry pure dragon fire. Not half, not broken. That's why he'll never stop hunting you."
The room went quiet. Kaelen's chest tightened, not from wounds this time but from weight. He thought about the emperor's words, about kneeling, about being turned into a weapon. His fists clenched.
"I ain't bowing," he said, voice low.
Selena leaned forward, her hand brushing his wrist. Her touch was warm, steady. "Then you'll need me. You'll need all of us. Fire alone can't win this."
For a second, neither spoke. The torch flickered. The world outside rumbled with distant battle.
Kaelen looked at her hand on his wrist. He should've pulled away. But he didn't.
"You saved me," he muttered.
Her lips curved faint. "And you saved me first."
Something heavier hung between them, unspoken, too close, too sharp. Kaelen's chest burned, not just with fire this time.
Before either could say more, the cellar door rattled. A cloaked figure stumbled in, mask cracked, blood down his arm.
"They're coming," he gasped. "Palace guards. They tracked the tunnels. We can't hold them."
Selena's eyes went wide. Kaelen pushed to his feet, ignoring the pain that screamed through his body. His fire flickered alive, weak but ready.
"How many?" he asked.
"Too many," the man rasped. "And worse. He came with them."
The air dropped colder. Selena's face drained color .
Kaelen already knew who "he" was.
The emperor.