Seraphina awoke to the scent of smoke.
At first, she thought the fire was only in her dream again, those endless visions of gold flame twisting through black skies. But the heat on her wrist was real. She gasped and pushed back her sleeve.
The sigil that Kael had pressed into her skin during the Blood Pact no longer glowed faint red; it was alive now, a tiny sun etched into her flesh. Veins of light crept up her arm, burning and beautiful. Every pulse of her heart fed it.
"Not again," she whispered.
Her small tent shuddered as a hot wind swept through the camp. Sparks rolled in the air like fireflies. Far off, thunder growled, except it wasn't thunder. It was wings.
Kael felt the same burn miles away. He had been kneeling before the altar of ash, forcing his mind into silence, when pain seared across his chest. He tore open his tunic. The mark, the mirror of hers blazed over his heart.
He staggered against the cold stone. The dragon within him roared to life. He tasted fire.
"No… not now."
He could feel her heartbeat through the mark, fast and frightened. He could feel the echo of her breath. That meant the bond had awakened fully.
Kael spread his wings, the world flashing gold. "She's in danger."
The sky cracked open as he flew.
Seraphina ran from the tent, clutching her burning wrist. The forest shimmered with a strange light, every leaf tipped with gold. Her vision blurred, she could feel someone calling to her, a pull from deep within her chest.
Then she saw them: figures in dark robes stepping from the mist.
Their eyes burned crimson.
Blood Priests.
"Stay back!" she shouted, raising her hand. Flame burst from her palm, startling even her.
The priests only smiled. "The bond must be severed before it consumes the world."
They lifted their hands in unison, and crimson chains of magic coiled toward her. Seraphina stumbled backward, the mark on her wrist flaring so bright it hurt to look at.
The ground trembled.
A gust of molten air ripped through the trees. Then, a shape, vast and terrible, dropped from the sky.
Kael landed between her and the priests. His wings snapped out, casting shadows that swallowed the clearing. The air smelled of thunder and heat.
"Step away," he said, voice edged with flame.
The priests recoiled but did not run. "You bind yourself to the cursed flame, Dragon King. You doom her."
Kael's eyes gleamed gold. "Then I will share her doom."
He opened his hand. Fire surged outward, sweeping across the ground in a circle. The Blood Priests screamed as their chains burned away, their forms turning to smoke.
When silence returned, Seraphina fell to her knees. Her skin glowed faintly, the fire still dancing along her wrist.
Kael knelt in front of her, the mark on his chest answering hers. "You should not have been near them."
"I didn't summon them," she said, voice trembling. "The mark, it's changing me."
He hesitated, then took her hand. The moment their skin met, light burst between them — a living flame twisting into a single shape, the sigil complete.
Seraphina gasped. "What is this?"
"The mark of flame," Kael said quietly. "It means the bond can no longer be undone. Your soul burns with mine."
Their eyes met. For a moment, all she could feel was the warmth flowing from him, fierce, alive, frighteningly beautiful. The space between them shrank until the only thing she saw was the light in his eyes.
Then the bond pulsed again, hard enough to send both of them reeling. Sparks whirled around them like stars.
Kael steadied her. "Every time you fight it, it will burn brighter."
"Then teach me to control it," she whispered.
He looked at her for a long time. "If I do, you will never be free of me."
Seraphina's lips curved faintly. "I already feel you when I close my eyes."
The mark flared, echoing the truth neither dared say aloud.
Kael exhaled slowly, the dragon's heat receding from his skin. "So be it."
He stood and helped her to her feet. Around them, the forest had turned to glass, the trees frozen mid-motion, scorched but shining.
"What now?" she asked.
He turned toward the horizon, where the red moon hung over the ruins of his realm. "Now, we find the meaning of this curse. Before it finds us first."
And as they walked into the glow of the dying night, the mark on their bodies pulsed once, bright enough to set the clouds ablaze.
The fire had only begun.