Page 54 of Crown of Ashes and Desire

The study was immaculate, as obsessively controlled as the man himself. Ancient tomes lined shelves that stretched to the ceiling. A massive desk dominated the center, covered with maps, correspondence, and artifacts of power. Everything arranged with ruthless organization, everything in its proper place.

Perfect for destruction.

“You know he’ll be furious,” Melo cautioned, though her eyes gleamed with anticipation.

“I’m counting on it,” I replied, feeling my light respond to my intent, gathering beneath my skin. “This room represents everything wrong between us—his need to control, to organize, to keep everything including me in its proper place.”

“Well then,” Melo said with savage satisfaction, “let’s show him what chaos is like.”

My power erupted beyond my usual careful control, weeks of suppressed rage and desperation overwhelming the disciplined techniques I'd spent years perfecting. The emotional intensity amplified my magic beyond anything I'd achieved before—light lashed out in every direction, shattering glass cases, toppling bookshelves, scattering papers that ignited mid-air. My fury at being caged, at being kept from Kiraz, at Hakan's possessive control, transformed my usually controlled light into something wild and unpredictable. Weeks of suppressed rage amplified my magic beyond anything I'd achieved before.

“This is for locking me away!” I screamed, and another chaotic wave of power exploded outward. Ancient scrolls disintegrated at my touch. Books burst into golden flames, their pages turning to ash that sparkled and danced in the air, resembling deadly snow.

“This is for treating me as if I am your possession!” A pulse of energy sent artifacts flying, priceless relics reduced to glittering fragments. The stone walls themselves cracked under the assault, spiderweb fractures spreading across the carefully carved surfaces.

“This is for thinking you can control me!” The final burst reduced whatever remained of his organized sanctuary to complete chaos, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.

Something else was happening. The ancient wards built into the study's very stones resonated with my unleashed power, amplifying it beyond anything I'd ever achieved. This specific combination—my desperate fury, the destruction of magicalartifacts, and the wards themselves being damaged—created a unique magical resonance that began to weaken even the oldest bindings. The boundaries between realms grew thin, reality bending under the weight of my unleashed light.

“Ada—” Melo gasped suddenly, her voice strained with something that sounded like pain. “Something’s happening—the binding—I can feel it?—”

But before she could explain further, the transformation overtook her.

I watched in growing alarm as she glowed, not with reflected light from my power, but with something that came from within. Her small fox form blurred at the edges, as if she were losing cohesion.

"Melo?" I whispered, my voice breaking with fear. What was I doing to her? Had my uncontrolled magic somehow hurt my dearest friend?

She let out a sound that was part fox cry, part something entirely other—a noise of pain and transformation that raised every hair on my body. I tried to reach for her, to help somehow, but she held up a paw that was already changing, already becoming something more.

"The binding—your father's binding—it's breaking—" she managed to gasp, but her voice was changing, deepening, becoming more human with each syllable.

Her small body convulsed, growing and stretching in ways that defied natural law. Bones cracked and reformed with sickening pops. Muscle and sinew rewove themselves while I watched in horrified fascination. Her fur receded into pale, luminous skin, revealing the elegant lines of a woman’s form emerging from the fox’s frame.

The transformation was violent, primal—nothing like the gentle magic I was used to. This was raw power, ancient and untamed, reshaping reality itself. Golden light poured from herchanging form, mixing with my own chaotic energy until the entire room blazed as bright as the heart of a star.

“Oh gods,” I whispered, my power flickering as shock overtook fury. “Melo, I’m so sorry—did I hurt you? Did my magic?—”

But even when I spoke, I could see this wasn’t damage. This was a revelation. This was something that had been waiting centuries to be unleashed.

Her spine straightened while she grew to human height, her fox muzzle reshaping into the delicate features of a woman’s face. Those same amber eyes I’d gazed into for years now looked out from a face of ethereal beauty, framed by cascading hair the color of autumn fire. When the light finally faded, where my pet fox had been now stood a woman of stunning grace, completely naked and utterly unashamed.

She stretched her arms above her head, examining her long, elegant fingers with evident delight and confusion. Every movement was fluid, predatory—unmistakably the same being I’d known, but revealed in her true form for the first time.

“I…” she began, her voice both achingly familiar and thrillingly new—the same voice I’d heard before, but now vibrating through the air with rich, melodious tones. She pressed a hand to her forehead, eyes wide while flashes of memory seemed to surface. “I remember…fragments. I am Melo, but I’m also…something more. Tilki Ruhu.” The ancient words came hesitantly, as if from a dream she was only beginning to recall.

“What—” I stammered, quickly pulling off my traveling cloak and throwing it to her with trembling hands. “Melo?”

She caught the cloak with inhuman grace and wrapped it around herself, though she seemed entirely unbothered by her previous nakedness. Her movements were still uncertain, as if she were rediscovering her own body.

"The pieces are falling into place now, but it's like trying to remember a dream. I wasn't transformed into a fox—I was trapped in this form, my true nature suppressed." I stared at her, my mind struggling to process this revelation.

"You mean... all this time..."

"All this time, I was something else entirely. Your father's binding was meant to protect both of us—me from those who would misuse Tilki Ruhu's power, and you by ensuring my complete loyalty. But it required making me forget what I truly was."

The implications crashed over me in waves. Every conversation, every moment of companionship, every time I'd confided in her—she'd been so much more than I'd ever known.

“But what were you being punished for?” I asked softly.

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