Page 25 of Her Fated Alpha Prince
Her stomach twisted. “What was it?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he studied her face as though weighing what kind of truth she was ready for. The silence stretched, thick and buzzing, before he finally spoke.
“The vine is sacred. It only responds to bloodlines that carry the old fire.”
Ariana blinked. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” he said, stepping closer, “you’re not here by accident. The jungle recognizes you because you belong to it. Whether you remember or not.”
She shook her head. “I don’t belong here. I’m just… I was just dragged here. I’m nobody.”
“You’re far from nobody,” he said gently. “And you weren’t dragged. You were brought.”
Ariana folded her arms over her chest, resisting the urge to back away. “By Kael?”
“No,” Varos said. “By fate. Or by something older still.”
She swallowed hard. “You left the note. The warning.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Because Seryna watches everyone. But you most of all. And because I know what it’s like to wake up in a world that doesn’t make sense. Where the rules you lived by fall apart.”
She studied his face. There were lines at the corners of his eyes, but he didn’t seem old—not in the mortal way. There was something unyielding about him, like a statue carved from the jungle itself.
“You said the jungle recognizes me. Why?”
He hesitated.
“She wasn’t supposed to wake yet,” he murmured, mostly to himself. Then louder: “Because the last to bear the fire before you disappeared. She was born of two realms, and so are you.”
“I’m not—”
“You are. You’ve felt it already, haven’t you? The pull, the heat under your skin, the dreams.”
Ariana’s mouth was dry. “I thought I was going crazy.”
He looked at her with something close to compassion. “No, Ariana. You’re waking up.”
She stared past him to the glowing flowers. “What happens now?”
“That depends on you. The fire changes everything it touches. And once it starts… it does not stop.”
The word fire echoed inside her, not like sound but like a bell ringing in her chest.
“Kael knows something,” she said suddenly.
Varos nodded. “He knows more than he wants to.”
“Can I trust him?”
Another pause. “That’s the wrong question. Youwantto trust him. But you need to decide whether you’ll trustyourself.”
Ariana’s breath caught.
“Your instincts. Your power. Your past. All of it is rising. And soon, you won’t be able to hide it—even if you try.”
