Page 48 of Her Fated Alpha Prince
This was no longer just about her.
It was about the war she had been drawn into, whether she was ready or not.
And the flame—the flicker of something more—was waiting to be found.
CHAPTER 18
_____
KAEL
The air inside the Watchers’ fortress was thick with cold and shadows, the stone walls seeming to swallow every whispered breath. Kael’s boots echoed softly as he moved, eyes sharp, senses stretched to the edge. Every step forward was a gamble; every corner could hide an enemy or a trap. He had to end this.
His heart hammered in his chest—not from fear, but from the weight of what was coming. Seryna’s presence loomed like a storm on the horizon. The way she had watched them both, always a step ahead in her mind, twisting every move like a chessmaster. But tonight, Kael wasn’t the piece to be sacrificed.
He paused in a narrow corridor, pressing his back to the cold stone. His breath hitched as muffled voices floated from the chamber ahead. One was unmistakably Seryna’s, sharp and commanding. The other was unfamiliar, a low growl beneath her words. Betrayal.
Kael’s fingers tightened around the hilt of his dagger. This was the moment—the line between survival and annihilation. His mind flashed to Ariana’s flames, the silver fire that could either destroy or save. She was his wild card. But she was alone, and vulnerable, just like him.
The door ahead creaked slightly, and Kael slipped through the shadowed frame, muscles coiled like a spring ready to snap.
Inside, the chamber was a maelstrom of dark magic and whispered threats. Seryna stood tall, her eyes blazing with cruel intelligence, facing a figure draped in a cloak—someone Kael had thought was an ally. The betrayal cut deeper than any blade.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” Seryna hissed. “You sold us out. Both of us.”
The cloaked figure’s laugh was bitter. “You underestimate the stakes, Seryna. The power is shifting. And I intend to claim it.”
Kael’s pulse thundered. He stepped forward, voice low and lethal. “Enough.”
Both turned, surprise flashing in their eyes, quickly replaced by fury. The trap was sprung.
Kael lunged, steel flashing as the fight ignited—harsh, unforgiving. But his focus wasn’t just on the enemy; it was on Ariana. The air hummed with tension, the kind that pulled at his soul, a tether stronger than chains.
Suddenly, a silver flame burst through the darkness—Ariana’s fire, fierce and wild, illuminating the room in a ghostly glow. The power surged, pushing back the shadows and cutting through the lies.
In that moment, Kael saw the path to victory—and to survival. But the cost was still unknown.
He had to keep fighting. For her. For them. For the truth burning brighter than any flame.
The silver flames danced like living things, casting flickering shadows that warped the room’s ancient stone walls. Kael’s muscles coiled, ready to strike again, but the fire was more than a weapon—it was a beacon. Ariana’s strength was raw, desperate, but beautiful in its fury. He felt it reach inside him, pulling at something buried beneath the weight of their past and the violence pressing in from every side.
Seryna snarled, stumbling back from the heat, her dark eyes narrowed into slits. “You think that childish flame will save you? You don’t understand the power you’re playing with.”
Kael’s voice was calm but iron-edged. “Neither do you.”
His dagger sliced through the air again. The man hissed, but before he could recover, Ariana’s fire licked toward him, scorching flesh and magic alike. The ground beneath their feet cracked with the force of the blast.
Kael moved swiftly, pulling Ariana behind a shattered pillar as the room filled with the acrid scent of smoke and scorched stone. “We don’t have much time. What’s their endgame?”
Ariana’s chest heaved, eyes fierce even as exhaustion pulled at her limbs. “They want to bind the Watchers’ power to themselves—to become gods.”
A cold chill ran down Kael’s spine. This wasn’t just a battle for survival. It was a war for everything they believed in.
“Then we stop them,” Kael said. “Together.”
Her hand found his fingers trembling but steady. For a moment, the chaos faded, replaced by a fragile thread of trust. It was a lifeline neither had dared to hold onto before.
A sudden roar shattered the moment—Seryna was regrouping, gathering dark energy that pulsed like a heartbeat. Kael gritted his teeth. “Ready?”
