The Bride they burned

"Some women carry pain. She carried vengeance—and now, something more."

---

NYRA – MEDICAL ROOM, SAFE ZONE.

The strip had two crimson lines.

I stared. And stared.

It didn't make sense. Not after the blood, the trauma, the months of running, the cold tiles I'd slept on in Ravian's mansion. I wasn't supposed to have this left inside me—life.

> "It's impossible," I whispered.

The medic stepped back, clearly sensing the storm rising inside me.

> "It's not Ravian's," I said to myself. "It can't be."

I thought of Leo. Of Sahir. Of the nights I slept alone… or didn't.

My fingers clenched around the strip.

> "You're either my curse," I whispered to the unborn thing, "or my final reason to burn this world down."

---

LEO – OUTSIDE THE ROOM

He waited. Like a soldier. Like a man biting down pain with pride.

Sahir appeared beside him, uninvited.

> "She doesn't need you breathing down the door," Leo growled.

> "And she doesn't need you treating her like she's fragile."

Leo's fist clenched.

> "Say that again."

Sahir smirked. "I said—"

CRACK.

Leo punched first.

Sahir tackled him. They hit the corridor wall, both grunting.

> "She doesn't belong to either of you!" Kai's voice roared as he stepped in, face still bruised, bandaged from Celeste's last attack.

> "She belongs to herself. Now shut up before she makes you both crawl."

---

AARAV – KRAY'S HIDEOUT

The boy was exhausted, one hand still wrapped in gauze, the pain dull now. Kray tossed him a blade.

> "Cut the apple in midair."

> "What?"

> "Toss it. Cut it before it falls. Miss, and you don't eat."

Aarav did it.

Missed. Twice. The third time, the blade split the apple perfectly.

Kray grinned.

> "You're learning."

> "Why do you want me?"

> "Because you're the only heir Ravian feared. And the only one your mother will listen to when her rage eats her alive."

Aarav swallowed.

> "I just want her safe."

> "Then you better become the kind of man who kills before the world does."

---

NYRA – PERSONAL QUARTERS, LATER

I looked at my reflection. My lip was cracked. My eyes darker than I remembered. My womb… full.

The door creaked.

Leo stepped in, wiping blood from his jaw.

> "Sahir's fine," he muttered.

> "Did you come to fight or beg?" I asked.

> "Neither."

He stepped forward. His hand hovered near my stomach but didn't touch.

> "Is it mine?"

I didn't answer.

> "Will you keep it?"

I looked at him. At the man who once stood beside the devil. At the man who broke and rebuilt himself for me.

> "I don't know yet," I whispered. "But if I do… it won't be out of hope. It'll be out of war."

> "Then let me fight beside you."

---

CELESTE – ABANDONED THEATER

Blood stained the red curtains.

The pianist was dead. The guards gutted. In the center stage, a single rose.

And a note:

> "You can run from obsession. But obsession knows your name in the dark."

—C"

She painted her lips red and whispered to the empty hall:

> "Wait for me, Nyra. I'm coming to kill every man who touched you. Then I'll kiss the blood off your hands."

---

KAI – VAULT UNDER RAVIAN'S ESTATE

He cracked the biometric lock.

The vault door opened.

Inside: photos. Journals. Audio tapes. And a screen still running footage.

Of Ravian.

Still alive.

Breathing. Speaking to someone in a dark room.

> "She thinks I'm dead. That's good. It makes the hunt sweeter."

Kai stepped back, heart pounding.

> "Nyra," he whispered, pulling his phone, "we have a problem."

---

TO BE CONTINUED…