The thorn crown

We were ambushed at the river.

I felt it seconds before it happened—pressure in my chest like a scream trying to claw its way out. But it wasn't mine.

It was theirs.

The men in gray cloaks. Sentinels? Mercenaries? I didn't know. Didn't care.

They dropped from the trees like knives in the dark.

Kael moved first. He always did.

Blade flashing, fire licking his fingertips. His rage flared—hot, pure, instinctual.

And it hit me like a tidal wave.

Too fast. Too much.

I doubled over, choking on emotion that wasn't mine.

Rage. Grief. Fear.

All of them.

I couldn't breathe.

I couldn't think.

One of the men grabbed me by the arm.

I didn't scream.

I snapped.

My skin seared hot. Not burning...boiling.

And then...

Everything went silent.

The river stilled. The birds froze.

And then came the pulse.

A detonation from my chest that wasn't light or fire or air.

It was emotion.

Raw. Horrific. Alive.

The man holding me disintegrated before my eyes...just gone, like dust in a windless storm.

The others screamed.

Not from pain.

From what they saw.

From me.

Kael yelled something. Maybe my name. Maybe a warning.

I couldn't hear him.

All I could feel was everything.

The panic of the attackers. Kael's desperation. His fear....for me, not himself

And beneath it all...

A whisper.

> More.

I felt bones cracking. Trees warping. The river boiling without flame.

Kael grabbed me, shouting again.

This time I heard it.

"Ariya...come back."

I blinked.

His arms were around me. The world still shaking.

My hands?

Bloodless. Glowing.

My breath?

Not mine.

"I.....I didn't mean..." I choked.

Kael pulled me close, even as his skin blistered from my heat.

"You feel now," he whispered into my hair. "And that makes you stronger than all of them."

I sobbed once.

Then collapsed into his chest.

Alive. But only just.