The thorn crown

It rained by morning.

Not a soft lullaby rain....no. This was the kind that made trees bow, that howled through cracks in the wood and made you believe the sky was grieving something it had no words for.

Kael hadn't moved much. Still feverish. Still alive.

I sat by the door, watching it breathe. Listening.

Every drop on the roof sounded like footsteps.

I knew we were being hunted. I just didn't know when.

"You're pacing in your head again," Kael murmured.

"Didn't realize my thoughts were so loud."

"They're sharp," he said. "Like glass. Or guilt."

"Don't start."

He opened his eyes, unfocused but gold. "Why are you shaking?"

"I'm not."

"You are."

He was right. My hands were trembling.

From the cold, I told myself.

Not from the memory.

Not from the dream I woke up from—his body, broken in fire. My hands too late. My voice too empty. Me, screaming without sound.

I stood. Too fast. The room spun.

"I'm going to find food," I said.

Kael tried to rise. Failed. "You shouldn't go out there alone."

"I'm used to it."

I stepped outside and the rain hit like a slap. I welcomed it.

Maybe it would wash the heat out of my head.

Maybe it would shut me up.

I walked until the trees swallowed the cabin. Until I couldn't feel his presence anymore.

And still—still I felt everything else.

Fear. Rage. Grief. Not mine. Not really.

The forest's. The world's. A thousand feelings pressing against my skin like needles.

I dropped to my knees.

What the hell was happening to me?

My chest was tight. Breath shallow. The air around me pulsed like it was alive.

And then

I heard her.

A woman. Screaming.

Not far.

I ran.

Instinct, not logic. Not bravery. Just a stupid, unshakable need to stop that sound.

But when I got there

It wasn't a woman.

It was a child.

No more than ten.

And she was already dead.

Face down in the mud, arrow in her back, eyes open to the storm.

I froze. The world went silent. Like grief sucked the sound out of the air.

I didn't cry.

I didn't move.

But something broke.

Behind my ribs. Beneath my skin. Deeper.

Magic.

Not Kael's.

Mine.

Hot. Hungry. Wrong.

The storm thickened. The trees shuddered.

I stepped back and the body jerked. Not from life from my pull.

No.

No no no

"Stop," I whispered to no one.

The emotion hit like a tidal wave.

Not sadness.

Every sadness.

The girl's. Her mother's. The soldier who fired the arrow. The earth swallowing her whole.

I screamed.

And the trees bent.

The storm slammed downward like a beast unleashed.

I didn't stop it.

I couldn't.

I was the storm now.

---

Meanwhile...

Back in the cabin, Kael shot upright, eyes burning gold.

"Ariya."

He felt it.

Not her pain.

Her awakening.

And it was about to tear the world in half.