The day I turned eighteen, the sky bled red.
Not with sunset. Not with storm. But with fire.
And somewhere deep in the kingdom of Varrowyn, the ancient magic stirred for the first time in centuries—because of me. A wolfless girl. A Null. A nothing.
They locked me in the cellar when the howls began.
I remember the feel of damp earth beneath my knees, the bitter taste of iron in the air, and the sound of my heart pounding like it wanted out of my chest. The Trial of Flames had begun, and I—Elira Thorn, the cursed daughter of a disgraced warrior—was supposed to die quietly in the dark, unseen and forgotten.
But the fire had other plans.
I felt it before I saw it. A heat building in my bones, crawling beneath my skin like liquid sunlight. It didn't hurt. It sang. And when I screamed, the flames answered.
The cellar exploded.
Stone shattered, dirt flew, and the guards who had been stationed at the door were thrown across the courtyard. The villagers screamed. Wolves—real ones, shifted ones—snarled and scattered like ashes in the wind.
I stood in the wreckage, barefoot and blinking. My hair danced around me, lit by flickers of golden flame that didn't burn me. My clothes were untouched, my skin unscorched. But everything else was in ruin.
And then, the sky cracked open.
A column of light burst down like a sword from the heavens, blinding and terrifying. In the capital, the Flame Gate erupted in fire, signaling the impossible: a Null had been chosen by the Trial.
Worse.
She had been chosen by all four princes.
---
Panic spread through the kingdom like wildfire. Nulls weren't chosen. Nulls didn't live. I was supposed to be nothing—a mistake in the bloodline, a shame hidden behind stone walls. But now? Now, I was summoned to the heart of Varrowyn, where the princes awaited.
Prince Kael of the Flame Realm, with fire in his veins and cruelty in his smile. Prince Aeron of the Storm Mountains, cold as lightning and twice as fast. Prince Varyn of the Shadow Plains, where no light ever reached. And Prince Lysian of the Ice Kingdom, where hearts froze before they beat.
All powerful. All deadly. And now, all bound to me.
---
I arrived in chains.
Not royal ones. Not the gold-threaded silks of a chosen mate. No. I was dragged like a prisoner through the marble halls of the Ember Palace, surrounded by guards who watched me like I might combust again.
"On your knees," one barked.
I didn't kneel.
The moment I stepped onto the trial circle, the flames roared to life again—but they didn't burn the palace. They bowed to me.
Gasps echoed through the throne room. Magic hummed in the walls. The high priest staggered back, his voice trembling.
"The Null... she carries the First Flame."
And the princes? They looked at me not like I was prey.
But like a threat.
---
Prince Kael was the first to speak, his voice low and dangerous. "She doesn't have a wolf. She shouldn't have anything."
Prince Aeron stepped forward, eyes narrowing. "And yet, the flame chose her. All four gates ignited at once. That has never happened."
"Then she must choose," Prince Varyn said from the shadows, voice soft as death. "Before the moon rises for the thirtieth time."
I lifted my chin. "And if I don't?"
It was Lysian who answered, the Ice Prince, whose voice could stop a heart. "Then the fire will consume you."
---
They gave me a room in the Ember Palace. If you could call a guarded tower a room. I wasn't trusted, wasn't safe. Not even from them.
Kael visited first.
He didn't knock.
He leaned in the doorway like he owned the world, eyes burning amber, his smile sharp enough to wound. "You don't belong here."
"Neither do you," I said flatly.
He chuckled. "Feisty. But don't mistake the flame for power. You're still just a girl playing with magic that doesn't belong to you."
"And yet it answered me."
His smile vanished. "That's what scares us."
---
Night fell, and the flame inside me pulsed like a second heartbeat. Visions came in sleep—of a burning crown, a throne of ash, and hands reaching for me from the past.
One voice whispered louder than the rest:
"You are the first. You are the last. The Null Queen will either save us all... or burn us with her."
I woke to find the sky ablaze.
And the Ice Prince at my window, eyes wild.
"You have to run," Lysian whispered.
"Why?"
"Because one of us is already dead."
---
I froze.
"What do you mean dead?" I whispered. "Who?"
"Aeron," Lysian said tightly. "His heart stopped an hour ago. No wound. No poison. Nothing natural. It was magic. Forbidden, ancient—and I think it came from you."
"That's not possible. I was asleep."
"You were dreaming," he corrected, stepping closer, his voice shaking for the first time. "You don't understand the flame inside you. It's not just power—it's sentient. It remembers. It chooses. And it kills."
The words slammed into me like ice water. My knees buckled, but Lysian caught me. His hands were cold, but oddly comforting.
"You have to leave before they decide you're a threat. Even Kael won't protect you now."
"What about you?"
His silence was answer enough.
---
I ran.
Not into the night—but into the Hall of Origins, the oldest part of the palace. The place where legends slept and truths hid behind broken statues and crumbling scrolls. The fire guided me, lighting torches in my path.
At the far end of the hall stood a door—one I had never seen before. Carved with the symbol of the First Flame. My symbol.
I pushed it open.
Inside, the air pulsed with raw, living energy. Magic ran down the walls like veins of light. At the center, a pedestal held a crown—blackened with age, but pulsing with warmth.
As I stepped closer, visions surged.
Four thrones. A kingdom in ruin. And my face—older, crowned, wreathed in fire—staring down a world begging for mercy.
My fingers touched the crown.
And the fire inside me screamed.
---
Behind me, someone gasped.
Kael.
His voice was ragged, furious. "What have you done?"
I turned slowly, flames rising around me like wings.
"I remembered who I am."
He drew his sword. "Then I'll end you before you forget who you were."
And with that, the room erupted in fire, shadow, and steel.
End of Chapter One.