Page 33 of Lost in Fire

Time to discover which future waits on the other side.

Chapter 13

Vanya

The interrogation chamber’s wards hum against my skin as I wait. Ancient magic wound through steel and stone, designed to contain the most dangerous creatures in existence. Today, they’re keeping secrets in rather than power out.

The door opens, and he steps inside—the man who’s haunted my dreams and shaped every choice I’ve made for as long as I can remember. Hargen moves with that same controlled grace I remember, but there’s tension in his shoulders now. Wariness in those dark eyes as they find mine behind the silver mask.

The guards retreat. Magnetic locks engage with mechanical finality.

“We’re alone,” I tell him quietly. “The surveillance system is disabled. No one can hear us.”

He studies me for a long moment, taking in the ornate mask that’s become my face to the world. When he speaks, his voice carries all the authority of a man who was born to give orders.

“Take it off.”

“What?”

“The mask. Take it. Off.” Each word is coldly enunciated.

My hands shake as I reach for the clasps, and the mask falls away. He goes very still, drinking in the sight of my face with an intensity that makes my breath catch.

“Hello, Hargen,” I whisper.

“Vanya.” He says my name like the word is foreign to him. “You’re alive.”

“I am.”

“The execution—”

“Was staged.” I set the mask on the steel table between us. “An operative called Cassia Nightvale and some allies pulled me out at the last moment. Made it look real.”

His jaw tightens. “Why?”

“They hated the unfairness of it all, I suppose.” I shrug. “The senseless loss of life over pointless obsession with clan purity.”

“No. I mean, why did you face execution? I thought we were in it together.”

I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment before telling the truth I’d never shared with him. “Because the elders gave me a choice. Reveal who you were—expose the man who’d corrupted their pureblooded daughter—or face the flames.” I meet his eyes. “I chose the flames.”

“Why?” His voice breaks. He clears his throat. “We could have run—”

“Where?” I say it too sharply. “There was nowhere to go that they wouldn’t have found us. This way, you lived. You stayed free.”

“Free.” He laughs, bitter and broken. “You call what I’ve been living freedom?”

The pain in his voice cuts deep.

“Hargen—”

“Do you have any idea what losing you did to me?” He leans forward, hands flat on the table. “What it’s been like, thinking you were dead? Carrying that guilt? I thought it was my fault, Vanya.”

“I know.” My voice is hoarse. “I felt it. Through our bond. I felt everything.”

His eyes narrow. “You’ve been connected to me this entire time.”

“Yes.”

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