Chapter Text
Chapter One: The Bargain
The wind howled over the Illyrian mountains, wild and unrelenting — a scream torn from the throat of the world.
Nesta Archeron stood at the edge of the war camp, the snow at her feet stained with soot and blood. In the distance, the Prince of Hybern waited, cloaked in darkness that pulsed like a second skin. His arrival should’ve brought fear. Instead, it brought clarity.
She had made her choice.
Cassian’s voice still echoed in her ears — the way he had begged, "Don’t do this. We’ll find another way." But there was no other way. Not this time. Not when the shadows had returned and the cost was her family's lives.
“I will go with you,” Nesta said, her voice steady despite the quake beneath her ribs. “But they walk away. You swear it. No harm, no magic, no pursuit.”
The Prince smiled, serpentine and cold. “A brave little wolf, aren’t you? Yes, Nesta Acheron. I swear it on the bones of my ancestors.”
Behind her, she felt him. Cassian. She didn’t have to turn to know the anguish in his eyes. The weight of her leaving would destroy him — but if she stayed, they’d all be dead by dawn.
“You always said I was made of fire,” she whispered, barely loud enough for the wind to carry. “Let me burn for something that matters.”
And then she was gone — swallowed by shadow, by bargain, by fate.