Chapter 49 : Dream of Fire Again
Elias woke to the smell of something burning.
His instincts jolted him upright, hand already reaching under his pillow for the small dagger he kept nearby—a habit born from battlefield years he'd never quite grown out of. But when he looked around the small room, everything seemed intact. No fire. No smoke. Just—
"Rhea?" he called, rubbing his eyes.
A soft, faint glow illuminated the corners of the house. From the other room came the sound of a low hum, like a melody remembered but never fully sung. And then, unmistakably, the scent again—burning, not of wood or cloth, but something raw and ancient. Like scorched starlight.
Elias shuffled out of bed, still half-draped in a quilt he'd tangled in during the night. His feet hit the cool wooden floor. He paused at the door, listening.
The humming stopped.
"...Rhea?"
She sat on the windowsill, knees tucked under her chin. The early morning sun barely crept over the horizon, casting pale gold light through the panes. Her hair, longer now and unruly as ever, shimmered faintly like ember threads. But it was her eyes that startled him most—not with fear, but with the sheer stillness in them.
She didn't blink.
Didn't look at him.
"Had a dream," she said quietly.