Burning them both.
I snapped awake with a scream tearing from my throat, raw, jagged, and unfamiliar in my ears. It took a moment to realize I was back in my room, heart pounding like I’d sprinted through the flames, lungs thick with the taste of smoke.
My vision blurred or maybe it was the dark swallowing the room, confusing my senses. Then I felt it: a hand in mine. Steady. Grounding.
Soehl was already there, crouched at the edge of my bed, her hands firm on my shoulders. “Breathe, Thea. Come on, look at me.”
The room was still lit only by a thin spill of moonlight through the window. But her face was clear, calm, composed. A tether I didn’t know I was reaching for.
I tried to pull air into my lungs. It came too fast, too shallow. My chest jerked with each breath
“It’s over,” she said softly, but with certainty. Like saying it made it true. “You’re safe. Just keep breathing. It was only a dream.”
“I saw…” My voice cracked. My hands wouldn’t stop trembling.
She didn’t press.
She simply moved closer, one hand finding the back of my neck, warm and solid. Her presence pulled me back from the edge.
“It was just a dream,” she murmured again.
Her words took root slowly, each one loosening the knot in my chest.
My breathing slowed. My hands stilled.
But the fire’s heat still clung to my skin, like a ghost refusing to leave.
“It didn’t feel like a dream,” I whispered, voice splintered, fear quaking through me. “It was terror the Solenharts’ shadow over the kingdom, the fear left bleeding through generations. Ikeep promising myself I’m not like them, but it’s in me. In my blood. If I’m meant to rule, what if I become them?”
Tears welled. Hot. Heavy. Everything blurred.
Soehl didn’t hesitate. She pulled me into her arms and held me tight.
“You have to stop sabotaging yourself,” she said. “That voice in your head, the one whispering that you’re dangerous, that you’re just like them—it’s lying to you. It will destroy you if you let it.”
I closed my eyes. She kept going.
“You’re Thea Solenhart. Not a shadow of someone else. You’re the first Dragontail Solenhart. That matters. You’re different. You’re meant to be. So stop running from it. Embrace the unknown. Face it.”
I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came. The words stuck like thorns.
Something inside me shifted, not a break, but a softening.
I hadn’t expected it.
In just a few weeks, I’d come to trust her, not because she tried to fix everything, but because she didn’t run from the weight I carried. She stood beside it. Held some of it.
So, I let the words out.
“The Siren told me… I’m not the first Solenhart in Dragontail. That’s why I keep going back to the library. I need to know the truth. Why has it been buried?”
Soehl didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch.
Her voice was steady, even as concern flickered in her expression.
“You can’t train like your life depends on it and starve yourself chasing secrets. That’ll break you faster than the Dragontail Trials ever will.” She paused. “I’ll help you. I’m Auroric, I can get into the library. I can look where you can’t.”
Her offer hit harder than any oath.