Chapter 7

• Eliana POV
• The door clicked behind him. I waited, holding my breath, listening to the echo of Alexander’s boots down the hallway until they faded into silence.
• He left.
• The room—though lavish and warm—felt like a prison. No locks. No bars. But I knew the unspoken command: Stay here.
• I couldn’t.
• The Red Awakening still tingled in my skin, the energy just beneath the skin twitching slightly. Scarlet lay very still, as a smouldering fire lay, but I was aware not to think that the danger was past. It was just, as it were, in its beginning.
• I crept out a back way that I had seen the day before, the back way half-concealed by the scroll-shelves. It was conducted around a dark walkway that opened onto the outward premises. The sun was setting and its rays painted the trees and rooftops with a golden color. I hurried along, getting the hood of my cloak over my head as I melted in the increasing crowd.
• Market square.
• It resounded to the shouts of vendors, to the laughter of children, to wagons and to crates. I moved like a ghost as I was active and quiet, among them.
• My breath caught.
• Across the square, beyond the knot of people and wagons, stood a woman with a familiar frame. Dark curls. Slender hands. She tilted her head as if sensing my eyes on her.
• My mother.
• Or someone who looked like her.
• I pushed forward, weaving through the people. “Mama?” My voice was barely a whisper.
• But she didn’t hear.
• “Excuse me,” I murmured, trying to squeeze past two burly men arguing over crates of apples.
• Someone grabbed my arm roughly. “You!”
• I froze.
• Three pack members blocked my path. Warriors by the look of them—lean, broad-shouldered, and reeking of suspicion.
• “She’s the Blood Moon girl,” one said, voice tight with disdain. “Saw her yesterday with red eyes glowing like hellfire.”
• “She almost blew up the east wing,” another added. “She shouldn’t be out.”
• “I’m not here to cause trouble,” I said quickly, stepping back.
• But they moved with me, surrounding me now. “You think we’re fools?” the first growled. “Alpha’s blinded by her. Just because she looks harmless—”
• “Don’t,” I warned, backing into a wagon.
• One of them reached out, touching my shoulder as if to prove a point.
• Scarlet stirred.
• A rush of heat bloomed in my chest. My eyes flickered. I felt it.
• An invisible force rippled outward from my body.
• The one who touched me was thrown backward—clean off his feet, slamming into a stall of fabrics with a grunt.
• The other two froze.
• Gasps rose from the crowd.
• I stared in horror at my own hands.
• “I didn’t mean to—” I stammered. “I didn’t—”
• “She’s cursed,” someone whispered. “Not natural.”
• “Get away from her!”
• Panic spread like fire on dry grass.
• Then a new voice cut through the commotion.
• “That’s enough!”
• A woman went between me and the warriors. She was tall, sun-browned, and with storm-grey eyes. She faced the others like a shield.
• “She didn’t attack,” the lady said firmly. “You provoked her.”
• “She’s unstable—”
• “Touch her again,” the stranger said coldly, “and I will show you unstable.”
• The men hesitated, then turned and vanished into the dispersing crowd.
• The woman turned to me. “You alright?”
• I nodded numbly, blinking back the heat in my eyes.
• “You need to get out of here,” she said. “Before the others regroup.”
• “I didn’t ask you to defend me,” I said softly.
• “I didn’t do it for thanks.”
• I looked at her hard. “Then why?”
• “Because no one should face a pack alone,” she replied. “Not even someone like you.”
• I flinched. “Someone like me?”
• “You’re trembling,” she said instead. “Come with me. I have a—”
• “No!” I stepped back. “Please. Don’t get involved with me anymore.”
• The pain in my chest surged again, raw and heavy.The chest pain came on once again, burning and heavy. "I am unsafe to be with anyone. I do not know what there is in me. I do not even know who am I.”
• Before she could open her mouth and speak, I did not permit her.
• "I must go." I said quietly. “Before Alexander finds me.”
• “Then let me help you—”
• “You don’t understand. I’m dangerous. And I was warned.”
• My voice broke.
• ---
• Flashback
• I was twelve.
• It had been raining, and everything smelt of wet pine. I was kneeling beside my mother next to an edge of a fire-pit she had burned, fingers around a wavering flame. She was teaching me to control heat—to call it without burning.
• Her fingers guided mine, gently. “Breathe with the flame,” she said. “Not against it.”
• I tried. I failed. The fire flared and died. I groaned in frustration.
• She smiled sadly. “You’re strong, Eliana. Too strong.”
• “I don’t want to be too strong,” I mumbled.
• Her eyes dimmed. “The packs won’t accept you. They’ll sense what’s inside, and they’ll try to use it or destroy it. That’s what they do to things they don’t understand.”
• I looked up at her. “Will you leave me too?”
• She flinched.
• Then whispered: “Never. But one day... I might not be there to protect you. And when that day comes, you must remember who you are. And trust only yourself.”
• ---
• The flash faded.
• I stood now in the alley, staring at the stranger.
• “I don’t belong with them,” I whispered. “They’ll never trust me.”
• Her gaze softened, but I saw the understanding in her eyes. She knew I was right.
• “You’re not alone,” she said, one last time.
• But I already felt the truth wrapping around me like cold mist.
• I was meant to be.
• I did not waver when she got out of the path.
• I turned and my cloak trailed down the ground behind me and I plunged back into the crowd. I had a thudding pulse.
• Where was she?
• The woman. My mother. Or the phantom of her. I didn’t care. I needed to see her. Needed to know.
• I ran toward the edge of the square, weaving through carriages and shouting voices. I caught another glimpse—dark curls disappearing behind a merchant’s canopy.