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Chapter 2: The Rule of Heat

  Elser did not move. Neither did he. For a long moment, they were held in something electric, feral—more like a silent negotiation than a touch.

  Then Rafael withdrew.

  "Come," he said, rising to his full height. "Follow."

  He did not wait to see if she obeyed. He simply turned, his long coat of dark crimson brushing against the floor like smoke trailing after fire.

  Elser hesitated only a second. The colr at her throat pulsed again, not as a threat this time, but like it had sensed a shift. A quiet permission. Or interest.

  The hallway he led her down was vast and echoing, lined with more blue candles that cast no warmth. The silence was thick enough to drown in.

  "This castle," she said, "wasn't always empty."

  "No."

  "What happened to everyone?"

  He looked over his shoulder. "They burned."

  A pause.

  She smiled faintly. "You're terrible at small talk."

  He stopped walking. "And you're too calm for someone sent to die."

  "Is that what this is? A death sentence?"

  "If I wanted to kill you," he said, "you'd be ash already."

  He turned a corner into a massive chamber—a library, surprisingly. Dozens of shelves stretched upward into shadows, their contents bound in bck leather, blood-red parchment, and chained script.

  "This is where you'll stay."

  "The library?"

  "It’s warded. Stronger than your colr. No one gets in or out without my will."

  He walked to a wide, cushioned seat near the hearth. With a wave of his hand, the firepce lit—not with normal fire, but with a soft, silver-blue fme.

  She stood by the threshold. "Do I sleep in here too?"

  "Unless you’d prefer the dungeons."

  She raised a brow. "You always this charming, or is it just me?"

  He didn’t smile. But his voice lowered. "You test me. Constantly."

  She walked closer. The heat in the room curled around her limbs, making the air heavy.

  "Maybe I want to know what your limit is."

  He rose in a fluid motion. "You wouldn’t survive it."

  They were close again. Her chin tilted up. The colr throbbed against her throat. He looked down at her mouth like it might bite him. Or he might bite it.

  Then his voice dropped. "You said you’re a remedy."

  "Yes."

  "Then start acting like one."

  He left her with that, disappearing into the firelit shadows.

  Elser exhaled slowly. Her knees still trembled—not from fear. From something far more dangerous.

  She turned to the books.

  But before she could reach them, one slid out of its pce and dropped to the floor, fluttering open to a page inked in red.

  A diagram. A binding spell. And beneath it, a line scrawled in sharp, angry script:

  “She must not speak his name—not even in thought—or the seal will fracture.”

  Elser stared.

  Then, very quietly, she whispered: "Rafael."

  The colr sizzled.

  And somewhere deep within the castle, something groaned awake.

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