He Left Me to Burn, I Rose in the Dark

My life was left behind in that church fire.

When the flames broke out, Cersei lied to me and said Jaeren was still inside.

I didn't hesitate. I rushed into the fire without a second thought, only to save my fiancé, Jaeren.

Then Cersei shoved me into the flames.

By the time Jaeren found us, he picked Cersei up and turned away.

He never looked back at me.

I was swallowed little by little by the smoke and fire.

Later, I stumbled out of the fire alone, covered in soot from head to toe.

Jaeren frowned, his face full of impatience.

“I didn't take you out first, sure. But couldn't you just call yourself a cab?”

“Be glad Cersei is unharmed. Even your death in that fire wouldn’t clear your fault.”

He didn't know that I had already suffocated to death in the flames.

The one who walked out of the ruins was nothing more than a body still breathing.

I made a deal with the vampire in the church basement, trading away my love for Jaeren and every tear I had ever shed for him.

In seven days, on the night of the full moon, I will open my eyes again in the dark as one of her kind.

From then on, I will no longer be trapped by love.

And I will never shed another tear for Jaeren.

When he saw me stumble out of the fire on my own, covered in ash and barely able to stand, the tightness in Jaeren’s brow loosened for a brief moment.

The next second, his expression hardened, his voice low.

“Why can’t you ever make things easier for me?”

He stepped closer, his tone turning sharp.

“To get you out, I had over thirteen hundred people deployed. The church—and half the block—was destroyed.”

“Two firefighters are dead. Do you even realize what the hell you’ve done?”

His voice dropped further, as if he were forcing it under control.

“Setting a fire just to test whether I love you is already insane enough. Why did you drag Cersei into it?”

“Do you ever use that brain of yours?”

Only then did it become clear to me.

Cersei set the fire.

And she told him it was me.

And he believed her.

I lowered my head and said nothing.

Jaeren kept staring at me, something like confusion beginning to surface in his eyes.

“What happened? Usually, I only have to say a few words and you cry like the world’s ending.”

“You’re not crying this time?”

He frowned slightly, his voice edged with questioning.

“Where are your tears?” he asked slowly.

My tears had already been traded away to the vampire who wanted to taste what human emotions felt like.

Once.

To make his birthday gift, I carved him a one-of-a-kind wooden eagle by hand.

The carving knife sliced my fingers until they bled, and I kept carving through tears.

He only glanced at it and scoffed, saying it was too ugly to