Chapter 187- When the Flame Breaks Free
Lexy
The clash of steel rang out again, sharp enough to rattle my bones. CJ and Adrian were locked in a battle that felt larger than the battlefield itself—an axis on which all our fates spun.
Every instinct in me screamed to move, but I stayed rooted, nails biting into my palms until blood welled. My phoenix writhed beneath my skin, a beast of fire desperate to be unleashed. CJ had asked me once, not with words but with the strength of his trust: Let me stand against him.
And I had honored that.
But as I watched Adrian twist away from CJ’s strike and send a whip of shadow curling toward him like a striking serpent, my restraint snapped another thread. CJ ducked low, deflecting, but the effort slowed him. His breath came harsher now, though his strikes were still iron-strong.
“Don’t you dare falter,” I whispered, the words raw with fear.
Around us, the battle raged, our alliance warriors pressing Adrian’s men back step by step. Yet their victories felt meaningless compared to the duel unfolding at the center.
Kael edged closer again, a predator waiting for the moment he could tip the scales. Tarria’s sword raised in warning, but he only smirked, shadows flickering around him like coiled smoke. He was biding his time.
And time was not on our side.
CJ struck hard, driving Adrian back, and for a moment hope flared. But Adrian moved with that same serpent’s cunning, letting himself be pushed only to twist and counter, slashing at CJ’s thigh. Blood blossomed crimson against the dark.
My fire flared hot and wild, spilling from my palms in a shimmer of light. Tarria hissed at me from my side, “Lexy! Hold—”
“I can’t,” I snapped, my voice cracking under the weight of it.
Because I saw it—Adrian’s eyes, dark with triumph as CJ staggered. He pressed forward, blade arcing toward my mate’s chest, a killing strike if ever I’d seen one.
The last thread of my restraint burned to ash.
I surged forward, fire bursting from me in a torrent that lit the night like dawn. Warriors fell back in shock as my wings of flame unfurled, a phoenix’s scream tearing from my throat. Adrian’s shadow strike faltered under the onslaught of light, and CJ twisted aside just in time.
Adrian snarled, retreating a step as I stepped into the circle, fire swirling at my feet. “So, the queen descends,” he spat, shadows writhing to meet me. “Couldn’t bear to watch him fall, could you?”
CJ straightened, blood on his arm, his thigh, his jaw tight with effort. His eyes met mine—surprise, anger, relief, all tangled in one heartbeat. “Lexy—”
“I won’t watch you bleed for him alone,” I said, my voice steady though my whole body trembled with the force of my fire. “Let me give you boost.”
The bond between us pulsed, hot and strong, his strength and mine weaving into one current. I saw his lips curled into a smile, but then he exhaled, a growl low in his chest. He understood. I let my phoenix power him and heal his wound while lighting his sword with my fire.
Adrian’s sneer deepened. “Pathetic. You hide behind each other, leaning on weakness like it’s strength.”
Flames roared around me, answering his mockery. “No,” I said, my voice echoing with the phoenix. “We fight as one. And that is why you’ll fall.”
I stepped aside and let CJ continue the battle.
He lunged, shadows lashing out, seeking to drown CJ. CJ met him head-on, steel sparking. I watched him moved, fire wrapping his blade, turning each strike into a flare of light that tore through Adrian’s darkness. The rhythm returned—the rhythm CJ had trained for, lived for, and survived for.
He struck heavy, steady, and I wove flame through his power, fast and sharp, each of us covering the other’s weakness. Where Adrian ducked low to unbalanced CJ, my fire snapped up from the ground, forcing him back. Where Adrian swung wide to drive him off, CJ’s blade crashed into his, halting the strike cold.
Together, we were more.
And Adrian knew it.
His sneer faltered as sweat glistened on his brow, his shadows flaring more desperately. He lashed out, forcing distance between us, but the circle of fire I summoned hemmed him in. No retreat. No escape.
Still, he fought with the fury of a man who had never been told no. Shadows thickened, forming tendrils that lashed at CJ from every angle. CJ cut through them, his muscles straining, while I poured more fire into the air, burning the dark away.
The battlefield beyond blurred. All I saw was CJ’s profile in the firelight, steady and unyielding. All I heard was Adrian’s growl as he realized he could not overpower us both.
“You think love makes you strong?” Adrian spat, his blade carving a vicious arc that CJ barely caught. “It makes you weak. It blinds you.”
I answered with fire, my voice ringing like steel. “No. It makes us unstoppable.”
The ground shook as I slammed my palms down, fire bursting outward in a wave that staggered Adrian. CJ surged into the opening, driving him back, our rhythm unbroken. For a heartbeat, hope seared bright and wild in me.
But then Kael moved.
At the edge of the circle, he stepped forward, shadows coiling around him, his eyes locked on Adrian—not us. His lips curved into a dark smile as he raised his blade.
Tarria lunged, steel flashing, but Kael deflected her with brutal strength.
Adrian’s snarl twisted into something cruel as he sensed his ally’s approach. His shadows thickened again, pressing harder, desperate to buy the moment Kael needed to intervene.
My heart pounded like thunder. We were so close—CJ and I, united, pressing Adrian to his limits. But if Kael broke through, all of it could unravel.
I gathered fire in my palms, my phoenix’s scream echoing in my chest. This time, there would be no restraint. I would burn everything between us and them if it meant ending this fight.
“Lexy,” CJ growled, his eyes locking with mine even as his blade met Adrian’s. “Do it.”
The air trembled as my fire surged higher, a second sun breaking the night.
And with Kael charging and Adrian snarling, the world poised on the edge of annihilation.
I let the fire go.
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