Veyrath Academy Bound To The Third Flame

NYMERA

The chatter around me faded into a blur. My gaze stayed locked on the heavy iron chain around my wrist. The Iron Square was a place every criminal in Galdria feared, and I knelt in the middle of it, on a stone dais worn smooth by knees like mine.

The first time I was caught, they branded me. A warning. This time there was no escape. I had lost count of the days I'd been kneeling. My joints ached. My body had gone numb in places I didn't know could go numb. The sun burned against my pale skin and I barely felt it anymore.

I should have listened to Aunt Gwen, but a part of me was grateful I hadn't. Because the old hag would probably be dead if I hadn't taken matters into my own hands.

Five military regents sat on the raised platform ahead of me, the Iron Council, ready to pass judgment. Their glares reminded me I was still at their mercy. When they arrived, the crowd's murmur rose into accusations, and the world seemed to close in around me.

"Justice will finally be served today."

"A lowly thief has no place among us."

I turned to look at them despite the pain. A lot of people, demanding justice from a broken system. Everything any of them owned, rich or poor, had come from crime or survival. But the moment one of the poor got caught, they turned righteous, demanding judgment from the same system that had made all of us this way.

A bitter smile pulled at my lips. Most of the people shouting for my execution were thieves themselves. The rest, I had never stolen from. I had one rule: only take from the rich. I knew what it meant to wake up hungry every day while their wealth multiplied behind locked gates.

The protests grew louder.

"Silence." War Regent Kaedros's voice cut through the noise. He led the Iron Council, and from what I'd heard, he'd held power long before I was ever branded. His hair had gone fully grey, but otherwise he looked the same as he always had.

"What is your name, child?" His eyes studied me, cold and strangely familiar.

I dropped my gaze to the ground and forced my voice out. "Nymera Briar."

"Nymera Briar." He paused, tapping his chin. "Do you plead guilty to the crimes the people of Galdria have accused you of?"

There was no point lying. "Yes. Yes, I do."

The crowd roared. They found joy in my suffering.

"Silence." Regent Caedryn's command dropped the crowd into obedience instantly. Of the five, people feared him most. His cruelty had no bounds. He turned back to confer with the others while I waited for my verdict.

"Nymera. Nymera."

My heart stopped at the sound of that voice. I turned, praying I'd misheard. Aunt Gwen broke through the crowd, running until she reached me and dropped to her knees. Her eyes traced the chains from my neck to my wrist. Her lips trembled as she reached for me with shaking hands and pulled me into a hug. Her whole body shook. I had never once seen her cry. She was the one who scolded me for crying, not the other way around.

I managed a small grin. "I guess the tables have turned now, Gwen."

She pulled back, rose to her feet, and yanked off one of her sandals, hand raised. I shut my eyes tightly, braced for the hit, but it never came. When I opened them, the sandal lay discarded across the court ground.

"You foolish child. Didn't I warn you? Why don't you ever listen? You think this is funny? You say you care about me, but have you ever once thought about how I'd live without you?" Tears ran down her face as she scolded me.

Her pain hit harder than any blow could have. But she had run to me, tried to hit me. That was more than I'd hoped for. I had no regrets. I lowered my eyes back to the chains. "I'm sorry," I muttered, too tired to say anything else.

Aunt Gwen turned to face the council. "Let me take her place. Whatever verdict you give her, give it to me instead."

Fear gripped me. What was she doing? She could die for this.

Regent Kaedros ignored her. "Nymera, do you know the cost of standing before this council as a branded thief?"

"Death." I said it plainly.

Kaedros rose from his seat. "The council has decided. I pass my verdict…"

Silence.

"She will be executed by blade, on this ground. She is not worth being executed by the Kharveks."

The crowd cheered. All I could hear was Aunt Gwen's screams as the military guards dragged her away from me.

"You will live, Nymera. They'll save you." Her voice cracked as she shouted it.

I looked away to keep from crying. A soldier stepped toward me, drawing his sword from its sheath. I tipped my head to the sky and accepted it. If this was how I died, so be it.

Then a shape circled overhead, dark against the light. They'd said I wasn't worth a Kharvek. But whatever moved above me now looked nothing like one.

My breath caught. "Bathyrax."

The Bathyraxes tore through the clouds, diving fast, their roars were frightening, but it wasn’t as destructive as the Kharveks. Flame poured from their mouths as more of them dropped from the sky. The Galdrian soldiers scattered to meet them. Swords clashed. The crowd screamed and ran for cover.

It happened too fast for me to think it through, only to act. This was my chance. I forced myself to my feet. My legs were numb, wobbling under me, but I didn't let that stop me. My knees buckled, and then a hand caught my wrist.

I looked up. Her eyes met mine, and for one second the chaos around us went completely silent.