Chapter 20 · He Saw Her Other Life

The fire was eating him alive.

Wantang could see it now, the way the soul-fire crawled up Rowan's arm like something hungry. His skin didn't char—it just went translucent, showing bone and the flicker of something worse underneath. He wasn't screaming. That was the part that made her stomach twist. He just stood there in the center of the Ash Court platform, one hand still raised, palm out, like he was holding back a wave.

"Rowan." Her voice came out flat. She was still twenty feet away, kept back by the tribunal guards, but she could feel the heat from here. It tasted like burnt metal.

He didn't look at her. His jaw was locked, teeth showing. The flame had reached his shoulder now, spreading across his chest in thin bright threads. Every witness in the gallery had gone silent. Even Sephra, standing at the edge of the platform with her pale gold tribunal sash, had stopped writing in her little black book.

Wantang's mind kicked into the old rhythm. Crisis negotiation, step one: assess what the other party wants. Rowan had stepped into the fire voluntarily.