Chapter 16: Chapter 16

IRIS

“Avery, you are fine!” I shouted as I ran to hug him. The relief inside me was so great, the stabbing pain in my chest disappeared as soon as I embraced him.

But my feeling of guilt grew all the more.

Avery took me in his arms to comfort me, as if I were the one who was hurt.

“Forgive me, Avery… I didn’t know what… I… I didn’t mean to…” I started to apologize as tears wet my cheeks.

I could feel his hands in my hair; he gently stroked it until his hands stopped at my back. “Iris… don’t worry, it’s okay… it’s not your fault. You just don’t know how to control your powers,” Avery said softly, as he pulled me into his arms even tighter.

“What happened? Will someone explain to me?” Aidan asked, confused.

I leaned back a little to look at Avery. His eyes were on me, loving and worried. “I remembered… Things we’d done in our childhood. Every memory came back. I think it was our kiss… and then I started glowing and… he flew away… and I,” I started to explain.

“Kiss? You kissed?… Oh, you did!!” Ava said in a singsong voice as she wiggled her eyebrows.

And although her words should have shamed me, this time I did not feel shame, nor any sense of embarrassment. I looked at Avery and smiled at him with relief.

“Yes… we kissed,” I replied with a smile.

Avery looked proudly at me, understanding and feeling that I was aware of everything about us, and finally I was ready to feel the connection of kindred souls. Soulmates… Lovers.

He kissed me gently on the forehead and gasped, “Finally… We have finally found each other, my love.”

I could hear the relief in his voice; I could feel it in my heart.

“This is so beautiful and emotional,” Inna said softly as she hugged Aidan.

While we were still in each other’s arms, everything seemed perfect again. I finally understood what they were explaining to me about the relationship between soulmates.

His presence made me feel calm, happy, and loved. And I knew that the feeling was mutual… I felt it inside me.

He was so calm, so incredibly happy at this moment. Avery was my soulmate… my only love.

I could feel it inside me.

We were interrupted by a girl who ran up to us and excitedly said, “King Elior is here… he just flew in with the guards.”

My gaze shot from her to Avery, who was looking at me with amusement.

“Mana, thank you for letting us know. Please tell the soldiers to be on standby immediately,” Aidan said.

The girl, Mana, took Keijou’s hand and together they headed toward the soldiers’ quarters. I looked after them as they raced, pushing each other lightly.

The king flew in on a big white winged horse and his guards on big blue birds. King Elior was so majestic, strong, and proud.

Among the guards I recognized Noah, Alvar, and Elian.

The King looked scared when we approached him, but as soon as he saw us he was relieved. He wasn’t scared… he was worried!

“Are you all okay? What happened?” he asked, looking at us.

I could feel the heat rushing into my face. He was here because of us; the energy I released would be the reason.

“Iris remembered something, and then Avery flew against the wall because of her shield,” Ava explained as she hugged her father.

His eyes slid from Avery to me, not angry or stern, but confused.

“Everything is fine, Father. Don’t worry, we’re… all fine,” Avery said as he held my hand.

The relief on the King’s face was immediately visible.

“Your energy field was felt all over Antaris. We thought you were under attack. That’s why we came ready to fight,” the king explained.

I thought my cheeks literally burned when I heard him; he had come to protect us.

“I’m sorry that I was the reason you came so late to take care of us,” I said, embarrassed.

I could hear Ava’s laughter and dared to look towards her. She was so amused by my shyness, her laughter only got louder as my eyes met hers.

I didn’t want any of this, neither to hurt Avery, nor to scare all of Antaris.

The weight I felt was huge, and my thoughts were centered on what was happening in the room.

The aura around me was not simply red. It was alive, breathing, wrapped around my body like a second skin… sometimes fluid, sometimes viscous, as if it were swaying back and forth between the laws of physics.

Not pure scarlet or crimson, but a bubbling mixture of a thousand shades of red. Glowing red swirls mingled with deep wine red, crisscrossed by black veins that ate through the light like smoke.

Not evil, no… but dark. A warning.

When I lifted my hand to gently push Avery off me, the energy twitched like a living thing.

Suddenly, countless fine, needle-sharp threads formed from my aura, reaching out in his direction, through his shimmering purple membrane as if it were nothing but mist.

An invisible push, a pressure that hurled him away from me with brutal force.

I saw him flying through the air, his body crashing against the wall, splintering wood and glass.

And then—this voice.

“~Iris, stop it~!” it screamed in my head.

Rough, deep, a command that didn’t come from outside but broke out of the deepest layers of my consciousness.

Not foreign… but like a part of me that had just spoken up.

Was it a warning? An attempt to stop me from doing something irreversible? Or just the final barrier before I unleashed that power fully?

My eyes fell on Avery, lying on the floor. And then—the broken glass.

Glass everywhere, shattered like my control of myself.

I saw it there, in the sharp reflections. My image in the mirror.

But it was not me. Not completely.

My eyes… no longer the familiar color, but fiery red, as if pockets of embers were burning in my eye sockets.

The aura surrounding me wasn’t just energy… it was a part of me, and I had no idea how to control it.

What the hell was I?

The question burned hotter than the light that surrounded me.

This force… it was too powerful, too unpredictable. It felt like it wasn’t just coming from me, but from something that slept inside me. Something that was now awakening.

Aidan sent his soldiers back to rest in their quarters after they lined up for a false alarm.

His voice made me look in their direction, but the soldiers only stared ahead of them.

His assumption was that we were in danger, and the king had come because of that. But actually, I was the reason for his arrival.

The red energy was not an attack; it came from me.

When the soldiers retreated, I could feel their eyes on me.

They stared at me as if I were something they couldn’t explain, something they had never seen before. No disgust, just curiosity and fear.

They were frightened of me. I could feel it. And I couldn’t blame them… because I feared myself too.