☽Ⓛ❈Ⓒ☾

The flame remains yellow for a moment, flickering wildly. I stare at it intently, my hands in fists. Eventually, red blooms in the centre triangle of the flame before spreading across the whole thing. The fire burns red, and relief floods me.

Red.

I have the red flame. That means my prophecy will show me my mate. I have the Amare flame, which makes me an Amores, a soul-chosen one.

"Congratulations, Emery," the teacher says warmly. "You will find your mate soon."

I pull my hand back from the flame and roll my sleeve down. I do my button up on my cuff as the teacher continues.

"Keep the tattoo clean and don't pick at it. At some point in the next 7-10 days, it will turn red. When that happens, you must come back here and put your wrist into the fire again. You will receive your prophecy when the flames touch your tattoo."

"Thank you, Madame Dechaume."

I feel much better as I leave the alchemy building. I've already looked at the map and memorised the way to the common room. I have a free period, now.

Students are encouraged to get homework or studying done during their frees. I have no homework yet and I've studied all summer. Honestly, I just need to sit down, my head is racing.

I can't believe that I have a mate out there. My soulmate has been chosen for me by the powers that be. I'm grateful, in all honesty. You take a gamble when you choose your mate, because you are choosing for yourself. Things could go wrong.

However, when you are an Amores, you have had your mate chosen for you. Your relationship will never fail, you are destined to be together.

The common room is pretty much empty when I walk in. It's a huge room filled with tables and comfy-looking chairs.

The main group of students are all the way at the other end of the room. I choose one of the empty tables by the window and sit down at it. I pull out my notebook and pen to look busy and then sit back.

I undo my shirt button and roll up my sleeve again. Holding up my wrist, I inspect my new tattoo in the light. It isn't swollen or sore at all. It is a simple pale pink. It feels weird, numb to the touch when I run my fingertip over it.

"I see you got your prophecy mark."

A male voice makes me jump. I sit upright and yank my sleeve down. My eyes meet the charcoal ones of the boy standing in front of me. He's very handsome. He has coal-black hair to match his eyes, pale skin and a lop-sided smile. He offers out his hand to me.

"I'm Salvador," he says simply. "You must be the new girl."

"Emery," I correct him. "Nice to meet you, Salvador."

"Can I sit with you, Emery?" He asks, gesturing to a chair opposite me on the table.

"Sure."

He puts his leather satchel on the table and slumps into one of the chairs. He throws his arms over the backs of the two chairs on either side of him, looking very relaxed. My eyes are drawn to the two large initials stamped onto the leather. SW.

"You're the Salvador Whitlock?" I ask incredulously. "Your great-grandfather founded the academy."

Salvador grimaces. "The one and only."

I frown at his reaction. "Do you not like your heritage?"

"Not particularly," he replies. "My family are a bunch of assholes."

I'm not sure what to say to that, so I only nod with wide eyes. Salvador smirks at me and leans over the table.

"What prophecy flame did you get, if you don't mind me asking?"

My cheeks heat up for no apparent reason. "Red flame."

Salvador sits back in his seat and smirks again.

"Ah, an Amores. Very nice. Bet you can't wait to find out who it is."

I nod and confess, "I'm a little nervous."

"That's understandable," Salvador replies with a shrug. "But don't worry, it's impossible to reject your soulmate."

I know what he is saying is true, but there's still a tiny part of me that is anxious about meeting my soulmate. They might not be able to reject me, but what if they don't like what they see?

"What was your flame?" I ask him.

Salvador's expression becomes shuttered, and his lips press into a grim line.

"You mean you don't already know?" He asks, a bitter tone coating his voice.

I shake my head. "No...Why? Should I know?"

He snorts humourlessly. "You really are new, aren't you?"

I watch with wide eyes as he leans forwards and pulls up his sleeve. My eyes drop to his tattoo, which is an exact replica of mine. Except his is dark. Very, very dark. Black, to be specific.

"You-" I start but he cuts me off.

"I got the Mortem flame," he snaps. "I'm a Mors. Marked for death."

He leans back and covers up his tattoo again. I try to keep the pity from my face.

"I'm sorry."

He sneers. "Don't be."

Silence descends on us. I awkwardly play with my fingers on my lap, wondering what I should say to make this better. I don't think there is anything I can say.

"I'm sorry for putting a downer on our conversation," he says, apparently returning to his old self. "What lessons have you got next?"

I sit with Salvador for the rest of my free. He inspects my timetable and gives me tips on what to do or avoid for each teacher.

He makes sarcastic quips and dry comments throughout our time together. Despite his hard exterior and short temper, I grow to like him by the end of our hour together.

"We should do this again sometime," Sal says with a smirk after the bell rings. "Let's say period 2, tomorrow."

My brows furrow and I check my timetable, stuck to the back of my notepad. That's when I have alchemy. Sal's smirk deepens and he leans in closer.

"We have alchemy together, Emery," he explains. "Anyway, got to go. See you later, new girl."

He strolls off without a care in the world, seemingly unbothered by the fact he is a Mors. I want to know what his prophecy was. If he saw how he dies, or if he is destined to become a warrior.

I rush to the quad and meet the girls, who are waiting for me.

"Well? What did you get?" Irene asks excitedly when I reach them.

"I got the red flame," I tell them and they all squeal.

"I told you!" Honey says. "Oh, my God! You've got a chosen mate like me; this is so exciting!"

"I bet you're over the moon," Esme comments. "Congratulations, Emmie."

Honey links her arm with mine and leads me into the cafeteria, which could honestly double as an aircraft hangar. It's enormous.

"There's like two thousand students at the academy," Esme tells me when we're in the queue. "That's why the food hall has to be so big, to fit us all in. First years have their lunch an hour later than us, too."

So, there's only around a thousand students in here right now? I can't say that the knowledge makes me feel any less nervous.

Once we've collected whatever food that we want, we carry our trays over to an empty table. As we eat, the girls inform me on important gossip.

They give me a rundown of who is dating, who is mated and who is Mors. There's only a couple of people with the black tattoo. Poor Salvador is one of them.

I spot him in the queue. Our eyes meet and he gives me a brief smile. He gets his lunch and strides out, not sitting with anyone.

"But the biggest gossip of all, is the mystery of who The Four are going to be mated to."

"Who are The Four?"

I feel completely lost; I have no idea what they're talking about. The girls share a knowing smile. Irene leans across the table, eyes bright with excitement.

"The Four is the cliché name given to the four hottest boys at this school. They started here last year, and no one has stopped talking about them since."

"Yeah," Esme chips in. "Apparently, they've been friends since they were born, their parents are all friends or something, I don't know. They grew up together and are totally inseparable."

Honey takes over telling the story. "Last year, when we all got our prophecies, the weirdest thing happened. They all received two prophecies. The flame turned two different colours."

My eyes widen in shock. Even me, a total newbie, can appreciate how rare that is. It's only happened a couple of times before in history.

"They all got the red flame for a chosen mate, and then two of them got the blue flame and two of them got green."

"So, they're half Amores, half Elementals or half Animalius?" I check and the girls nod.

"If that wasn't dramatic enough," Esme carries on. "They still haven't found their mates yet."

"I was kind of hoping that it might be us," Irene says, gesturing to the group. "But Honey shit on that plan when she mated with Lawrence."

Honey rolls her eyes at that comment. Irene ignores her and continues.

"And then me and Esme didn't get the red flame."

"Where are The Four?" I ask, trying to look around the huge room.

"They have had some family duties or something this week. They're missing a bunch of classes, but it doesn't matter, they're all freaking smart," Esme drawls.

"And gorgeous," Irene adds.

"And sexy," Honey says and then giggles. "Sorry. Don't tell Lawrence I said that."

"I think you have maths with one of them," Esme comments, getting my attention. "I swear that you have maths with Jude, and Jude has Oro in his class."

"Oro?" I repeat the unusual name.

I've never heard of that before.

"Yeah, it means gold in Spanish."

Gold.

I think of the gorgeous blonde guy in the lesson. The one that I couldn't stop staring at. Oro.

I've seen one of The Four.

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆✥⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆