Since her eyes were closed, all Carmine could feel was the heat of the flaming column come closer and closer as it fell over her.

How could she survive? Running away wasn't an option, the ceiling was collapsing with unbearable heat.

So she waited, eyed closed, surrendered... she even managed to smile as she thought that she had exactly the life she had wished for, at that moment.

But the column didn't fall. The fire never hit her.

Carmine opened an eye to immediately gasp, a shocked expression taking over her face.

Wisp was flying over her, holding the column up until he managed to push it out of the way.

But that wasn't what made Carmine's heart clutch,

His scales were on fire. His wings were like two embers, beating as the SkyWing kept himself in the air.

Wisp was going to burn to death.

Carmine met his eyes and already felt her heart break as she thought that it would be the last time she ever saw Wisp alive.

...
..
.

But Wisp wasn't dead.

Shaking his head, the flaming SkyWing made his way to Carmine, who instinctively tried to move away from the heat.

Seeing this, he quickly grasped the princess's talon, and with a decisive pull, Wisp dragged outside the flaming auditorium, shielding her from any falling pieces of flaming debris.

They flew low and steadily until they reached the Diamond Spray River. It didn't take them long, but Wisp was still on fire when they reached the rushing waters of the river.

Leaving her talon, Wisp plunged underwater and remerged seconds after. His scales were quenched by the water and had returned to normal.

Carmine looked at him for a long moment.

"Wisp was on fire and survived." She thought slowly.

The weight of that thought hit her like an avalanche a few seconds later.

"Wisp was on fire and SURVIVED!"

Carmine took a step away from him. She didn't know what had happened. She didn't even know if she knew who Wisp really was anymore.

Wisp took a step towards her. "I can explain," he said, his voice cracking.

"You better be able to, Wisp," Carmine said with a snarl, her voice emotional.

"I didn't want you to find out like this. I didn't want you to find out at all - but I couldn't keep lying to you... I couldn't live normally if you didn't know..." Wisp said straightening himself.

"What are you, really? What did you hide from me... from everyone? Are you a firescales?" Carmine asked with an accusatory voice.

"No. I'm not constantly of fire, and you can obviously tell that-" he started, but the princess didn't let him finish.

"That's obvious but I can't rule anything out if I-" she gasped, realizing something, "Wisp... you're not an animus, are you? Please tell me you're not."

Wisp shook his head, taking another step towards her. "I'm nothing of the sort," he breathed slowly and deeply, "Carmine, I'm an alight."

"A what?" She said, narrowing her eyes as she tried to understand.

"An alight. We're not as known or powerful at firescales or animi, but we are something completely different," he sat next to Carmine, looking down at you and then to his talons again.

Wisp blinked slowly, the stared explaining. "Alights are born with an abnormal mutation in their mouth and throat. It's a genetic mutation that is passed down often from generation to generation. Usually, it's something unimportant and uninteresting. But Alights are the minority that has a mutation which completely blocks out their ability to breathe fire. The fire doesn't disappear, it reverts to our blood, wings, scales... and makes us completely impervious to fire but also incredibly flammable. That's why I can catch fire and not burn... that's why I can hide it but not control it."

Carmine looked at him. Her initial rage had turned to disbelief. Her talon was shaking as she held his. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you. I could have been careful-"

"But treating someone carefully will never make you treat them normally. I don't need anyone to know. You least of all," Wisp said quietly, giving her a meaningful glance.

"Because I'm the Councilor of Law, and the SkyWings decided long ago to ban dragons like you," Carmine breathed silently.

"The law never says kill. All powered SkyWings come to know that before they are sentenced to death. They think they can escape their fate because technically it's not a law. But I know that belief can push you to do the most wrecked things... and I tied myself to the enemy when I fell in love with you," Wisp said.

He looked her straight in the eye, his pale hazel eyes steady, "Carmine, please tell me you can see that too."

A long moment passed. The river was rushing in the background like it was waiting for an answer too.

"I promised to be by your side, always. I promised to protect you. And that's exactly what I plan on doing," Carmine said, looking back at him, holding his talon tightly.

They lifted off silently, making their way back to the palace.

A chain of SkyWings had formed from the burning auditorium to the river. Dragons were passing each other buckets of water to them spill them over the fire in an attempt to make it die out. The princess thought she could spot Eagle, a promising young SkyWing with them too.

Wisp gave Carmine a small smile before flying off to join the line, posting himself near the river, and quickly pitching in with the dragons helping to pass buckets of water along.

The SkyWing princess flew back to the palace with a shaken mind.

Wisp had lied to her. He had good reasons behind it, reasons that could have condemned him to a painful death. But no matter what, she still felt... betrayed.

She landed in the central courtyard, where she saw Saffron giving orders to the guards around her. All the dragons that had escaped the fire were either panicking as they waited there or, if injured, being carried to the nearest hospitals.

Carmine was none of those. She was dead silent but not wounded. Not externally, at least.

Wisp had lied to her. That didn't change. He had influenced her life without telling her his full story... she had been fooled by him, just like she had once been fooled by Mother's 'perfect SkyWing' rules.

For a short moment, she could see more similarities than differences between Wisp and Titian.

Someone shook her from her brooding thoughts. A young guard, who was still panting as he had run to the edge of the kingdom, was trying to get her attention.

Carmine realized that she had been digging a hole in the ground with her talons, and immediately stopped. "Yes?" She snapped, flatly.

"Excuse me, your majesty. Queen Titian asked if she could see you. Right away, actually," he said, all in one breath.

Carmine narrowed her eyes as she lashed her tail. Her mother was the last dragon she wanted to see at this moment. "Tell her that she'll need to wait," she retorted.

The guard looked down at his talons, shaking his head. "Your majesty..."

He paused, then continued.

"She doesn't have much time left."