Empty.
That’s one hell of a word. Maybe that’s the pain we both felt yesterday. Not actual hurt, just an overwhelming sense of loss.
Kael turns from the window. “I’ll be fine. Focus on yourself.”
“That’s the problem,” I mutter. “I don’t want to focus on myself. I want to—”
“What?” Elena prompts gently.
“I want to know if this is real before I lose it.”
“Then let us break the bond,” Lila says. “So you can find out.”
She’s right. I know she’s right.
Doesn’t make it easier.
“Okay.” I take a breath. “What do I need to do?”
“Let’s sit in the center of the room this time,” Elena instructs. “We’ll form a circle around you. Kael, sit outside the circle. Don’t touch her once we begin. Don’t interfere, no matter what.”
He nods. Moves to the chair. Far enough to not disrupt the magic. Close enough to see.
I settle cross-legged on the floor. The candles form a ring around me. Their light flickers, casting shadows that dance on the walls.
Elena and Lila take positions on either side. They don’t hold hands. Don’t chant or do anything dramatic. Just close their eyes and—
Magic flares.
Red and gold witch-fire blooms between their palms. It wraps around their wrists, spirals up their arms. The air in the room changes. Thickens. Tastes like ozone and something sweeter. Honey, maybe. Or vanilla.
“We’ll focus on the healing first, this time,” Lila says softly, glancing over at Kael. “So you can be certain that she’s safe.”
He nods but says nothing, eyes fixed on me.
The magic touches my chest, and everythingshifts.
Warmth spreads beneath my sternum. Not Kael’s furnace heat—this is different. Gentler. Like sunlight soaking into skin after a long winter.
I gasp as somethingknitsinside me. Ribs that had been shattered, crushed under twisted metal and fire. Lungs that had filled with blood while I drowned in my own body. The phantom pain I’d been carrying since the crash—pain I didn’t even realize was there until it vanishes.
My ribcage expands. A full breath. The first real one since the helicopter went down.
“Oh, my God.”
The tingling intensifies. Racing through tissue and bone. Sealing torn vessels. Smoothing scar tissue that hadn’t had time to form. My chest rises and falls without that weird hitch I’d gotten used to.
Elena’s magic pulses brighter. “Almost there.”
One final surge—
And I’mwhole.
Not held together by Kael’s fire. Not suspended between life and death by borrowed power.
Just… me.
Complete.
