“I’m okay,” I told Tae, managing a faint smile. “You don’t need to wait. I just need rest.”
He studied me for a second longer, then nodded. “Alright. But I’ll be nearby.”
I watched him go, his broad back vanishing through the archway.
The cot was warm beneath me, and my limbs began to relax for the first time all day.
Another healer murmured something as they checked my pulse and started dabbing at the bruising magic burns still faintly glowing across my wrist.
I let my eyes drift shut.
And before Meri even arrived, sleep pulled me under.
The world around me twisted, the air thickening like water, dragging me through memory and dream.
First, it was my old room at the Order compound—narrow and dim, the walls lined with cracked stone and the thin mattress tucked beneath a worn painting.
Then the vision shifted.
I was racing barefoot through the tunnel beneath the walls, the one that led to the hidden beach. The wind howled behind me, my breath ragged in my throat as I ran toward the distant sound of crashing waves and freedom.
Then, suddenly, silence.
The tunnel disappeared, replaced by a wide, open field. The sky above was dusky gray, the horizon lit by a sun that never moved.
I stood there, heart pounding.
And I wasn’t alone.
Kaelith.
And Hein.
They stood before me, their massive forms coiled in stillness, heads lowered, eyes locked on me with too much weight.
Their lips didn’t move.
But I heard them.
You doubt her,Hein’s voice rumbled through my mind, deep and thunderous, like a storm still forming.
She’s not ready,Kaelith answered, her tone cool and coiled with frustration.
My heart stuttered. I took a step forward, fists clenched. “What are you talking about?” I demanded, voice echoing strangely in the open field.
Kaelith turned her head slightly, golden eyes gleaming like twin suns.
You must survive without me.
Her voice pulsed through my chest, raw and final.
Or not at all.
And just like that, the field began to dissolve around me, petals turning to ash, earth vanishing beneath my feet.
I screamed her name.
But she was already gone.
