Then, his voice, low and steady. “Are you ready?”
I don’t even have to think about my answer.
I exhale, my breath curling in the cool night air. “Yes.”
Thane leans forward, resting his forearms against his knees, watching the flames. A quiet beat passes.
“How are you so calm?”
It’s not a challenge. Not disbelief. Just curiosity.
I look at him, then back at the fire. “Because I know she’ll catch me.”
Thane’s eyes flick toward me, but he says nothing. He’s waiting.
I press a hand to my chest—where the bond has been growing, where I’ve felt Calryx’s presence every night since training began.
“She’s been with me,” I say softly. “Every night since that first dream.”
That gets his attention. He straightens, his gaze sharpening.
I swallow, remembering the way her voice curled through my thoughts, ancient and certain. The way I would reach for her, feel her presence, hear her whispers.
“She told me she couldn’t call to me until now,” I murmur. “Not until I could wield all four Elements at once.”
Thane doesn’t say anything, but I feel the way his focus shifts, like he’s turning that over in his mind, measuring it against what he knows.
“She’s been waiting,” I continue. “And now, I understand why.”
Thane exhales slowly, fingers tracing the grain of the log. Thinking. Calculating.
“Valen said the bond begins with the call,” I murmur. “But I think mine started before that. I think she chose me a long time ago.”
I glance at Thane then, watching for his reaction, but his face gives nothing away. Still, something in the way he holds himself—something in the way his gaze lingers on me a moment too long—tells me he understands.
I turn back to the fire, a slow smile tugging at the corner of my lips. I know I’m ready. And for the first time since this journey began, I don’t feel like I need to prove it.
Thane shifts beside me, stretching out his legs, his voice quieter now. “So you trust her.”
I nod. “I do.”
His eyes flick toward the fire, thoughtful. Then, finally, “Then you’ll be fine.”
I look at him again—the sharp cut of his jaw, the gold flecks in his eyes catching firelight. And I don’t know why—maybe it’s the stillness, maybe it’s the way this night feels like the end of something and the beginning of everything—but I grin.
Excitement still buzzes in my chest.
And after a moment—Thane smiles back.
The fire crackles between us, light catching in the sharp lines of his face—the jaw, the mouth, the worn shadows beneath his eyes. The air is still except for the wind threading softly through the trees.
The shadows shift, moving with the flames—curling around us, wrapping the night in something that feels . . . suspended. Like the world is holding its breath.
In that breath, we just look at each other.
And gods, there’s something in his eyes. Something unguarded. Something that reaches straight through me before either of us can stop it.
“I should get some sleep,” I say before he can do that pull-and-push thing again.
