Her voice sounds so real, I swear it’s in my ear. I try to take a step toward her. I try to reach for her. But the world tilts. The water drops away beneath me. I fall through the dark, echoes of her voice following me, tearing apart until there is nothing left but the ache in my chest.
I wake with my hand outstretched.
Light burns my eyes. The clean smell of boiled linen replaces the battlefield stench. The bed beneath me is too soft.
When I try to sit up, a wave of pain rips through my ribs,forcing me back against the pillows with a groan.
“Don’t even think about it,” a voice snaps.
The slim, sharp-eyed healer is already at my side, pressing a cool palm to my shoulder. “You’ve only been unconscious for around forty-eight hours. You need more rest.”
“I need—” The words scrape my raw throat. “I need to see someone.”
She huffs, adjusting the blankets with brisk efficiency. “What you need is to lie still before you tear something open again. Stubborn fool.”
The door opens, and familiar voices spill into the room.
Alira and Torin stop in the doorway when they see I’m awake. Their conversation dies instantly. Something unspoken passes between them before they step inside.
“Glad to see you're alright. You’re lucky you made it back through the portal,” Torin says evenly. “We will be keeping you here until the healer clears you.”
“I need to see Serenya,” I say before I can stop myself.
They share a quick glance. “She’s resting,” Torin says, his tone as steady as if he were stating the weather.
“I won’t disturb her. I just—” I stop myself before the words come out too raw. I don’t even know what I would say to her. All I know is that the need to see her sits heavy in my chest like something alive, clawing at me.
“You need rest too,” Alira cuts in, gentle but deliberate. “You’ve been through enough. Let her be for now.”
I want to argue. To throw off the blankets, tear through the halls until I find her. But the healer is already pushing me back down, muttering something about burst stitches.
Still, even long after they all leave, my eyes stay fixed on the door, willing her to walk through it.
I lie back, staring at the ceiling, but the white only blurs into the black water again. Serenya’s face keeps flashing behind my eyes. Her braid half-loose, eyes bright. The Serenya who'd knelt in the blood and smoke, her hands shaking over a wound she couldn’t heal.
Come back to me.
The sound of her voice lingers. I chase it, trying to pin down the exact curve of her lips, the sound of her voice. Each time I think I have it, the image slips through my grasp.
My fingers curl in the sheets. It didn’t feel like a dream. Not exactly. It felt almost like a memory, but not mine. It’s as if the recollection belonged to someone else and has been shoved into my mind. Yet it burns with familiarity that makes my heart heavy with longing.
I shut my eyes, dragging myself back into it, trying tostayin the dream. It’s like chasing the wind, though. The battlefield cracks apart. The black water rushes in. Serenya reaches for me again—
A sharp pain flares in my ribs, yanking me back to the sterile smell of the healer’s chamber.
“Damn it,” I hiss, dragging a breath through clenched teeth.
The silence closes in. My thoughts circle, refusing to let me drift back to sleep. Why had Alira and Torin shared that look when I mentioned Serenya? What did “she’s resting” really mean? Is she still hurt? Angry? Avoiding me? What if she still hasn’t woken up?
I drink the water from the small clay cup the healer left me without really tasting it, my mind still tangled in questions. It isn’t just that I want to see her. It’s the feeling that if I don’t, then something will slip away again, something that has already been lost once.
A crushing weight settles in my chest, making it hard to take a full breath.
Lyinghere in the dim candlelight, I listen to the muffled sounds of footsteps in the hall. Every time one comes close, I half expect—half hope—it will stop at my door. That it will open and she will be there.
It never does.
So I wait, eyes open in the dark, replaying her voice in my mind until it is all I can hear.
