Page 227 of Axis of Fire

Time to get ready.

******

As we headed toward the training wing after breakfast, I couldn’t stop thinking about that strange dream involving Airis.

Why was I even dreaming about things like that?

It didn’t feel like the beginning of something.

It felt old.

Familiar.

It was madness.

“Sleep well?”

Stasia’s question felt almost too precise.

As though she somehow knew exactly what was bothering me.

“Not bad,” I replied with a nod. “You?”

“I had strange dreams.”

She shrugged.

I froze, studying her carefully.

She was watching me, too.

I wanted to ask whether they had been ordinary dreams...

Or visions.

But Tarven was standing right beside us.

He pushed open the door, and the scrape of metal pulled us both out of whatever strange silence had settled between us.

We stepped inside and didn’t immediately notice the unfamiliar figure standing in the center of the training hall.

Tall.

Lean.

His skin was unnaturally pale.

Almost unreal.

As though he had stepped out of ice itself, with traces of frost still clinging to him.

“Mil, thanks again for agreeing to this,” Tarven said warmly as he walked toward him.

Then, as though only just remembering we were there, he glanced back at us.

“This is Miloran.”

My entire body went taut.