SILAS POV
I was already on the edge when the night exploded.
I don’t mean metaphorically. I mean the sky tore open.
One second the forest was dark and choking and full of that unbearable waiting that had been grinding my nerves down to nothing, and the next the entire horizon lit up like the sun had punched through the world by force. White-hot light burned through the treeline, sharp enough that my eyes watered, powerful enough that the shadows fled like animals and Karissa hid behind a bush.
I stopped dead.
Didn’t breathe. Didn’t move.
Seiryu knew before I did. He slammed forward so violently it felt like my ribs were about to crack open, a sound ripping out of my chest that wasn’t human, wasn’t controlled, wasn’t anything but raw recognition.
Her.
That was her.
For half a heart
