Keanu I didn’t want to. The story belonged to me and Tempest and the forest where we’d spent one night together that had changed everything about who I was. But Eldric had the kind of presence that made confession feel less like vulnerability and more like laying down something heavy you’d been carrying too long. “I met her in the forest. She helped me find the cure for my sister. We spent the night together.” I stared at the stream. “When I woke up, she was gone. I searched for her every day. Never found her. She’s an elemental dragon who hides because the world punished her kind for existing. And I don’t know if she left because she’s afraid of being found or because …” I stopped. “Because?” “Because I wasn’t enough.” The words tasted bitter, and I was. “I don’t know much about being

