The silver handprints glowed softly against the cavern wall, each one pulsing like a heartbeat trapped in stone. My breath trembled as I reached toward them. Something in my chest ached as if invisible fingers were tugging at the place where my mark lay beneath my skin. The sensation was gentle at first, then sharper. The longer I stared at those small handprints layered over one another, the more I felt the pain of what had been left behind here.
Ryn stepped closer, uncertainty flickering through his eyes. "Kaia. Do not touch that."
Talon moved in front of me, blocking my path with his arm. "He is right. You do not know what it will do."
But I already knew.
It wanted me to touch it.
The mark on my wrist pulsed in answer, warm and insistent.
"I have to." I whispered.
Talon’s jaw tig
