The night feels different after the dream.
Not just heavier…alive.
I wake before dawn, my skin buzzing with a strange warmth, like electricity under my veins. The faint silver light beneath my wrist still pulses softly, stretching toward my shoulder. It’s weaker than last night, but the five delicate strands remain, faint in the darkness, beating with my heart.
I trace one with my fingertip. It brightens, then fades. I feel not just energy…but presence. Familiar and close.
A door creaks down the hallway. “Kaia?” Kael’s voice breaks the silence.
I pull my sleeve over my wrist. “Yeah?”
He steps in, hair damp from training, jaw tight. There’s blood on his sleeve. Someone else’s. He doesn’t mention it, just gives me that look…half annoyance, half protectiveness.
That protectiveness deep
