Pain dragged me out of unconsciousness like claws hooked into my spine. No gentle rise. No groggy stretch. One second I was nothing. The next I was drowning in fire.
My lungs seized. My back arched sharply. A sound tore out of me that did not belong to anything human. It vibrated the air like a shockwave.
Heat scalded my chest. I grabbed at my pendant instinctively. The runes burned against my skin like molten metal. My fingers trembled, but I could not let go. It felt fused to me.
Ronan was there before I fully understood what was happening. I felt his hands on my shoulders. Heard his voice, rough and frantic.
“Ayla. Look at me. Breathe. Stay with me.”
I tried. I really did. But my body refused to obey. Every nerve in me was screaming. It felt like something was splitting apart insid
