Trees swayed in the breeze, their leaves rustling in a gentle rhythm.Birds sang distant songs from somewhere high above.
I looked down at my outstretched hand, still hovering above the stone embedded in the earth.
“Elira!”
His voice crashed into me like a wave.
Theo.
I jerked my head up, and there they were.
Theo and Tavrik, whole and alive and staring at me with wide, frightened eyes.
I wept, my chest heaving, but each breath only brought more panic.More nausea.
I fell backwards, every fibre of me wracked as if I’d actually been pulled apart and hastily reassembled.The phantom scent of burning flesh still clung to my skin.Tavrik’s lifeless stare haunted the darkness behind my eyelids, and Theo’s dying cries echoed in my skull.A sound I would never be able to unhear.
Cold fingers trailed across my mind before vanishing like smoke.
Zaheera.
It wasn’t just a vision she had shown me.
It was a warning.
It had been real.Every sensation, every drop of blood.The taste of Tavrik’s life still lingered metallic on my tongue.The heat of Theo’s burning flesh still scorched my own.
I had thought of everything—had played out every outcome, but I had foolishly forgotten what Zaheera was truly capable of.
She could see into the future, and she had shown me mine.
What I had planned to do would have ended the lives of everyone I loved.There was no way around it—nothing I could do to protect Dalkhan.
I dropped my head, staring at the stone still nestled in the earth.Its surface mocked me.
A hand clamped down on my shoulder, and I jerked upward so fast the forest tilted sideways.
Theo.
His face was etched with worry.His eyes searched mine, hunting for answers I couldn’t give.
I threw myself into his arms, crushing my face against his chest.His heartbeat thundered against my ear—alive, strong, real.Waves of silent agony rolled through me, the memory of what I’d seen branding itself deep within.
He struggled to breathe.“Elira…”
I only held him tighter, twisting my hands into the fabric of his clothing.
“I love you so much, Theo.”
He locked his arms around me, pulling me closer, but he was rigid, caught off guard by my sudden confession.
“What—”
Before he could finish, I tore away and launched myself at Tavrik, slamming into him with enough force to knock the air from both of us.I wound my arms around him like iron bands, as if he would slip away if I let go.
“I love you too, Tavrik.”
Tavrik’s body went taut beneath my touch.His arms hovered, uncertain, before finally closing around me with a protective ferocity.
