“I wish I could see it.”
Another.
“I wish I was anywhere but here.”
I heard a thud, like he hit his head on the door. Then I heard him clatter up, his breath erratic. He was running.
I swallowed hard, pulling my hand back. My fingers were shaking.
I stayed there, hand hovering just above the metal.
Gone.
The sound of his footsteps faded down the corridor, but the feeling he left behind didn’t. It lingered—like smoke, like the afterimage of a dream I couldn’t quite shake.
He’d seen me. Not just in the dream.
Here. Now.
Even if he didn’t understand why.
I curled back into the corner, knees pulled tight, the cold seeping in.
He remembered something.
Or maybe I did.
And that had to meansomething.
**
Thorne
Order before mercy.
Truth before feeling.
Duty before desire.
The mantra clung to my consciousness like a thorn, digging deeper with every step across the cold stone floor. I pressed my palm to my forehead—hard—willing the order to return.
Elira is the enemy.
Elira is a traitor.
Order before mercy.
Truth before feeling.
Duty before—
I hope you feel this.
Her voice, sharp and furious, cut through my thoughts—clear as if she stood behind me.
I struck my head. Once. Twice. Again. I knocked a small mirror off my desk. It shattered on the ground, in pieces.
I stared at it, unseeing. My broken reflection assaulted me.
