Powerful.
A shape I’d seen in dreams and in darkness and in a cave where a dragon bowed his head.
But he didn’t turn.
Not yet.
Not until I decided whether to run from him…
or toward him.
I scrambled upright, legs shaking, one hand gripping the tree trunk to keep myself from collapsing.
“It’s you,” I breathed.
The fight drained out of him instantly.
His shoulders dropped—just a fraction, but enough that the air around us shifted, tension dissolving like mist.
I stepped away from the tree, wincing.
My fingers brushed my cheek. It burned. Swollen. Wet with blood.
Fuck. If Ash sees me like this…
He turned toward me slightly, and for the first time I saw his face clearly—
the same face that had stood beside me at the lake, the one that had watched me with quiet intensity in the dark.
Human now.
Mostly.
The dragon was gone.
For now.
Chapter 25
Seph
I had been staring at my stranger for a full minute.
“Come,” he said finally, voice low and rough, like he hadn’t spoken in hours.
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Okay.”
He walked ahead of me, moving through a narrow path between the trees I swear hadn’t existed a moment ago.
He didn’t look back—but somehow I knew he was aware of every stumble, every ragged breath I took.
We reached the riverbed.
He pointed to a smooth rock beside the bubbling stream.
“Sit.”
I did.
