Not after what just happened.
Not after what I saw in the pool.
Gavrail doesn’t ask. He just bundles me in soft blankets and locks the door.
“You’re staying here tonight.” No room for argument. Not with that look in his eyes—like he’d cover the whole world in darkness if it meant he could keep me safe.
He gives me the bed. I lie stiffly beneath the covers, staring at the ceiling while his restless breathing rises and falls from the floor beside me.
My thoughts loop, jagged and breathless.
Thorne killed my father.
The Thalriens werefusion masters.
Thorne killed my father.
I’m not just powerful. I’m some kind ofweapon.
Thorne killed my father.
I have a brother who might still be alive.
Water remembers.
Water remembersme.
Somewhere between night and dawn, I must fall asleep, because my dream is waiting. I’m back in the Cavern, but this time, its walls glimmer faintly with crystals. The pool lies still at the center, black and endless, stars trembling across its surface in silver ripples.
My reflection looks back at me—small, wide-eyed. A child.
Figures hover at the water’s edge, hooded and faceless. Their shadows stretch long and silent in the dark.
And then the voice, soft and coaxing as a hand is held out toward me.
“Come here, Celeste.”
Only this time, it’s not a stranger. Not a nightmare.
My father.
He reaches for me, trembling. The pool shivers. The stars fracture. Cold silk slides over my skin—too real, too familiar?—
I jolt upright with a strangled gasp.
The room spins. My hands fly to my throat.No air.No air?—
“Celeste.”
Gavrail is there, his arms around me in an instant.
“Breathe, love,” he says at my ear.
I cling to him without meaning to.
His grip tightens—too tight—then he loosens it, as if he realizes what he’s doing. He starts to pull away.
I shake again, a small involuntary shudder, and he freezes—then swears under his breath like he’s losing a fight.
