I staggered back, the walls of my room suddenly too close, the air too thin. Rowan reached out instinctively, his hands warm on my arms as he steadied me.
“Hey, hey—Maya,” he said gently, his voice low and steady. “I know it’s a lot. Just… breathe for a second, okay?”
I was barely hearing him. Marta—gone? Not just missing, but erased from memory, like some kind of ghost I had made up? My head was spinning, my heart pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat.
“She was real, Rowan,” I said again, the words cracking around the edges.
“I know,” he said, nodding. “And that’s why I’ve been trying to convince Kael to let us go back to the village together. You and me. We could talk to the villagers ourselves, try to figure out what really happened. Maybe we can—”
He stopped.
I’d gone still.
“Kael,” I repeated, my voice sharper now. Harsher. “You’re trying to convince Kael?”
Rowan hesitated, like he knew exactly what was about to happen.
“He’s just… hesitant,” he said carefully. “He thinks
