I jolted upright in bed, a strangled gasp ripping from my throat as icy sweat soaked the back of my neck. My lungs burned for air, my chest heaving like I had just escaped drowning. The shadows in the room loomed larger than usual, clawing at the corners of my mind as if trying to pull me back into the nightmare I had just escaped.
But it wasn’t just a dream—it was a vision. A message. A warning.
Sebastian’s face lingered behind my eyelids, his pale eyes burning into mine with a haunting familiarity. It wasn’t just a memory—I could feel him. Somehow, impossibly, he had found a way to reach me through the tether that still existed between our cursed bloodlines. A bond I thought I had buried long ago now clawed its way back to the surface.
Pain spiked behind my eyes, sharp and punishing. I clutched my head, pressing my palms against my temples as if that could cage the power surging inside me. It was like a storm—hot, relentless, alive.
My magic stirred beneath my skin, crawling like f
