LOGINKAZIEL I awaken to soft lips peppering kisses on my back."Happy birthday," Danika murmurs against my skin.I smile into the pillow, still half-asleep and sore from yesterday's workout in a way I deeply regret this morning. I shift slightly, about to roll over—And then something launches onto my back like a cannonball."PAPAAAA!"The air punches out of my lungs."Oof—"Azalea, my seven-year-old, bounces again, giggling uncontrollably. "Wake up! Wake up! It's your biiiiirthday!"I groan dramatically, clutching my lower back. "Oh—oh no. That's it. That's the one. I'm down."Danika freezes, and so does my daughter."Oh my God," Danika gasps, her hands immediately on my shoulders. "Kaz? Are you okay?"I manage a peek at them and let out a dramatic sound. "Tell the kids... I loved them."Azalea's eyes go wide. "Mama?"The bedroom door slams open, and my eldest son storms in, looking very suspicious."What did you do?" he demands, pointing directly at his sister."I just bounced!" Aza
DANIKA Kaziel's hands are steady in mine. The officiant's voice fades in and out as the breeze moves through the hall. Someone sniffles behind us, it's probably Cora or Kira. I don't hear most of the ceremony. I don't need to. Because this isn't where love is explained.It's where it is recognized."Do you take—""Yes," Kaziel says immediately.The officiant pauses, amused."I—uh—""I do," my man repeats, his eyes never leaving mine.Laughter rolls through the guests, heat creeping up my face."And Danika—""Yes," I say, just as quickly.Kaz's mouth curves.The officiant smiles. "Then by the power vested in me..."The words fade out as emotions flood over me while I gaze deep into Kaziel's blue eyes."You may kiss your bride."Kaziel leans in close, so much that I can count his lashes. Then his lips meet mine. It starts out soft and tender, quickly becoming sensual and passionate, my nerves buzzing from the intensity. The cheers grow louder and louder, like fireworks."You're sti
DANIKA The tassel brushes my cheek when I turn my head, and that's when it hits me. I did it. My vision blurs as the applause swells around me, sunlight flashing off our gowns and proud smiles. My graduation day. I press my lips together hard, fighting tears that refuse to behave.Five years of exhaustion and second chances and sheer, stubborn refusal to quit."...—and no, that wasn't a metaphor. I actually repeated freshman year."Laughter ripples through the crowd, and I pause on purpose, letting it land.Tyler whoops loudly from two rows back until my foster dad elbows him in the ribs. Cora has both hands clasped in front of her face, already crying. Bellamy gives me an exaggerated thumbs-up like I'm on a game show.I grin and turn back to the mic."Some of you are sitting here today thinking, Wow, she must have had it all figured out." I shake my head. "I didn't. I just had an unreasonable amount of spite."More laughter."I repeated freshman year because life happened. Beca
KAZIEL The corridor is colder than I remember. My boots echo softly against the floor as Kira walks a step ahead, her pace steady. She hasn't looked back once."Down here," she says. I follow.The holding level smells like iron and salt. Wards hum faintly in the walls, their magic old and layered. We walk in silence for a while before Kira finally speaks."When you didn't regain consciousness," she says, "we knew something was wrong. Your core should've reignited."My jaw tightens."But it didn't," she continues. "It was just... gone. There was no echo or resonance."I stop walking. She slows down too, then she turns slightly so she's facing the wall instead of me, as if she can't quite bear to look into my eyes yet."We hoped anyway," she says. "We froze your body. We told ourselves you'd done this before and that you always came back."My chest aches as I listen to her."For months," she adds. "We waited."I swallow hard, my fists clenched. She begins to move again, and I k
DANIKA The house feels wrong. It's been that way since six months ago when I regained consciousness but Kaziel didn't. Black fabric drapes the banister downstairs. Candles burn in careful little lines along the hallway, their flames steady.I sit on the edge of the bed, my belly heavy and swollen. Kaziel's framed picture is pressed to my chest so hard it aches.The witches confirmed it.'He's not coming back,' they said.I laugh weakly, tears sliding down my cheeks."I miss you so much it feels illegal," I whisper to the photo.My thumb traces the glass. His smile is soft, his blue eyes shimmering and full of life."I'm not going," I tell him. "You don't get a funeral if I'm still breathing."I lean forward slightly, pressing my forehead to the frame, my shoulders shaking."You should be here," I choke. "You were supposed to be here. You promised you'd stay until—""—until you started yelling at me for hovering too much?" A familiar voice interrupts me.The air vanishes from my l
KAZIEL (The Hollow) When I awoke inside his body, every memory rushed in at once. The smell of dust and blood in that basement. The crack of bone. His mother's voice. His affection for her. His prayers. His hatred.For ten days after the transfer, I could not heal.I didn't understand why at first. I tried again and again to knit broken skin, close the wounds and stop the bleeding. Nothing responded. His body rejected my nature. Magic slid off him like water over stone. I felt everything. Every blade. Every strike. Every violation.I learned pain in those ten days.Real pain.When healing finally came, it came imperfectly. And it left scars behind. I learned then that this body would never obey me fully. It would demand effort.Humanity was not given. It had to be studied.So I learned.I learned how to walk without drawing attention. How to breathe when I was anxious. How to speak without sounding like an animal. How to smile without baring my teeth.I learned how to be ‘norma







