登入** Bastian's POV **Poppy's lips part. Behind her, Alaric turns his head away, but not quickly enough to hide his smile. I ignore him.“What did you remember?”The change in Poppy is immediate. Her fingers tighten around mine.“The accident.”I have no idea what accident she is referring to, so I wa
** Bastian’s POV **She throws herself at me before I can think. One second she’s staring at me with tears swimming in her eyes, the next she’s there, hands gripping my shirt, her face buried against my chest as though I’m the only thing keeping her upright.My body locks. Every instinct screams at
“Stop! Don’t do this!” They can’t hear me, can’t feel my desperate attempts to stop this. I’m trapped inside the worst moment of my life with no way to change it. The world fractures around me, and for the briefest second, my mother’s fingertips brush mine. “Live, Poppy.” Then darkness explodes
** Poppy’s POV ** I blink against the darkness surrounding me. The cabin is gone. The smell of dinner. The warmth of the fire. The laughter in the kitchen. All of it has vanished. Instead, cold asphalt presses against my bare feet. I know this place. Not because I’ve seen it before, but because I’
“It seems our timing,” Leo says, looking between us, “is perfect.”“No, it’s terrible,” Alaric corrects flatly.“That depends on who you ask,” Jake shrugs.Alaric ignores him, turning back to the stove to flip the chicken with far too much focus.“So, what were you saying about defence lessons?” Leo
** Poppy’s POV **I thought Alaric would have been pissed at learning his brother had my number all along and had been messaging me, but he’s amused, and maybe even a little proud. He shakes his head again and laughs; it’s so contagious that I can’t even be mad.“Come on,” he says, standing from the
The tension in my chest loosens, just enough to breathe again. “Good,” I rasp. “Let’s keep it that way.”Parker’s gaze flicks between us. “We need to move. That blast stunned them, but I could hear the hunters regrouping on the way here. They might be retreating, or coming back.”Remy’s head snaps u
The pages are old, discoloured, cracked parchment; the ink faded to near-invisible brown. The lighting in the scans is also not great. But it’s all I have.I zoom in on one section, squinting at the looping script. It’s written in a mix of Latin and something even older that is apparently a dialect
“She’d call it a hobby,” I say with mock seriousness. “One that doesn’t come with private healthcare.”That earns another round of laughter until we’re both wiping tears from our eyes. It feels good, like letting sunlight into a dark room.When we finally calm down, I lean my elbows on the counter a
** Poppy’s POV **It’s been a nice, slow morning at the clinic, no one bleeding, no one screaming, and no one trying to leave this world before their time. Just peace, coffee, and the large delivery of medical supplies to sort through.I’m halfway through stocking the herb cupboard when the door cre







