جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 79

POV: LYRAThe magic snaps back into me like a fist.Hard and fucking painful.I gasp and stumble, hand slamming into the stone wall to keep myself upright as the pain rips up my arm and settles deep in my chest, sharp and hot, like something burned me from the inside out.I hiss and drag in air through my teeth.“Shit,” I whisper.My father does not move to help.He is standing near the mouth of the cave, arms crossed, watching the dark like he expected this exact moment. Like he has been waiting for me to fail.“You felt it,” he says calmly.I straighten even though my legs shake. “Of course I felt it. Fucking bitch.”The ache pulses again, slower now, like a bruise forming under my skin. The spell did not break clean. It never does when it hits something stronger than expected.“It wasn't her,” he says.“It wasn't Elara. If she was the one who pushed back, you would be dead. You are lucky she hasn't been awakened yet.”“Who cares who did what?! The point is that they repelled it,” I

POV: DARIUSI wake up like I am being dragged out of myself.My lungs burn first. Then my legs. Then the cold.I am outside.Not near the manor. Not near my room. I am at the edge of the pack land, right where the trees thin out and the road cuts past the fence.I blink hard. “What the hell?”My boots are on. My jacket is half zipped. My hands are red like I have been clenching them for a while.I turn in a slow circle. “How did we get here?”My wolf does not answer with words. He never does. He just moves. He paces under my skin like he is trapped in a small room, like he has been pacing for hours and I just caught up.Then he pulls.Not hard. Not sharp. Just steady.My body turns without asking me.East.I stare out into the dark. Nothing there. Just trees and road and the hum of the world sleeping.“Why?” I whisper. “What is there?”Pressure blooms in my chest. Not pain. Not anger. Just tight. Like someone wrapped a band around my ribs and keeps pulling.Go.The thought is not a vo

POV: ELARAI taste iron before I hear anything.It is sharp and wrong, and it makes my stomach drop.“We caught the body before sunrise,” Kael says, calm but tight, standing by the long table. “No sigils left behind. No anchor. Whoever sent him did not plan for return.”Varek’s hands are flat on the wood. His jaw is locked. “One assassin gets through my lines and you want me to stay calm.”“He did not get through,” I say. My voice sounds steady but my chest feels tight. “Kael stopped him.”Varek looks at me then. Really looks. His eyes soften for half a second, then harden again.“That is not the point,” he says. “The point is someone walked in like they belonged.”Kael nods. “They copied a familiar presence. That takes time. That takes watching. This was something new. Someone new.”Varek snorts. “Or it could be Lyra.”Kael does not answer right away.Someone laughs in the hallway, and it sounds wrong.It is too loud. Too sharp. Like it is cutting instead of breathing.I look up fro

POV: ARINIt burns.It does not warn me first. It just burns.I jerk awake and my hand slams into my palm, right over the mark, and it feels like fire under my skin, like someone pressed a hot light straight into me. I gasp and the sound comes out wrong. Too loud. Too scared.“Mom,” I whisper, and then louder. “Mom!”The room is dark but not quiet. I hear footsteps outside. I hear voices far away. I hear too much and none of it makes sense.The mark pulses again and this time it hurts so bad I curl up, knees to chest, teeth clenched. There is no picture in my head. No vision. No moon talking. Just feeling. Pressure. Wrongness. Like something is moving closer and closer but not straight at us. Sideways. Sliding along the edge.I stumble out of bed.The floor feels cold and tilted. I grab the door frame and breathe fast. My heart is racing like I ran a mile but I did not go anywhere.“Mom,” I say again, louder now.She is already there. The door opens and light spills in and she looks s