KAEL'S POV I open it before I let myself think too hard about why my hands are shaking.Her face fills the screen, and for a second nothing else exists. Not the medical house, not Dr. Kim's quiet movements across the room, not the ache sitting constant in my chest. Just her, alive, breathing, close enough that I could almost believe the screen was a window instead of a recording.I have to grip the phone with both hands to keep it steady.She's alive. Whatever else this message turns out to be, that single fact lands first and hardest, relief so sharp it nearly doubles me over in the chair. Days of nothing but a pull with no direction, and here she is, her voice about to fill the silence that's been eating me alive since the den.Then I actually hear what she says."I need you to stop looking for me. This was a mistake, all of it, since the night at the gate. I don't want this bond. I never wanted it. Please, just let me go, and let yourself live."The relief curdles into something I
Last Updated : 2026-10-25 Read more