The Crown Of Ash and Silver
She looked up as the door opened, her eyes wide, reflecting torchlight.
Elysia reached out, but the dream moved faster than thought. The guards dragged the woman away; her voice was lost in the echoing stone. Another flash, walls shaking, dust falling, the roar of something vast breaking through the city above. Screams. Water. Then darkness.
A single sentence lingered as the world collapsed around her:
The Light tests even those it loves.
********
Elysia woke with a gasp.
Every candle in the chamber had flared to life, their flames bending toward her as if drawn by breath. The air shimmered with gold. Her heart hammered so violently she thought the Light itself was trying to tear free.