Sealed Wolf, Stolen Crown
Then it wasn’t faint anymore.
Gold bled into my irises slowly this time, not the sudden flash from days ago, more like watching a coal catch properly after a long time smoldering, spreading outward until there was no brown left at all, just molten amber staring back at me out of my own face, steady, undeniable, holding for one full second before a second, and then another, and I stood frozen at that mirror for what felt like an impossibly long stretch of time watching my own eyes refuse to go back to normal.
I gripped the edge of the basin hard enough that my knuckles went white, and I didn’t look away, because some new, unfamiliar part of me didn’t want to look away, wanted instead to stay