The fire had long since died by embers. The salt air curled through the camp like a ghost, brushing Cassia’s skin as she lay awake under the open stars. Seryna slept soundly beside her, curled under a dark fur cloak, and Rhian kept watch on a nearby boulder, his silhouette sharp against the moonlit sea.
But Cassia didn’t sleep. Not yet.
The vision had returned. Stronger this time.
Not in dreams, but while she was awake.
A sudden flicker in the saltfall’s mist had shown her a face. His face.
The man who had stared at her through the mirror in her dream now appeared again, his features shifting between flame and shadow. His voice whispered through her skull like fire cracking over wood.
“You were never meant to be raised by mortals.”
Cassia’s fingers dug into the earth.
She hated how
