Kora’s POV
The dawn came quietly, gray and thin, seeping across the valley like breath on cold glass. I didn’t sleep at all. Edward did, but only after I convinced him that I was fine—that I wouldn’t wander off again, that I wouldn’t follow any shadows into the woods. It was a lie.
The fire in me wouldn’t rest. It whispered constantly now, not in words but in sensations—images, half-formed thoughts. A door. A heart of stone. The scent of ash and blood. I could almost feel the world itself humming around me, as if everything was waiting for something to break.
When I rose, the camp was already stirring. Mara was barking orders, as always. Seraphine stood near the edge of the ridge, her staff buried in the soil, her expression distant. And Edward… Edward was sharpening his blade with the
