Morwenna's POV
Ash stuck to my lips like salt. My breath rattled with the weight of power I hadn’t meant to call. Below me, the battlefield was carved open, littered with bodies and spells that still flickered in death. I should have felt victory. Instead, I only felt hollow.
Liora lay in the center of the wreckage, golden armor scorched and cracked, her soul-forged blade stabbed through the ground. Her chest rose faintly. Alive, but barely. I didn’t kill her. She had struck first, but I had spared her. Again. And it might be the death of me.
Sabine dragged herself from the rubble, face bloodied, one arm bent at a sick angle. She looked at me like she didn’t recognize me. Maybe she didn’t. Maybe I didn’t either.
"She was going to kill you," she rasped. "Why did you hold back?"
"Becaus
