Aqua shot upright with a strangled gasp.
“KIERAN!”
Her own voice ripped through the room, raw and panicked.
Her chest heaved. Her hands clawed at the air. Her throat burned like ghostly fingers were still wrapped around it. Tears blurred her vision.
And then—
Warm hands caught her shoulders.
“Aquamarine? Breathe.”
Aries.
His voice was low, steady, grounding — nothing like the nightmare version of him. His thumbs brushed her upper arms, firm but careful, as if he was afraid she might shatter.
Aqua blinked hard, trying to focus. The forest dissolved. The shadows vanished. The cold faded.
She was in the recovery room.
Safe.
Alive.
Not being strangled by Remus’s ghost.
But Aries was staring at her.
And he had heard.
Every syllable.
Aqua’s stomach dropped.
“I— I didn’t—” she s
