Aurenya’s POV
“Don’t leave me incomplete.”
The words shattered the air the moment they left my mouth.
The shadow stopped moving.
So did everything else.
Even the wind outside the camp seemed to hesitate, like the world itself was waiting to see what I would choose.
Rhydan’s grip tightened instantly around me. “Aurenya—don’t.”
But I couldn’t look at him.
Not because I didn’t want to.
Because I finally could look at her.
At myself.
The version standing only a few feet away now, silver-eyed and impossibly still.
Whole in all the ways I had never been.
Broken in all the ways I couldn’t remember surviving.
The shadow tilted her head slightly.
“You still think I am leaving you,” she said softly.
My throat tightened painfully. “Aren’t you?”
For a moment—
something unbearably sad
