The relic’s final pulse still echoed inside Sofia’s chest long after Theo carried her out of the abandoned temple. Its rhythm—her rhythm—refused to fade. And as dawn broke across the sky, something more profound than fate had already begun to bind them, tightening unseen threads neither could sever.
Sofia
The world felt… different.
Sharper.
Colors appeared brighter, sounds clearer, scents richer—as if the forest around the estate breathed in sync with me. I woke on the manor’s couch, wrapped in a blanket, every sense alive with an edge I couldn’t control.
Theo hovered nearby, pacing, jaw tight. He looked… hunted. Not by enemies—by worry.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” I asked, my voice small, still shaken by the memory of the relic’s light.
He faced me, golden eyes flashing
