A horizon that wasn't a horizon at all—fractured fragments of earth and sky sewn together like shattered glass—was revealed as the mist continued to peel back. I felt sick to my stomach. It was a wound, not a location. And it was mine somehow.
Calm and ruthless, the figure's voice echoed in my bones. "Child, you are not in the middle of two worlds. You are the seam that keeps them from tearing apart.”
With the shadows rippling violently at my feet, I caught my breath. "No. I didn't ask for this.”
"You didn't have to." Just enough of its veil lifted gor me to see the unnatural stillness of its smile and the hollow curve of its cheek. "They called you cursed so they could sleep at night after carving you out of what they feared most.”
The words hooked deep, dragging at the guilt I had n
