Amelia P.O.V
The moment he stepped through the door, the tether nearly snapped.
Not from breaking—but from pulling too tight, too fast, too suddenly.
My breath hitched, sharp and painful, like someone had pressed a cold blade beneath my ribs. The dream realm flickered around me—silver trees dissolving into lanternlight, ruins collapsing into shelves of healer supplies, and Rayven’s trembling hands.
Shea pressed forward in my mind so sharply that it stole the rest of my breath.
He’s here. Her voice trembled, not with fear, but with recognition.
I couldn’t see him clearly yet. Not here in the dream realm. Not entirely in the waking world either.
But the bond didn’t care what my eyes could manage.
It cared only that the Guardian had reached the room.
It cared that the distance betwee
