Chapter 36: A New Strength
The first breath was the hardest.
Seren’s chest heaved, dragging in air as though it weighed more than stone. Every nerve inside her screamed, fire and ice colliding in a war that wasn’t quite done. She coughed, and the sound echoed like thunder in the silence of the forest clearing.
Kaelen was there instantly. His hand braced against her back, steadying her, his golden eyes wide with something she had never thought she’d see in him—fear.
“Easy,” he murmured, his voice a low rumble, raw from shouting, from pleading, from nearly breaking. “Don’t fight it. Breathe.”
“I—I am,” Seren rasped. Her throat was parched, her lips cracked. But the air filled her lungs more strongly with each draw. She blinked, vision clearing, until she saw the crimson staining Kaelen’
