Miles
I'd studied energy all my life. From the moment I touched my first relic at twelve, I'd been able to read patterns in people the way others read books. Most signatures were static, consistent, or predictable.
But Zara's energy wasn't.
Hers pulse pulsed like something alive. As if it were evolving, one second it pushed, like fire. The next it pulled, like a shadow. I'd never seen anything like it.
And I couldn't stop watching it.
We were alone in the meditation room. The doors sealed. The guards were dismissed. Just me, her, and the circle I'd chalked on the floor.
She didn't like being watched. That was obvious.
But I had to be sure.
"Again," I said, nodding to the relic on her wrist.
She exhaled, sharply. "It's not responding."
"It's not a light switc
