Seris:
I didn't speak at first. My lips parted like I might, but all that came was a ragged breath—and then I crumpled down onto my knees before her.
My hands trembled as they reached for her, fingers weaving into her hair like if I didn't hold her, she'd vanish again like the gods might wake and take her back.
Her touch was real, and her eyes were real. But I needed to feel her to believe it—to think that she wasn't just another ghost in the mirror.
"I thought I lost you," I breathed, forehead pressed to hers, tears hot as they struck her cheeks like rain. "Gods, Ariane. I thought I'd lost you forever."
She cupped my face, her voice trembling like a fragile thread. "I'm alive, Seris. But I'm not there. Not in our world. Not where I want to be."
I closed my eyes and drank in the sou
