Eliana POV
I lost count of how many times I collapsed into the dirt.
The sanctuary floor had long stopped feeling sacred. Now it was just stone beneath bruised skin and grit in my palms. My breath came ragged, chest burning with effort, each inhale fighting against the memory of rage crawling just beneath my skin.
Scarlet stirred restlessly inside me.
Not violently.
But constantly.
A low thrum of energy pulsed behind my ribs, never quite silent. I could feel her in the way my fingers tingled during a strike, in the way the air bent when I lost focus. I was trying—gods, I was trying—to control her.
To control me.
Again.
A spin. A step. A sharp exhale. A flick of heat through my veins.
Missed the mark.
Again.
And I knelt down, with one hand on my knee and the other against the ho
