POV: Alex
Pain doesn’t wake me.
Riley’s fear does.
It crashes through our bond like shattered glass, dragging me upward from darkness into fire and sound and the raw scent of blood. My lungs convulse as I gasp for air. Every nerve in my body screams.
I’m alive.
Barely.
The battlefield comes into focus in jagged pieces—burned earth, fallen warriors, shattered wards still flickering weakly in the distance. Riley is kneeling over me, hands glowing with healing light, tears streaking down her face.
“Alex—thank the Moon you’re awake,” she breathes.
Mason is beside her, bruised and shaking but upright, his eyes locked on me as if he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he blinks.
“What… happened?” My voice is broken, barely a whisper.
Riley swallows. “The Shadow King.”
Memory slams into me.
Th
