POV: Riley
I woke with my hand pressed to my chest and a scream trapped in my throat.
The room was still.
Too still.
Moonlight spilled across the stone floor in pale ribbons, but the air felt… wrong. Heavy. Expectant. Like the world itself was holding its breath.
I could still feel it.
The pull.
The echo.
My heart pounded as I sat up, pressing my palm over my ribs as if I could anchor my soul back into my body. The dream clung to me like smoke in my lungs—burning, impossible to ignore.
Alex.
She stood in darkness, her power blazing so bright it split the sky open. Shadows bled away from her feet. The Moon wept silver fire overhead.
And then—
I felt it.
Not Alex.
Not the Shadow King.
Something else.
Small.
Brilliant.
Ancient.
A spark of life wrapped in destiny.
A child.
