Arden's/Aria's POV
The silence in the infirmary was a heavy blanket, smothering me. Each breath Kai took was a whisper of life, a fragile sound in the quiet gloom. His skin was too pale, the bandages too white—a map of the pain he carried for me. The weight of it was an anchor around my soul, pulling me down into dark water, and I had to move. I had to escape the scent of healing herbs and helplessness.
My feet carried me away, a traitor fleeing the scene of the crime. The training ground was empty, a stage waiting for its players. The dirt was still torn from our battles, each scar a memory, a ghost of violence. I stood there alone, a single statue in a field of echoes. Then, a shuffle, a whisper of sound. I turned. Finn and Lyra stood there with three others, a small cluster of nervous
