Zara’s POV
THE NEXT DAY…
The sun rose through the low rolling mist that morning, making the academy spires look like jagged islands floating in pale gold clouds. I watched it from my dorm window, arms wrapped around my knees, chin balanced between them. My thoughts felt heavy, sluggish, like soaked wool.
I should have been studying for midterms — my notebooks lay scattered across my duvet, equations and incantation runes half-memorised. But all I could think about was the way Atlas had looked at me yesterday in Herbal Studies. As though he was reading secrets off my bones. As though he already knew something I didn’t.
A sharp knock at my door snapped me out of my daze. I flinched, throat tight. “Yeah?” I croaked, voice hoarse.
The door creaked open and Talia poked her head in. Her dar
