It started with a whisper.
A soft, electric hum beneath Aria’s skin… like her magic was waking up in a panic. She sat beside Kael in the infirmary alcove the Headmaster insisted he rest in, her hands fidgeting in her lap, her chest tight with something she couldn’t name.
Kael watched her with an intensity that burned hotter than the lantern light.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he murmured. “Not after what happened.”
But Aria stayed. She couldn’t leave him—not after seeing him collapse, not after feeling her own magic roar alive for him.
She shook her head firmly.
Kael exhaled sharply, and for a moment he looked almost irritated—mostly with himself.
“Aria,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, “when you healed me, something… snapped. Or connected. I don’t know.”
She looked up.
Connect
