Elara pov
Light hit my eyes like a knife, and I gasped, blinking against the brightness that felt too sharp after three days of darkness. My whole body ached, heavy and wrong, like I'd been sleeping for years instead of days.
The first thing I saw when my vision cleared was Kael, slumped in a chair beside my bed, his hand wrapped around mine. He was asleep, his head tilted at an angle that looked painful, his face peaceful but exhausted in a way that made something twist in my chest.
I studied him without moving, really looked at him for the first time without hatred clouding everything, dark circles under his eyes so deep they looked like bruises, worry lines carved into his forehead, bandages wrapped around his arms and chest where my moonfire had burned him.
He'd taken that blast f
