Elira's POV

I went unnervingly still.

The world didn't shatter. And that was the strangest part.

It didn't explode into screams or madness like the world beside me. It simply narrowed. Like everything unnecessary peeled away, leaving only one sharp aching truth in my chest.

Valen.

My ears rang but not from the chaos around me. It was from the sudden absence of it. I could see Aiden's lips move, Amara's face squeezed with determination. But none of their actions reached me.

My baby was gone.

Something inside of me went still. Not calm. Never calm. It was the kind of stillness from a storm that had swallowed a city....