DARIAN

The car jolts to a stop, and I don’t wait for the driver to open the door. My boots hit the stone driveway with a sharp echo, adrenaline pushing me forward, my heart hammering in my chest. I don’t even glance back at Iris. She calls my name, soft and urgent, but I can’t stop. I won’t. Not now. Not when every second counts.

“Darian, wait!” Her voice trails behind me, panic threaded in every syllable. But I keep moving. I can’t explain. I can’t slow down. Every fiber of me is screaming to get to him.

I tear across the courtyard, my breath comes out in jagged clouds,...