DESDEMONA

The numbness breaks first. It shatters like glass inside my chest.

Pain floods back all at once, sharp, overwhelming, alive. My knees buckle as the world tilts, my scream ripping from my throat before I can stop it.

“Alaric—!”

His name tears out of me on instinct, not trust.

The courtyard blurs. Torches flicker wildly, shadows stretching and twisting as if the night itself is breathing. My bond snaps tight, burning through my veins like fire through wire, and for one terrifying second, I think I’m dying.

Then I see him.

The stranger stands across the stone, tall and cloaked, his presence wrong in a way my bones understand...