Sleep came slowly that night, but when it did, it took me deep.

I found myself standing in the middle of a silver forest—trees so tall they brushed the skies, their leaves glowing softly under the moonlight. Everything shimmered, almost unreal. I looked down and saw that I was barefoot, wearing a flowing white dress stained faintly with blood around the hem.

Then I heard it.

A heartbeat.

Two heartbeats.

One rapid and tiny. The other powerful... familiar.

I turned—and there he was.

Lucien.

He stood a few feet away, shirtless, his chest rising and falling. But he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at something cradled in his...