AYLA'S POV
I woke up choking on ash.
The air pressed down on me, thick and suffocating, as though the forest itself was being strangled. My eyelids dragged open slowly, vision swimming with silver sparks that weren't entirely mine. My body ached—bones hollow, veins aflame—but something worse crawled under my skin.
A hunger. Not mine.
I blinked, forcing clarity into my vision. Kael was there, crouched over me, blood streaking his face, his arms tight around me as though he could keep the world from taking me. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, his body trembling from exhaustion, yet his eyes never left the darkness rising behind him.
And gods—what a darkness it was.
The ground split wide, glowing runes spilling like veins of molten blood. From that chasm, the shadow rose higher, shapeless but vast, an endless maw of night. Its eyes opened—two voids carved into nothing, ancient and starving.
When they landed on me, my heart stuttered.
It wanted me.
