AYLA'S POV
Cold, but not the kind that numbs — the kind that thinks.
That watch.
When I opened my eyes, the sky wasn't sky anymore. It was glass, cracked through with veins of shadow and light. Beneath my feet, water shimmered without reflection, black as ink. I was alone.
No—Not alone.
Kael's scent was still there — faint, fragmented. And beneath it, something older. Something ancient enough to taste like memory.
"You shouldn't have followed him here."
The voice echoed through the water, through the air, through me.
"Show yourself," I said, my voice steady despite the tremor in my hands.
"I already have."
The water rippled.
My reflection stared back — but it wasn't me this time. Her eyes glowed gold, not silver. Her hair moved like smoke in the wind that didn't exist.
And when she smiled, it was with Kael's mouth.
"What are you?"
