KAEL'S POV
At first, I thought the wind was playing tricks on me.
The battlefield had gone still — no more screaming, no more pulse of power — only the sound of snow hissing against burned ground. The Hollow's shadow had dissolved into mist, but I could still feel it crouched somewhere in my chest, waiting.
Then the air changed.
The scent hit me first. Wildflower and storm. Her.
"Ayla…"
My head snapped up — and there she was.
The rift hung open in front of me like a wound in the sky, its edges glowing white-gold. Through it, she stepped barefoot onto the snow. Not the girl I remembered, not the fragile healer I had nearly destroyed — this Ayla's light flickered like fire under water, her eyes silver shot through with black.
For one heartbeat, I couldn't breathe.
She was alive, and she was something more.
