Caelan's POV
The fever never left me.
By now, the healers already knew it was not just a fever.
They thought it was a leash from the goddess herself.
But I did not let it stop me.
I felt the pull of the bond again that morning and it called me to the river. Every step I took felt like I was dragging stones behind me. My breath was short and my skin felt like a clam. The healers said my body needed rest after the last surge of the bond. But rest was not possible when my chest ached like my very heart was missing.
The thought gnawed at me until I couldn't stay in the walls. I slipped past the walls and stumbled through the trees as I followed the faint trace of her scent.
The river was silver under the moonlight and its rush was gentle compared to the roar of war that still echoed in my skull. I dropped to my knees at the bank and looked into the water.
And then I felt her.
Not through the bond this time, not as a distant tug in my chest. She was near.
