SERAPHINA’S POV
I couldn’t sleep.
I lay on the wide bed in the room Selene had readied for me, sheer curtains fluttering with the sea breeze, moonlight painting silver ribbons on the floor while my thoughts tumbled restlessly.
Every time I closed my eyes, I felt it again.
Depth.
Not the sharp, overwhelming surge from the ambush. Not the crushing compression of Corin’s interrogation.
This was quieter. Broader. Like standing ankle-deep at the edge of the ocean and suddenly realizing the water stretched on forever.
The Ethereal Sea…
‘You’re trembling,’ Alina noted.
I snorted softly into the pillow. ‘Can you blame me?’
She didn’t answer right away. I felt her presence instead—warm, watchful, coiled close to my core the way she’d been since I woke up after the Starlight Hallway.
‘You’re excited,’ she said finally. ‘And relieved. And—’
‘Terrified?’
‘A little,’ she admitted. ‘But what I was going to say is…awake.’
