The voice slithered through my mind like poisoned silk, coiling around thoughts I didn't even know I had. My breath hitched. The room warped—walls bending like heat haze, the air vibrating with a pressure only I seemed to feel.
"No," I whispered. Or maybe I mouthed it. My voice felt trapped in my throat.
Lucian's hands tightened around me. "Celes—focus on me. Look at me."
But it was like looking through rippling water. His figure flickered, doubling, then snapping back into clarity, then splitting again. I felt the pulse beneath my skin rise into a frantic rhythm. It wasn't a heartbeat. It was… a calling.
A calling answering him.
"Rab…"
That single word sank into my skull like a hook.
"Stop calling me that!" I screamed—but it didn't leave my mouth. The sound cracked inside my head, ricocheting like trapped lightning.
