Anna woke up with a start.
Her hands burned.
She sat up, heart hammering, disoriented for a moment. The damp stone and iron of the dungeon were gone. Someone had moved her.
The new room was small, dimly lit by a torch bracketed on the wall. A narrow bed. A basin. A table where her torn pack rested — her few salvaged things from the other world.
It wasn't freedom. But it wasn't the cell, either.
She pushed back the blanket, staring at her palms. The faint veins beneath her skin shimmered — not with color, but with a metallic sheen that caught the torchlight. Sweat beaded across her temples.
"No," she whispered, rubbing at them. "No, no…"
The more she rubbed, the more her hands tingled — a deep, burning pulse that seemed to hum just beneath the skin.
Then, faintly, a voice. Not from the walls this time. From inside her head.
"You bled for them. Now they bleed for you."
Anna froze. "Stop," she breathed. "Stop talking to me."
The air thickened. For a moment she thought she could hear her own heartbeat echoing off the walls.
"You're not real," she said aloud. I'm just stressed. I am..."
But the whisper came again, quieter now, curling like smoke.
"Every breath you gave them takes something back."
Her throat tightened. She pressed her palms to the cool floor, forcing herself to steady. "I saved him," she said softly. "That's all I did."
But her mind wouldn't stop replaying it — the council, the chaos, Caden choking, and her rushing forward, using what she had left in her torn pack: the powder, the vial, the reed she'd cut for air. Her fingers had trembled, blood had slicked her hands, but she'd acted before thinking.
Then the glow. That strange, cold flicker she hadn't noticed until later — the shimmer on her palms as she pressed them to his throat.
The one that was back now.
Anna closed her eyes, shaking her head "this is soooo exhausting," she whispered to herself. "Maybe it's just shock."
She was still whispering when the door opened.
"Anna?"
She turned. Daniel stood in the doorway, shadows curling around him from the torch behind. He looked like he hadn't slept... his shirt half-tucked, his hair damp, eyes ringed dark.
"You shouldn't be here," she said, her voice rough.
"I had to see you."
Her laugh was low, cracked. "To make sure I'm not some demon in disguise?"
He stepped closer, careful but steady. "To make sure you're all right."
She looked down at her hands, flexing them slowly. "I don't even know what that means anymore."
Daniel's voice softened. "You saved my brother. Whatever you did, it kept him alive."
Anna swallowed hard. "I used what I knew ….medicine, tools, things I brought from home. That's all. But they look at me like I traded my soul for it."
"They don't understand what you are," he said quietly.
She met his eyes. "Do you?"
His answer was honest, if hesitant. "No. But I want to."
She let out a shaky breath, half-smile, half-grimace. "Be careful what you wish for."
Daniel moved closer. The faint metallic glow under her skin caught his attention; he reached for her hand, hesitating. "You're trembling."
"It hasn't stopped since that night."
He held her gaze. "What did you hear, when you touched him?"
Her lips parted …. she hadn't told anyone that part. "A voice. It said… I took something that wasn't mine."
He frowned. "You think that's real?"
She didn't answer.
Daniel squeezed her hand once before letting go. "You're not losing your mind, Anna. The rift brought you here for a reason."
"Then tell me why," she whispered. "Because every time I close my eyes, I see it again. His face. My hands. That… light."
Daniel took a breath. "If it's real, we'll find out. If it's not….."
"Then I'm cursed," she finished for him, bitter.
"No," he said. "Then you're just lost."
She looked away, blinking fast. "And what if being lost means dragging everyone with me?"
He didn't answer right away. "Then I'll make sure you find your way before that happens."
She looked up at him then, and for the first time since she'd fallen into this world, something almost like warmth touched her expression. "You shouldn't promise that."
He smiled faintly. "I'm not good at breaking promises."
For a heartbeat, the air between them felt still …. fragile, charged, full of things neither dared say aloud.
Then Daniel stepped back, clearing his throat. "Rest. You've done enough for one lifetime."
When he reached the door, she whispered, "Thank you."
He paused but didn't turn around. "Don't make me regret it."
Then he was gone, the door closing softly behind him.
The quiet that followed wasn't peace. It was heavier than before, thick with leftover words.
Anna sat still, staring at the closed door, trying to steady the tremor in her hands.
Then, another knock. Softer. Hesitant.
She frowned. "Daniel?"
The door opened again.
It wasn't Daniel.
Lorian Vale stepped in …. tall, angular, his cloak damp from the rain. His eyes, sharp and unreadable, swept the room before landing on her.
"I see he still forgets to lock doors," Lorian murmured. "Good thing I'm the one checking them."
Anna stiffened. "who are you."
"I am Daniel's friend," Lorian said. "And his father's soldier. That makes me your friend too ….. for now."
"Is this another interrogation?" she asked.
"Call it a conversation."
He pulled up a chair from the corner and sat, the weight of his presence filling the small room. "I came to see what sort of woman saves a man with powders and knives while the priests call it heresy."
"I saved him because I could," she said flatly. "Not to be worshiped. Not to be burned."
Lorian studied her. "You talk like someone who's used to being believed."
"Not lately."
He leaned forward. "How did you know what to do?"
"I'm a pharmacist. I studied medicine in my world."
He tilted his head. "Your world."
"Yes. A place without magic. Without your gods."
He smiled faintly, though it didn't reach his eyes. "And yet, when you touched him, every torch in that chamber flickered."
"That wasn't me."
"Wasn't it?"
Her jaw tightened. "I don't know what it was. But it wasn't magic."
He nodded slowly. "Then maybe magic isn't what we thought."
They sat in silence for a while.
Finally, Lorian said, "You've changed something in this house. Everyone feels it. Even Garrick pretends he doesn't."
Anna exhaled. "I didn't mean to."
"That's how most storms begin."
He stood, pulling his cloak tighter. "You should sleep. You'll need strength for what's coming."
She frowned. "What is coming?"
Lorian paused at the door, glancing back. "This house has kept its secrets buried for a long time. You've started to dig."
Then he left, closing the door behind him.
Outside, Daniel was waiting in the corridor, his arms folded.
"You always did like walking into storms," he said quietly.
Lorian gave a thin smile. "I'm only making sure the wind doesn't blow the roof off."
Daniel didn't smile back. "You think she's dangerous."
"I think she's a mirror," Lorian said. "And mirrors don't lie."
He walked away, boots echoing down the hall.
Daniel stayed where he was, staring at the closed door to Anna's room until the torch burned low.
Later that night, the castle was silent. The rain had stopped, but the air felt heavy, like the world was holding its breath.
In another room, Caden stirred in his sleep. Elara, his wife, sat beside him, brushing damp hair from his forehead.
He mumbled something …. words she didn't understand. She leaned closer.
"Cade?"
His eyes opened for a moment, distant and glassy. "She… burned," he whispered.
Elara frowned. "Who?"
But he had already fallen back into restless sleep, the faintest shadow crossing his expression.
Elara stayed awake long after, staring at the window where the rainwater ran in silver trails down the glass.
Somewhere deep in the keep, beneath the weight of stone and memory, something stirred — faint as breath, slow as waking.
Back in Anna's room,she sat on the edge of her bed, wide-eyed and trembling.
Her hands still glowed faintly.
She whispered, "What are you doing to me?"Why meee…..
And the whisper, soft and cruel, answered from within:
"You opened the door, Anna. Now you must see what walks through."