Selene did not say anything further; yes, she knew even she had secrets, but this was not like that.
She took a seat beside the bed, one hand braced against the mattress, the other hovering just above the girl's shoulder without quite touching her, as though even contact carried consequence now. The girl's words lingered in the air, not loud or dramatic, but heavy with the kind of meaning that refused to dissolve once spoken.
Selene had seen similar ones to those phrases buried in restricted records, etched into half-decayed tablets and encoded in data fragments flagged as obsolete or dangerous. They were never attached to prophecy in the theatrical sense, but to timing, to convergence points where systems failed not because they were broken, but because something older had arrived at the correct moment.
"You should rest," Selene said at last, her voice calm but firm. "Whatever reached for you took more than you realize. You need to let your body settle before we speak further."
The girl exhaled slowly, a faint sound that might have been agreement or resignation. "I don't think it's finished with me," she said quietly. "I just think it's… waiting."
Selene's gaze sharpened. "Then it will wait longer."
She reached for the glass of water on the nearby table and helped the girl drink, steadying her shoulders as she did. The girl's hands trembled faintly, though her grip was sure, her pulse still uneven beneath Selene's fingers but no longer spiraling. When she lay back, the tension in her body finally eased, muscles unclenching as exhaustion claimed ground.
The wards in Selene's quarters adjusted around them, not snapping into place but shifting like something learning. They did not suppress, did not contain, and observed. Selene felt it immediately and did not like how natural the adjustment felt.
"You're safe here," Selene said, partly for the girl and partly for the room itself. "Nothing crosses this threshold without my consent. What happened earlier, I will find an explanation. please just trust me."
The girl turned her head slightly, eyes half-lidded. "I know you had nothing to do with that, whatever this is, it is sneaky and that's not what I'm afraid of."
Selene sighed in relief when she heard that, and then she leaned closer. "Then what is?"
For a moment, the girl said nothing. Her fingers pressed lightly to her chest, not in pain, but as if sensing something deeper, something not fully anchored.
"When it started," she said slowly, "it wasn't like before. The visions didn't rush me. They didn't force anything. They watched. Like they were waiting to see if I would notice them."
"And did you?" Selene asked.
"Yes," the girl said. "Because you were there, you spoke to me like I was still… me. It felt familiar. Like remembering something I didn't know I had lost."
The admission settled between them, intimate without being fragile, dangerous in its honesty.
Selene straightened slightly. "And that changed what they did."
The girl nodded. "They stopped pushing me, yet they seem to know more of me than I do myself."
That aligned far too closely with what Selene herself had felt when she had reached into the girl's core, not forcing control but aligning, offering rhythm instead of resistance, which was unusual. The power had responded, not like a weapon, but like something recognizing a known pattern.
A soft knock sounded at the door.
Selene did not turn. "Leave us."
There was hesitation, then retreat. Whoever it had been knew better than to press when she was in that mood.
"They're afraid," the girl said quietly. "The council. The king. They don't know what I am; I saw it in the king's eyes, even though he pretended otherwise."
"I know and it is a normal reaction. They fear what they cannot define," Selene replied. "That does not give them the right to decide your fate."
"But it will make them try," the girl said.
Selene met her gaze. "And that is why you will learn before they force the issue."
Fatigue finally overtook the girl, her breathing deepening, lashes lowering as sleep claimed her. It was not peaceful, but it was stable, and Selene remained at her side until she was certain nothing else was stirring beneath the surface.
Only then did Selene allow herself to move.
The city beyond the window glimmered in structured perfection, spires and wards humming with quiet confidence. Selene knew better, she could feel the recalibration beneath the stone, the systems whispering to one another.
She had just turned away from the glass when the space shifted.
There was no warning.
No sound.
No buildup of power.
One moment the girl slept in Selene's quarters, the next the air folded inward, reality compressing with a sharp, disorienting pull that tore the ground out from beneath them.
Selene reacted instantly, arm snapping around the girl as everything twisted around them.
For a single, breathless instant, the girl was no longer asleep.
She was nowhere.
She glimpsed it then, the place between moments, between decisions, between worlds. It was not darkness, not light, but a vast, suspended stillness threaded with pathways that did not belong to time. She recognized it not as something new, but as something deeply, disturbingly familiar.
She had been there before.
Before this city and before she was thrown into this life, something watched from the edges, not hostile, not kind, simply aware.
"You should think about the consequences of being alive when you are not supposed to. This life does not belong to you; because of that, you will be known and targeted for many reasons. The ones you sense are abominations in their own rights for a reason, you and them are no different."
Her eyes widened in shock, but before she could ask the entity anything to clarify, the sensation collapsed and the tone reformed beneath them.
Air rushed back into her lungs.
They emerged inside the palace, reality locking into place with a resonant hum that echoed through vaulted halls layered with old power and older authority. Guards stiffened, wands flared, and then immediately settled, recognizing Selene even as they struggled to account for how she had arrived.
Selene swore under her breath.
"The king," she said tightly. "He didn't wait, he transported us here."
The girl steadied herself, heartbeat racing, her expression carefully neutral. Whatever she had seen lingered behind her eyes, vast and silent, but she said nothing.
Not a word, since Selene did not see or sense it.
She let Selene guide her forward as if nothing had happened, as if she had not just brushed against something that existed outside the city's understanding of reality.
But deep within her, something had shifted and as they were led deeper into the palace toward waiting eyes and unspoken judgments. As her eyes wandered, she glanced around and noticed someone peeking at her from behind a pillar with sharp purple eyes and she stiffened.