Sarafina POV
The world didn't end when I opened my eyes, but it didn't stay the same either. Morning light bled through my curtains in thin gold lines, dust shimmering in the beam. My head felt wrong. Too full. Too loud. My pulse thudded against my throat with the rhythm of a second heartbeat, an echo I couldn't shake.
For a moment, I just lay there, breathing shallowly, trying not to think about everything that has been happening….
No. I couldn't bury it anymore.
The dream.
The vision.
Whatever it was.
That alley. Those shadows. That glint of metal. That voice calling me something I didn't understand.
And then, the eyes. Silver. Shinning.
A man emerging from the darkness as though he belonged to it.
His face was sharp, severe, carved out of winter and shadows. I remembered the way he looked at me, not with anger, not with recognition, but with something deeper. Something that crawled under my skin and stayed there.
But I didn't know him. I'd never met him. I was sure of that.
So why did my chest feel tight whenever I thought about him?
A shiver crept down my spine. I pushed myself upright, wincing at the dull ache pulsing behind my eyes. A migraine, I told myself. Just a migraine. And stress. So much stress that my brain was inventing strangers with glowing eyes.
I dragged a hand through my hair and swung my legs off the bed.
That's when I heard it.
A soft sound. Breathing,in my apartment. I froze.
Heart hammering, I tiptoed to the edge of the hallway and peeked into the living room. He was there.
Cassian.
Asleep on my couch, one arm draped over his eyes, chest rising and falling in a slow, exhausted rhythm. His clothes were different dark jacket, dark shirt rumpled like he'd been out all night. A faint smear of something dark stained his sleeve. Dirt? Soot? Something else entirely?
I swallowed hard.
Had I…? Had he been there when I fell asleep? I remembered him walking me home, sitting with me, I remembered him gently telling me I needed rest.
But I didn't remember him staying.
And I definitely didn't remember him coming back inside.
Did he leave?
Did he return?
Did he… go somewhere in the middle of the night?
My stomach tightened.
I stepped closer, my bare feet silent against the floor. "Cassian?"
He didn't stir.
I tried again, softer. "Cassian."
This time his breath hitched, just slightly, before he lowered his arm and blinked awake, slowly, as if dragging himself out of something deep.
When his eyes opened, they weren't their usual warm brown.
They were cold. Sharp. Alert.
Then they softened the moment he saw me.
"Sara…? Hey." He pushed himself upright, wincing like his muscles hurt. "Did I wake you?"
"No," I said, though my voice sounded thin even to my own ears. "You're still here?"
He exhaled, long and tired. "You had a rough night. I wanted to make sure you were okay."
Right.
Except something in his face didn't match the gentleness in his tone. There was a tension there, a tightness around his jaw, a strain in the way he held himself that suggested something had happened.
Something he didn't want me to know. I glanced at his sleeve again. That dark stain wasn't dirt.
It looked like blood.
My breath stuttered.
"Cassian… were you in a fight?"
His eyes flicked to his sleeve for the briefest second before he gently tugged his jacket straighter to cover it. "Don't worry about that."
"I wasn't worried," I lied.
"I'm just… confused."
He stood, crossing the small space between us with quiet steps. "Sara. Look at me."
I did.
He lifted a hand slowly, like he was approaching a wild animal, and brushed his thumb over my cheek. "You scared me last night. You looked pale and shaken, and you kept saying you felt… wrong." His voice dropped. "I wasn't going to leave you alone like that."
My throat tightened.
He was right. I had felt wrong. And I still did.
A sharp pulse flared through my skull, making me wince. His hand fell instantly. "You okay?"
"I… yeah."
No. Not even remotely.
The vision surged again behind my eyes the alley, the cold metal, the voice….
The stranger with the silver eyes.
"It wasn't just a nightmare," I whispered.
Cassian went still.
"I saw something," I continued. "A memory. Or… or something pretending to be one." I pressed a hand to my forehead. "There was a man. He…..he was standing in the shadows. And the way he looked at me…."
"Describe him," Cassian cut in, voice low.
I blinked. "I….I don't know. I mean, I do, but it doesn't make sense."
"Try."
"He was tall. Dark hair. Strong jaw. And his eyes… they were silver. Glowing." I shook my head. "He felt familiar. But I've never met him."
Cassian's expression didn't move.
Not a twitch. Not a flicker.
But his entire aura, the air around him, seemed tightened. Like he had just been shot.
Silver eyes.
Why did that detail feel dangerous?
"Do you know him?" I asked quietly.
"No," he said too quickly. "No, Sarafina. I don't."
My heart skipped.
He'd never called me Sarafina before. Not unless something was wrong.
"What aren't you telling me?" I whispered.
The hurt that flashed across his face was so raw I almost reached for him. But he shut it down instantly, smoothing his expression back into something careful, practiced.
"I'm telling you what I can," he said softly. "Right now, what matters is you. Your safety. Whatever you saw it was just a dream."
It wasn't. I knew it wasn't.
But before I could push him, a sudden surge of heat slammed through my chest.
I gasped, clutching the table for balance.
"Sara?" Cassian moved fast, grabbing my shoulders as my vision blurred.
The world tilted, silver flashed in my mind—the stranger turning toward me —"You shouldn't be here."
I choked on a breath and stumbled. Cassian held me upright, alarm slicing through his carefully calm tone.
"What happened?" he demanded. "Talk to me."
"I… I don't know." I pressed my hand to my sternum. "My heart…. it felt like it was going to explode."
He studied me with eyes that suddenly seemed too knowing. "Did this happen before? Recently?"
"Yes," I admitted quietly. "Yesterday… before everything."
His jaw tightened.
"Sara," he murmured, "you need to stay close to me today. Just until we figure out what's going on."
"I don't want to be a burden."
"You're not." His grip gentled. "You never are."
My pulse was still racing. My skin buzzed. The world felt… heightened. Like every sound, every light, every flicker of movement carried weight.
Something was happening to me. Something I didn't understand.
And Cassian… He knew something. Maybe not everything, but something important.
I stared at him. "Cassian… why do I feel like I'm losing my mind?"
He didn't answer.
He just pulled me into a quiet, steady hug. But even pressed against him, I could feel it. The tension. The fear.
The lie he hadn't spoken.
And the unspoken truth hovering in the silence:
Something was coming. Something tied to my visions. Something tied to that man with silver eyes. Something Cassian was terrified I'd remember.
And as I closed my eyes, I swore I heard a whisper in my mind:
"We've met before."
I jerked away, breath catching.
Cassian frowned. "Sara?"
But I couldn't answer. Because the world around me suddenly felt too bright, too loud, too alive
And I knew, this was only the beginning.