Aurelia's POV
I didn't sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, the ground split beneath me again, silver light tearing through my veins while fire and water and wings wrapped too tightly around my ribs. My body remembered the pain even when the magic had quieted, like an echo that refused to fade.
By dawn, my hands were still trembling.
Lucien noticed first.
"You're burning up," he murmured, brushing his knuckles across my temple. His wings were gone, but his presence still felt impossibly solid, like gravity choosing me.
"I'm fine," I lied.
Raffyn snorted from across the clearing. "She's about as fine as a blade pulled straight from the forge."
Talon crouched near the fire, eyes sharp and unreadable. "Your grounding worked," he said to Silvara. "But it destabilized the territory."
Silvara didn't look surprised. "Of course it did."
The forest around us felt… alert. Birds didn't sing. Even the wind moved cautiously, as if waiting for permission.
"Magic doesn't like silence after pain," Silvara continued. "It answers it."
"Answer it how?" I asked.
She finally turned to me. "By calling its opposite."
The howl from the night before echoed again in my mind—deep, layered, too coordinated to be random.
Raffyn straightened slowly. "Scouts."
"Yes," Silvara agreed. "Nightfall."
Lucien's jaw tightened. "How close?"
"Close enough to smell her," Silvara said flatly.
My stomach dropped.
Talon rose to his feet. "Then we move. Now."
"No," Silvara said. "If you move her again without sealing what you opened, she'll shatter next time."
Raffyn's fire flared. "Then give us a solution."
Silvara's gaze returned to me. "You already found it."
I frowned. "Pain?"
She shook her head. "Choice."
The word landed heavily between us.
"You anchored through them," Silvara continued. "Not because they forced it—but because your power recognized balance. You didn't submit. You aligned."
Lucien's hand curled protectively at my back.
"But alignment isn't permanent," Silvara added. "Not without intent."
Talon inhaled sharply. "You're saying she needs to choose us."
Silvara's eyes flicked between the three of them. "I'm saying her magic already has."
Raffyn went very still. "And if she doesn't?"
"Then Jarek will exploit the instability," Silvara said. "He thrives on fracture."
The forest creaked suddenly.
Every head snapped up.
From the edge of the clearing, a shadow stepped forward—not fully formed, not solid. A projection.
Jarek Nightfall's voice slithered through the air.
"You learn quickly," he said pleasantly. "I wondered how long it would take you to bleed."
My chest tightened painfully.
Lucien moved instantly, wings erupting as he stepped between me and the projection. "You don't touch her."
Jarek laughed. "I don't need to. She's already reaching for me."
The silver beneath my skin pulsed in response, traitorous and alive.
Silvara hissed. "Do not answer him."
I clenched my fists, teeth grinding. "Get out of my head."
Jarek's shadow tilted. "Or what?"
The ground beneath his projection cracked.
Not from him.
From me.
Shock rippled through the clearing.
Talon stared at the fracture spreading outward from my feet. "Aurelia—"
"I said," I whispered, voice shaking but fierce, "get out."
The projection flickered violently.
Jarek's smile sharpened. "There you are."
The shadow dissolved into smoke—but not retreat.
A warning.
Raffyn exhaled slowly. "He's testing her boundaries."
Silvara nodded grimly. "And she pushed back."
Lucien turned to me, eyes blazing. "You should not have done that."
"I know," I said. "But I couldn't let him—"
Talon stepped closer, voice calm but intense. "You didn't lose control."
I blinked. "What?"
"You didn't lash out blindly," he said. "You directed it."
Silvara's lips curved slightly. "Pain taught her survival. Defiance teaches control."
My knees weakened.
Lucien caught me again, this time holding me like something precious rather than fragile.
Silvara straightened. "Jarek has his answer now."
Raffyn cracked his knuckles, fire dancing dangerously close to the surface. "Good. Because now he has ours."
I looked between them—three anchors, three forces, three lives now entangled with mine whether I wanted it or not.
Fear still lived in my chest.
But beneath it—
Resolve.
Because for the first time since this nightmare began, Jarek hadn't called me.
I had answered him.
And he had listened.