Chapter 88

*Elora*

Darkness pulsed behind my eyelids like a second heartbeat—dull, aching, constant.

It wasn’t the peaceful kind of dark, the type that blankets you when you sleep in your own bed, safe and warm. No. This darkness was jagged and clinging, heavy with something I couldn’t name. The first thing I registered, even before the pain, was the scent. Not blood. Not fire. Not even smoke. But earth. Da