Chapter 97

Kaelen

The current catches us like breath.

It doesn’t push or pull; it carries. The pressure that should crush my lungs feels like hands steadying me, guiding without restraint. Light coils upward through the water—amber, blue, white—each color born where magma and sea touched without destroying one another.

Maren’s hand is still in mine, warm even here. The sea glows through her skin; the pulse b