Chapter 113

Kaelen

Something’s wrong.

I know it before I’m fully awake.

Before my eyes open.

Before the world even has a chance to assemble itself into trees and sky and breathing and Maren.

The wrongness isn’t loud.

It’s not a scream or a sudden shock.

It’s a thread.

Thin, cold, threaded under everything — under the ground, under my skin, under the fire that’s always been mine.

I feel it first in my chest.