Chapter 168

Maren

I don’t sleep.

I drift—half in, half out—like the tide caught between pulling back and surging forward, never quite deciding which it wants more. Every time I close my eyes, the world presses closer, not with sound or vision but with weight. Awareness. Expectation.

When I finally sit up, it feels like I’m surfacing from deep water.

Kaelen is still asleep beside me, stretched out awkwardly on