Page 44 of A Sunwoven Ascent

“Yes,” Selene breathed. “That’s it. Don’t rush. Let it go.”

Lorena’s fingers remained at Alaric’s wrist, her eyes flicking between him and Cillian. “Pulse is steady,” she said. “You’re holding him. Stay with me, Cillian.”

Cillian swayed.

Lorena was already there, anchoring him by the elbow. “Easy,” she warned. “You’re not burning this time, but you’re emptying yourself.”

“I can finish,” Cillian said through clenched teeth.

“You are finishing,” Selene corrected calmly. “Now release.”

With one final, controlled exhale, Cillian drew the light back into himself, and the last of the black mist vanished. Silence settled hard over the room. Then Cillian’s knees gave way and Lorena caught him at once while Selene steadied his shoulders and eased him carefully down to sit. His face had gone pale, sweat darkening the hair at his temples, but he was still conscious. Still breathing.

Alaric drew in a deep, shuddering breath, and every eye turned back to him. Selene left Cillian to Lorena’s care and bent over Alaric, listening close to his chest.

“He’s coming back,” she whispered.

Alaric’s eyes opened slowly, hazy at first. He blinked, looking confused as his gaze moved across the ceiling.

“Is she…” His voice faltered. “Where is Heidara?”

Heidara let out a sound between a sob and a laugh and fell to her knees beside him. “I’m here,” she said, holding tightly to his sleeve. “I’m here.”

Alaric’s breathing eased almost immediately. His eyes found Heidara, and the fog in them began to clear. Relief touched his face. Then he looked beyond her.

Evelyne stood frozen, tears falling unchecked. When Alaric saw her, he lifted a shaking hand. The gesture was small, but meaningful. Evelyne gave a broken laugh and waved back, one hand rising to her lips as though she feared even a word might shatter the moment.

Kaldrek said nothing. He only watched.

This was real. Alaric was here. Truly here. And beneath Kaldrek’s ribs, something answered with a deep, steady thrum. Fear and relief both fell short of naming it. This was something older, something newly awakened, reminding him it had always been there.

Something of his own.

He knew it now as surely as he knew the beat beneath his skin. It had lived beside his instincts in silence, threaded through muscle, breath, and will. Not concealed, only uncalled. He had never known what to listen for, never guessed power could make itself known with such certainty, until Cillian’s light had surged through him. As though the two forces had recognized something in each other, meeting in balance rather than conquest, in purity rather than corruption.

Kaldrek curled his hands into loose fists, trying to quiet the pulse beneath his ribs. His gaze dropped to his palms, unbidden, as though they might reveal whatever had stirred awake inside him.

Selene glanced his way, her attention catching on him for a beat before returning to Cillian. She said nothing, yet something in her expression suggested she had noticed the change. Perhaps not its nature, but enough to know that something had shifted. Enough, maybe, to sense the pressure of whatever now strained inside him.

Kaldrek drew in a slow breath and anchored himself in the familiar weight of his own body.

Not now. Evelyne did not need another truth laid at her feet while hope still trembled so delicately in her chest. He would speak to Selene first, and quietly. The thought of Evelyne learning his magic had awakened, and worse, tracing it back to his inheritance, stirred a fear he did not care to examine too closely. That could wait until this moment had settled, until the miracle before them no longer seemed so fragile.

So he shifted his stance and remained silent while Selene and Lorena tended to Cillian and Alaric, and the room slowly eased into something resembling calm. Alaric was not healed, not fully, but the effort was working. Still, the pulse beneath Kaldrek’s ribs did not fade. And he knew that it never truly would again.

Chapter 21

“Are you hiding something from me?” Evelyne whispered the next morning.

Kaldrek turned toward her, the faint shadows beneath his eyes betraying a restless night.

“Do you feel that I am?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “Something feels different about you.” She leaned closer, lowering her voice. “You’ve always guarded your thoughts well, but your emotions have a way of slipping through our bond.”

A soft smile touched his mouth, but it didn’t reach his eyes. That was answer enough.

“What is it?” she pressed. “What are you keeping to yourself because you’re afraid of telling me?”