Chapter 140

Kai

The ceiling above me was a haze of pale light and spinning shadows.

Liam left the room, thankfully without asking more questions. Because truth be told, I didn’t know how I was going to answer any of his questions. I didn’t even want to answer them.

My skull throbbed like a drum, every heartbeat another echo of the moment everything had gone black. Claire’s face flickered in the back of my mind like a broken reel, her voice, cold and sure, a whisper I couldn’t quite forget even as my body failed me.

I remembered her words.

I remembered the blow.

And I remembered that there had been another girl with her, someone smaller, softer, hovering at the edge of the scene like a shadow. But her face… no matter how hard I tried to pin it down, it slid away like smoke.

I clenched my teeth, forcing myself upright. The world tilted, but I stayed sitting. The faint sounds of voices outside the infirmary were muted, Alaria’s anger rising and fadi