Chapter 49

Briar’s POV

Everything was quiet.

Not in the way silence normally is. This wasn’t just the absence of sound.

This... this was peace.

I didn’t feel pain anymore. No heaviness in my chest. No burning behind my eyes. No panic clawing at the edge of my lungs.

Just warmth.

Gentle warmth, wrapping around my limbs like velvet.

And light.

So much light.

I opened my eyes.

I wasn’t at the road with vampires anymore.

I was underwater.

I could breathe.

The water was so clear it felt like air. Light trickled in from above, dancing across the surface in golden ribbons. Everything glowed softly hues of blue and green and silver that shimmered with every tiny ripple.

I looked down. I still had legs.

No tail. No change. I wasn’t a fish.

And yet... it felt different.

My skin was glowing. Lines trailed up my arms like ink beneath the surface—glowing faintly, moving ever so slightly like they we