Miri's Pov
I woke to sudden movement above me.
For a second, disoriented in the dark, I thought it was another nightmare—the kind that had haunted me for weeks, where shadows crawled in the corners of the room, whispering Riven's name only to dissolve into nothing. My body jolted, heart racing, but then I blinked and forced my eyes to focus.
Caius was hunched forward, arms wrapped tight around someone. His entire body shook like he couldn't believe the weight he was holding was real.
The scent hit me before recognition did. Thick, overwhelming, heavy with something otherworldly—like smoke clinging to stone walls, like iron and spice left too long in the heat. The smell of the demon realm. Beneath it, faint but there, was something achingly familiar. A tether I would have known even in death.
My breath caught.
No. It couldn't be.
It was.
