Kelly POV
I knew something was wrong that morning, but I pushed it down to jitters for the ongoing meetings and assigning of roles in the coming war.
It wasn't psychic cognition, I didn't have the gift, or the curse, the shimmering second sight that threaded through my brother's blood or burned like a star inside Elena. What I had was quieter; there was a tension beneath my skin. A sense of misalignment, like the day had started on the wrong foot and never corrected itself.
The morning Adrian, Elena, and the team moved to dismantle the underground cell, I woke with the taste of copper in my mouth and the irrational certainty that if I blinked too long, something precious would vanish.
I tried to shake it off.
I brewed coffee I didn't drink. I reorganized files that were already pristine. I triple-checked logistics timetables I'd memorized weeks ago. From the outside, I looked useful, calm, and efficient.
