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✦ AELINNE — The Weight Inside Her Chest
Aelinne stayed on the floor long after Lior's footsteps faded down the hall.
Her pulse throbbed in uneven waves, the magic inside her spine shifting like water that didn't belong in her body. Every breath felt like it scraped against something sharp lodged behind her ribs.
She pressed both hands over her heart.
It didn't help.
Nothing helped.
The bond—whatever it was—felt like a bruise on her soul, dark and tender, pulsing with a rhythm she didn't understand.
And she hated how familiar it felt.
It wasn't hers. It wasn't witch-born. And it wasn't supposed to exist.
Aelinne dragged herself onto the bed, curling into the pillows as if hiding would force the world to leave her alone. But the bond pulsed again—warm, sharp, and intrusive.
She bit her lip hard.
Why can't I breathe?
Why do I feel like I'm being pulled toward a place I've never been?
Or toward a person I barely know?
Her eyes burned.
She wished she could blame the hunters. The exhaustion. The training. Anything.
But this was different.
This was inside her.
Her magic flickered like a candle in a storm, sparking against her fingertips. Not like the controlled, bright power she grew up mastering—this felt older. Wilder. Like something had awakened in her that didn't remember being asleep.
Aelinne squeezed her eyes shut.
She wanted quiet.
She wanted stillness.
She wanted freedom from the expectations, the rules, the council, the kingdom.
But instead—
She felt trapped inside a body she didn't recognize.
A soft knock broke her thoughts.
"Aelinne?" Lior again, voice gentler this time. "I brought you water."
She forced herself to sit up.
She tried to sound normal. "I'm fine."
"You're lying," he said through the door.
Of course he knew.
He always knew.
Her voice cracked. "Just… leave it outside."
Silence. Then footsteps retreating.
Aelinne let out a shaky breath.
Her heart pulsed again—too fast.
Too loud.
Like something was calling to her.
Dragging her.
She covered her ears.
"Stop," she whispered to whatever force clung to her bones. "Stop, stop…"
But it didn't.
It only grew sharper.
Her magic crackled again, reacting to something distant—far beyond the castle walls.
Something alive.
Something that felt like…
Him.
She curled forward, pressing her forehead to her knees.
"I just want to be free," she whispered to the empty room. "I just wanted one night. One moment. One life that's mine."
Her voice broke.
"And now everything is worse."
A tear slid down her cheek.
She didn't wipe it.
Because deep down she knew:
Whatever had awakened inside her the night she met the stranger…
Wasn't finished with her.
Not even close.
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