-Alexia-
I didn't mean to disappear.
I just couldn't face the world.
The dorm room was dim, sunlight seeping through the edges of the curtains like a memory I didn't want to remember. I hadn't left this room since they brought me back from the Council Chamber. The magic inside me… it wasn't gone, but it felt sealed off. Like a door had been slammed shut deep in my chest, and no matter how hard I pushed, I couldn't open it.
I curled deeper into the pile of blankets, forehead pressed to my knees. I hadn't cried. Not really. There were tears, sure, but they came hollow, without fire—just quiet, exhausted sadness. Grief. Rage. Embarrassment.
Knock. Soft. Hesitant.
"Alexia?" Kaia's voice floated in from the other side. "I made that lemon cake you like."
I said nothing. I couldn't. I didn't want cake. I wanted answers. I wanted to scream. I wanted to feel something other than this numb pressure behind my ribs.
"I know you're hurting," she said, voice quieter now. "But shutting us out won't help."
Tell that to the Council.
Finn hadn't left.
He was the only one I let in. He stayed curled up at the edge of my bed, not touching me unless I reached for him. And when I did, he didn't ask questions. He just let me fall apart in silence, piece by broken piece.
"Kaia," Finn said softly from the chair in the corner, "give her time."
Kaia sighed on the other side of the door. "Alright. But if you want to talk—or yell, or cry—I'm here."
Her footsteps faded. The silence returned.
"Thanks for not leaving," I murmured, voice hoarse.
Finn stood and walked over. He didn't lie beside me right away. Instead, he sat on the floor near the bed, resting his head against the mattress.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said. "Not after that."
I shifted slightly, my hand finding his.
"I didn't even know what they were doing. I thought they were going to… lecture me, or warn me, or something." My voice cracked. "I didn't know they'd take it."
He nodded slowly, jaw clenched. "Neither did I. I tried to stop them."
"Did it hurt?" I asked.
"Watching it happen?" His fingers squeezed mine. "More than I expected."
Silence stretched between us again.
"I feel like I can't breathe," I whispered. "Everything feels… off."
"I know," he said. "It's like they put a lock on part of you. And none of us know where the key is."
I wanted to ask if he still felt the bond. If I was even still me without that wild, chaotic fire inside. But I couldn't form the words.
"Jasper and Soren tried to come by earlier," Finn said gently. "They're worried."
I shook my head. "I can't see them. Not yet."
"Alright."
He didn't push. He just sat there, letting me be broken beside him.
And I clung to the quiet, steady weight of his presence.
But the question burned too hot to ignore.
"Finn?" My voice was smaller than I liked.
"Yeah?"
"Why did Asher do it?" I turned my head just enough to look at him. "Why would he tell the Council? He had to know what they'd do. He had to know what it would cost."
Finn's jaw clenched again. He looked down, and when he spoke, his voice was low and raw.
"I don't know," he said. "I've been asking myself the same thing."
I waited.
"And believe me," He added, voice thick with fury, "I tried to beat the answer out of him."
My breath caught.
"You…hit him?"
He nodded once. "Punched him in the face. Twice. Might've been more if Soren and Jasper hadn't dragged me off him."
I didn't know how to feel. Part of me was horrified, but another part - deeper, darker - felt a flicker of grim satisfaction.
"Did he say anything?" I asked. "When you hit him?"
Finn shook his head. "Not much. He looked…like he hated himself. Like he wanted to fight back and couldn't. Or wouldn't."
My chest twisted.
"I just -" My throat burned. "I don't understand. After everything…why?"
I nodded slowly, not because I believed him - yet - but because I wanted to.
Because I needed something to hold onto, and Finn had always been that something.
Even when everything else was breaking.