Page 161 of Savage Crown

SERAPHINA

The night air hits me like a blade.

Cold. Sharp. Unforgiving.

I gasp, my body trembling as we step out of the collapsing cave and into the open world again.

Everything feels too bright, too loud, too alive.

The stars above are unmoving, staring, watching.

Rylan’s hand is tight around mine, pulling me forward, away from the wreckage, away from the past.

We move through the jagged cliffs, the scent of smoke and earth and ancient dust clinging to my skin.

The treasure is heavy on our backs, gold and artifacts strapped in sacks, enough to buy empires, to start wars, to rebuild dynasties.

It should feel like victory.

But I can feel it now?—

The weight of something else.

Something… odd.

Rylan stops near a stream, his breath ragged, his body tense, every muscle coiled like a predator still expecting the next fight.

He turns to me, his eyes shadowed, searching.

"We should rest," he says, but it’s not a question.

I nod, though I don’t feel tired.

Not anymore.

Not the way I should.

He gestures toward the water. "Wash the blood off."

That’s when I notice I should be aching. I took a dagger to my ribs, I felt death itself press against my skin.

But there is no pain. There is no blood. There is nothing.

I step forward, my feet unsteady as I approach the water’s edge.

Kneel.

Lean forward.

And that’s when I see her.

Not me.

Her.

The woman in the reflection is not the same one who walked into that cave.

She has my hair—long, dark, unbound.

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