Page 127 of Daughter of the Serpent

His voice dropped lower, the rough edges softening, yet no less intense. "He lives now only because of you. Because of your goodness."

The words rooted her in place.

"Why else would you be able to do the things you’ve done?" His eyes bore into hers. "You healed Baldr. You healed Thyra. Not through will, not by chance - but through yourlight."

His gaze sharpened, as if urging her to understand, to see what he saw so clearly.

“You need to understand, Sylvie - no one can channel magic like that unless it’s already there.” Her pulse pounded as he reached for her hand pressing it to her chest, his fingers grazing hers with the gentlest touch, yet she felt it everywhere.“Within.”

Her eyes widened.

“Your power comes from the core of who you are - your true essence.” His breath brushed against her cheek. “Sylvie.” His eyes held hers fiercely.

“Youarethe light.”

She shook her headin disbelief.

“I - I don’t believe it…”

“It’s the truth.” His words came swiftly, firmly, with no room for argument. “And you need to hear it.”

She could only sit there, frozen, as his words settled over her like a force she wasn’t prepared for. They pressed against her chest, too vast, too impossible to grasp.

Yet, in the depths of his gaze, she saw it - saw the way he looked at her as if he had always known. As if he had always seen her.

Not as a villain.

Not as the child of sin and fault.

Just her.

Justlight.

A hollow ache opened in her chest, sharp and unrelenting. She had never felt so exposed, so cracked open wide.

How could she be light, when all she had ever been told was that she was darkness?

It didn’t seem possible. And yet…

If what he said was true, it would change everything.

A tremor ran through her hands. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. Under his gaze, under the weight of something too raw, too real, she could only sit in silence.

Could she really be what he saw her to be?

Her throat tightened.

A part of her wanted to believe him. Wanted to take his words and tuck them away like something precious, keeping them deep inside her heart where no one could ever take them away. Where she could stay lost in this moment. Because here, for the first time, someonesawher.

Hesaw in her - enough to fight for her, to try and help her see the truth, even when she resisted.

And it was in that moment, with startling clarity, that she understood.

Axel wasn’t just her mentor.

He had become something else entirely.

Her heart clenched, the realization stealing the breath from her lungs. Despite the walls she had built, despite every effort to resist such a possibility, something had shifted - a door, long bolted shut, now stood ajar. Somehow, day by day, little by little, she had let him in.

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