Page 105 of Elemental Becoming

Then everything is swallowed by darkness.

And Isee.

She is ageless.

Her skin is pale in a way that does not belong to the living, smooth and untouched by sun or time. Her lips are the color of fresh blood, curving into a smile that could be a promise or a threat.

Her eyes—silver, luminous, bottomless. Not soft like moonlight, but sharp like steel catching the light.

White hair spills down her back like silk. Her nails taper into blood-red points.

She wears elegance like armor, her robes dark enough to swallow the light around them.

She moves with the certainty of something that has never once doubted itself, as though the very world bends to make room for her.

She does not raise her voice.

She does not need to.

Her power is in the way people hold their breath when she enters a room, in the way even the strongest warriors look away too quickly.

She is not loud. She is not chaotic.

She is inevitable.

The Shadeheart.

I blink as light and color slam back into the world.

I’m back in the shop.

Mirelle still grips my hands. Rian’s warm hand remains locked on my shoulder. Lyra stands in front of me, eyes wide.

Then Mirelle speaks again.

“The wound is already open.”

She throws her head back, gray coils cascading down her back. Her pupils constrict to pinpoints against the startling blue of her irises.

“And she has already begun reaching for him.”

Her hands suddenly release mine.

Air rushes back into my lungs.

Mirelle stumbles backward, blinking rapidly behind her spectacles.

“What in the gods . . . ” she whispers.

A beat.

“Shit. Not again.”

Then she looks up at me, genuine concern flickering across her face.

“What did I say?”

Rian bends forward, bracing his hands against his thighs as he pants heavily. “I don’t feel right.”