The next morning, the frost hadn't melted from the glass.
Kaelen stood alone by the greenhouse, the heat glyphs flickering to life beneath his palm. He didn't sleep—not after what Selene said. "The last time I followed that feeling… I died." It kept echoing through him, sharp and quiet like a blade drawn in the dark.
He wasn't sure if it was a metaphor or something worse. Not with her.
"I expected you'd be brooding," Seraphine said from behind him, her voice casual but precise.
Kaelen turned. She stood near the ivy arch, cloak half-tied, eyes scanning his face like a blade gauging weakness.
"You're not wrong," he said.
"Didn't say I was," she replied.
She stepped in, hands tucked behind her back, gaze flicking to the glow beneath his fingertips.
"You activated again last night. I felt it."
He didn't deny it.
Seraphine's lips twisted. "Was it her?"
Kaelen blinked. "What?"
"You only flare like that when it's about Selene," she said, stepping closer. "Or when you're lying to yourself about her."
His breath hitched. "I didn't come here for an interrogation."
"No," she said softly, "you came here because being near her scares you, and being near me doesn't."
He stiffened.
Seraphine's smile was bitter, but not cruel. "That's the difference. She's the storm that broke you open. I'm the one who knows how to keep you breathing after."
He didn't know what to say to that.
"I'm not angry," she added. "Not really. I just want to know if you see me in all this. Or if I'm just the safe place between the chaos."
Kaelen looked at her—really looked. The way her eyes shone in the filtered light. The way her hands trembled slightly when she tried to hide how much this mattered.
"You're not just a refuge," he said quietly.
"Then prove it," she said.
He stepped closer, inches now. The heat of the greenhouse shimmered between them. Her breath was shallow.
Kaelen raised a hand to her cheek, tentative. Seraphine didn't move away.
Their lips nearly met—until a glyph sparked behind Kaelen's eyes.
Not magic. A memory.
A garden. Blood. A scream.
He jerked back with a gasp, eyes wide.
Seraphine flinched like he'd slapped her. "What did you see?"
"I don't—" Kaelen shook his head. "It wasn't you. It was… another place."
The moment cracked. Seraphine's jaw tightened.
"Of course it was," she whispered, stepping away. "Always somewhere else. Always someone else."
Kaelen reached for her, but she was already walking.
He stood there alone, hand outstretched, the memory still burning behind his eyes.
She was screaming your name.But not this name.Not this life.