I woke slowly, as if the world were rising in layers from a deep well.
At first, I didn't remember where I was. Or who I was.
Only the scent: wet earth, sweet smoke… and something metallic.
Iron.
Perhaps blood.
I tried to move. I couldn't—not because I was bound, but because my body wouldn't respond. My arms were stretched across a warm stone surface, my face turned toward a low-burning fire, my lips damp as if something bitter had been forced into me while I slept.
Then came the sounds.
Voices. Whispers. Bare feet against packed earth.
Women.
All women.
I forced my eyes open.
I was inside a stone circle, surrounded by low torches burning with a dense reddish flame. Around me stood at least half a dozen veiled figures—some standing, others kneeling. One held a carved branch etched with symbols. Another stirred a smoking bowl.
None spoke loudly.
My cloak was gone. I was still dressed, but stripped of anything unnecessary. Barefoot. My hair loose, damp at the ends.
Exposed.
As if they had tried to undress me without touching me completely.
One woman leaned toward me, her voice older than the others.
—Wake, child of foreign blood.
I blinked, meeting her gaze.
—Where am I?
—Where bonds are tested. Where false rituals are corrected. Where the island speaks… without interference.
Another woman approached, holding a clay cup filled with a dark liquid.
She offered it to me.
—Drink.
—What is it?
—It won't kill you —the first woman said—. If you are what he claims… you have nothing to fear.
My throat was dry.
I drank.
It burned.
And then the visions came.
Not dreams.
Not illusions.
Memories.
Not mine.
A red-haired boy. Barefoot. Dirt-stained hands. Playing beside another boy.
Draken.
I knew it without being told.
Not the corrupted version.
But one that had once been bright.
Alive.
Curious.
I saw them exploring the island's oldest corners. Sharing secrets. Blood. Oaths.
And then—
her.
A woman.
Not me.
Of the same kind.
Golden eyes filled with unbearable knowledge.
She was part of the island.
An extension of it.
I saw her take Declan's hand.
I saw him tremble.
I saw Draken watching from afar…
and something inside him break.
The vision shattered.
The cup fell from my hands.
The women closed in around me.
One knelt, holding my face.
—The island has recognized you —she whispered—. Not only as consort. As a channel. As a bridge. He did not choose you by chance.
—I didn't ask for this —I said, my voice breaking—. I just wanted answers.
The elder stepped forward.
—You were not brought by mistake. But neither by your own will. You have been marked. Now you must decide if you will carry that mark.
—And if I don't?
—Then no one will be able to protect you from what is coming.
The circle shifted.
Voices outside.
A name.
—Declan!
Too late.
A silent roar tore through the air.
And then—
he was there.
Declan entered without permission, without restraint, his presence alone enough to fracture the moment.
Mud clung to him. His eyes burned with a fury I had never seen before.
But when he looked at me—
everything else vanished.
—Let her go.
It wasn't an order.
It was something deeper.
Something that came from the soul.