Sarafina POV
Morning at the Arcanum had never felt this heavy.
The courtyard was quiet. Too quiet.
Usually by this time the witches would already be moving through the halls—training, studying, arguing over spellwork. Today their voices were hushed, their movements careful.
Everyone knew what had happened the day before, many had seen the battle, many had seen me.
I leaned against the stone railing overlooking the lower gardens, watching pale sunlight creep across the mountains beyond the Arcanum walls. The air was cold enough to sting my lungs when I breathed in.
Sleep had barely come.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw it again.
The vampires kneeling.
The ground cracking.
That pressure in the air.
The way even the Destroyer had looked at me.
Like I wasn't normal at all.
Footsteps approached behind me.
"You should be resting."
Cassian's voice.
I didn't turn around.
"I tried."
He stopped beside me, folding his arms over the stone railing.
