Ines' eyes fluttered open, the ceiling of the infirmary swimming above her in a haze of light.
Her breath caught, and then the memory slammed back into her with brutal clarity.
Noah's smirk, the sudden tilt of his head, the touch of his hand on her shoulder, the roar that had rattled her bones, the cold that had stolen every thought from her mind, and the rot that had eaten its way into her flesh.
For the first time in her life, she had been powerless. Helpless. Dying.
And she had seen it. Him.
The truth of the boy they whispered about. Not a classmate. Not a summoned hero. Not even a man.
Destruction.
The word echoed in her chest like a curse.
Her heart hammered as she turned her head, and her golden eyes found him.
Noah Webb sat calmly in the chair beside her bed, arms folded, as if he had all the time in the world.
His orange eyes glowed faintly in the light of day, watching her with an almost clinical detachment.
