Lily
The world was already unraveling into ribbons of light as I forced my will toward the palace. My body had begun to thin, caught between here and there, when a sudden chill seized the magic.
A hand, cold as seawater, unyielding as stone, snatched me back. The lights shattered. I stumbled, crashing hard onto the earth.
James stood in front of me, the night bending around his form. His ghostly figure flickered between human and selkie, his eyes glinting with sorrow and fury all at once.
"Not another step, Lily," he growled, his voice carrying the echo of the deep. "You'll walk straight into his jaws."
"Move, James!" I spat, scrambling to rise. My palms burned with magic still desperate to carry me forward. "Elis is dying. I saw it. I have to go…"
His arm swept out, and the very air folded into a wall of water between us, shimmering, impenetrable.
"You'll lose more than Elis if you rush blind," James thundered, the sea's weight trembling in his words. "Zal waits for you there. Do you think he hasn't foreseen your desperation?"
My chest heaved, fury and fear twisting together. "Then what do you want me to do? Sit here and watch him fade?"
James's face softened, if only for a heartbeat. "I want you alive. And stronger than Zal when you face him. That is the only way you'll save Elis and yourself."
The light-barrier rippled, daring me to break it. My fingers curled, aching to tear through, but James's eyes held mine like anchors.
My fists clenched, sparks itching at my skin, but I forced them still. James didn't move, didn't speak but only stood there, a wall of storm and silence.
I drew in a breath sharp enough to sting and let the teleport unravel. The light died, leaving me heavy and rooted to the earth again.
When I lifted my gaze once more, James was still there, watching; unyielding, unblinking until the forest swallowed his form back into mist.
His warning clung to me like salt in the air as I turned away.
"Lily!" Nakoa's voice cut through, and then he was there, skidding to my side. I lay sprawled in the dirt, breath tearing ragged from my lungs.
He caught my arm, steadying me as I dragged in air, as if piecing myself back together bone by bone. Slowly, I pushed to my feet, brushing soil from my palms.
"I'm fine," I muttered, though the lie hung between us.
Nakoa said nothing, only fell in step behind me as I turned toward home, my cabin waiting in the shadows of the trees. His silence followed me all the way.
By the time the cabin came into view, my breath had steadied, though the weight of James's interruption still pressed against my ribs. Nakoa walked just a step behind me, his presence too close, too heavy.
I stopped short before the door and turned. "You can go now."
His brows pulled together. "No. My place is here—at your side. It is my destiny to serve you, Lily. That means staying with you, always."
My patience thinned. "No," I snapped, sharper than I intended. "There's no room for you in my cabin. Privacy matters to me more than your destiny. When I need you, I'll summon you."
The words hung like a blade between us. Nakoa's jaw tightened, but after a beat he dropped his gaze and gave a stiff bow. Without another word, he turned and walked back toward the trees.
I exhaled, pressing my palm against the door, craving the silence of my space. But the moment I stepped inside, my chest seized.
A man lounged on my couch like it belonged to him, one leg crossed over the other, a glass of wine dangling from his elegant fingers. His beauty was inhuman, too perfect, his presence filling every shadow. His aura alone betrayed him.
Zal.
He smirked, eyes glittering with dark amusement. "Welcome back, my grand witch. How was the installment?"
I froze where I stood, my tongue locked behind my teeth, silence my only defense.