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Chapter 10: The Gathering Storm

Author: Anala
last update Last Updated: 2025-03-03 01:54:14

The world wasn’t standing still, but I was.

Maxwell had not released me, his grip firm, steady, as if he were afraid I might vanish again. The sanctuary walls, though still pounding with the echoes of the power I had unleashed, cocoons of bone and muscle and bone, loomed in my periphery, my mind somewhere else, stuck between darkness and light, between what I had seen and what had yet to pass.

I had chosen power.

Now, I had to live with it.

Maxwell’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Lena… you’re scaring me.”

I met his gaze, and for the first time in ages, I wasn’t afraid of what he might see. “Good.”

His brows knitted together; concern and another, too-complex-to-read emotion danced across his face. “You’re different.”

I took a deep breath, pressing my palm to my chest. I was steady of heartbeat, but everything else inside me turned and roiled. “I feel different.”

“Different how?”

I hesitated. How could I describe the feeling of standing at the brink of an abyss, looking down into it,
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