POV: Soraya
The courtyard reeked of blood and smoke.
The raiders were gone, but the damage they left behind stretched across the stone like ugly red paint—splattered walls, broken weapons, cries from wolves who hadn’t yet realized how hurt they were. The wind blew sand over the patches of blood almost gently, as if trying to hide the violence that had happened here.
Vienne rushed toward the wounded first, snapping at warriors and healers to move aside. Kaide barked orders with clipped rage, forcing warriors into formation to secure the perimeter. Everyone was moving—running, shouting, gasping—
And I stood rooted to the center of it all.
A wolf collapsed beside me, clutching his abdomen. “Healer! Someone—!”
His blood pooled beneath him, dark and fast.
The healers were too far. Too busy.
My hands trembled.
I didn’t think.
My body moved like something inside me took control.
I dropped to my knees and pressed my palms over his wound.
“Soraya—don’t—” someone shouted.
Too late. The light exploded from me. Warm—blinding—gold-white.
It surged through my fingers and spilled across the wolf’s body, crawling through his skin like threads of moonlit flame. His breathing hitched, then evened. His bleeding slowed. His eyes snapped open in shock.
He stared at me like I wasn’t flesh and blood, but something holy. Or monstrous.
I ripped my hands back. They glowed faintly, trembling, burning with leftover energy.
“I didn’t… I didn’t mean—” My voice failed.
Another cry ripped across the courtyard.
A young warrior, barely more than a trainee, fell against the wall, clutching his leg. Blood poured between his fingers. “Please—help—”
The healers were still too far.
Before I could think, before fear had time to stop me, I ran to him.
The moment my hands touched his skin, that same blazing warmth shot through me. The boy gasped, muscles tightening, back arching—
Then went still.
The light flickered away, leaving him breathing evenly, wound closing beneath my palms.
I jerked my hands back again, panting.
This time, the courtyard went silent.
Wolves who minutes earlier had been fighting for their lives now stood frozen, staring at me. Some in awe. Some in terror. Some in complete disbelief.
Someone whispered, “Zehrael witch…”
Another corrected softly, “No… Moon-marked.”
I didn’t know which one hurt more.
My heart hammered against my ribs as I looked at my glowing hands. They dimmed slowly, as if fed on breath. The sensation was strange—not painful, but overwhelming. Too much. Like trying to hold sunlight inside my veins.
A third warrior lay bleeding against the stone steps, and my feet started moving again.
I didn’t even touch him fully this time—my fingertips grazed his shoulder, and the energy cracked open effortlessly, spreading warmth into his body. His wounds healed within seconds. His breathing steadied.
The courtyard filled with murmurs.
“She healed him.”
“She healed all three.”
“That shouldn’t be possible—”
“Zehrael stories were myths.”
“No one has done this in generations—”
I stepped back, shaking.
Too much.
Too many eyes.
Too much pressure.
Too much power I didn’t understand.
The light continued to pulse around my hands, faint but steady.
I backed up until my shoulders hit a pillar.
Some wolves stepped toward me as though drawn by instinct. Others shrank back, afraid. A few dropped to one knee, unsure if this made me sacred or dangerous.
I didn’t feel sacred.
I felt like I was coming apart.
My breath shook violently. “I didn’t mean to— I just—”
“She saved them.”
“She saved three warriors who should’ve died.”
“Maybe she’s not a curse.”
“Maybe she’s a blessing.”
I didn’t know whether to run or collapse.
Then I saw him.
Kaide stood near the edge of the courtyard, half in the shadow of a broken column. His arms were crossed over his chest, his expression unreadable. Not afraid. Not angry. Not shocked the way the others were.
He watched me like one studies a sunrise—slowly, reverently, head slightly tilted as though the view pulled at something deep inside him.
His eyes tracked every motion of my trembling hands.
He didn’t move toward me. He didn’t call my name. He didn’t even blink. But there was something in his gaze I had never seen before.
Wonder. Slow, dawning wonder.
As if he had always known there was something different about me, but not like this. Not something so powerful or so blinding or so impossible. Not something that could change the shape of war.
Our eyes locked.
The world quieted.
I shook my head, terrified of what he saw, terrified of what this meant.
Kaide didn’t look away.
He stepped forward once—not close, not enough to reach me. Just one deliberate step.
A vow without words. A promise he didn’t speak but I heard anyway:
I see you. All of you. And I am not afraid.
My chest tightened. My eyes burned with a different kind of tears—not fear, not guilt. Something else I couldn’t name.
Around us, the courtyard burst into motion again—healers rushing to the newly stabilized warriors, someone shouting orders at the returning patrol, wolves arguing about what my power meant.
But Kaide didn’t look away.
Not until I did. I lowered my hands, the glow fading completely. And for a moment—one brief, fragile moment—I wasn’t cursed.
I wasn’t hunted. I wasn’t unwanted. I was something else. Something powerful and something alive.