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My raven brushes against the memory, sensing my difficulty in reconnecting with parts of myself I was forced to abandon.

I close the book and return it to its place, then send the raven out, using its eyes to reacquaint myself with Ravencross.

Varam said the Authority’s presence here is limited. I find the outpost, and watch as the patrols rotate. Their routes are clean. Predictable. It functions more as a monitoring station than a true occupation force.

Perfect.

Their overconfidence will be their downfall.

The raven continues its flight. I learn the layout of Ravencross through the shadows, identifying watch patterns, blind spots, unsecured thresholds. Mental notes form in sequence. Sentry timings, structural vulnerabilities, fallback points.

My power threads through the connection, growing steadier with each pass. Shadows stretch farther. Movement responds faster. Each passageway I map becomes part of me again. With each hour spent soaring above the sleeping town, I recover what was taken.

In the next room, Ellie sleeps.

Through shadow, I sense her restless movements, the twisting of limbs tangled in covers, the soft murmur of dreams that hold her captive.

What does she see?

Visions of her home—thisChicagoshe speaks of with such longing? Or visions of this one?

For a moment, I'm tempted to extend my awareness further. To taste the edge of her dreams. I could, if I wished to.

But I don’t.

Some boundaries shouldn’t be crossed without invitation.

And yet … my familiar strains toward her without my direction, drawn like a compass finding north. I pull it back sharply, unsettled by its behavior.

There’s something in her presence that disrupts the stillness I’ve learned to live with. The spell I cast was designed to seek resonance. I assumed it would reach someone in this realm. Someone capable of answering my call.

Instead, it foundher.

Across worlds. Through barriers no one else has breached.

Was it only the spell? Or something else?

What quality does she possess that allowed her to travel here? And can that same quality be used? Can I tap into it to return her to her world, as she so clearly desires?

I think back to the moments that followed her arrival. How the tower door opened to her touch. How the spell’s reach faltered and failed when she moved close to me. How the binding weakened in her presence.

These are not coincidences.

There’s a pattern here. And I must unravel it, if I’m to understand what role she may play in the future.

Thunder rumbles in the distance, a storm gathering aboveRavencross. My magic responds. Darkness deepens throughout the chamber, shadows pulling tight along the walls, drawing inward.

Something about the thunder resonates strangely. It moves through me, not just as sound, but sensation. A pressure I remember. One I haven’t felt since before the tower.

With morning comes the first true test of my return—assembling what remains of the Veinwardens, assessing our resources, and shaping what comes next.

The Authority believes their dominion is unchallenged. They will learn, soon enough, that the Shadowvein Lord has returned. And with me, the reckoning they’ve long believed impossible.

Chapter Seventeen

ELLIE

“When the body lies, the breath still betrays.”