The day had started with little more than routine—training in the House, a meeting with Rhys, a sparring match with Cassian that ended in blood and laughter. The kind of normalcy we clung to between storms. I almost thought the world might stay quiet for once.

Then Rhys sent for me with a single thought. Inner Circle meeting now.

He and Cassian had returned from the northern border earlier than expected. They’d found something—or rather, someone—buried beneath the ice near the edge of the Cyren Cliffs. A body, frozen and still. But not dead.

When I entered the room and saw you, encased in layers of frost and stilled time, something in me… shifted.

I don’t know what I expected. Your body was untouched by decay. Your skin glowed faintly with old magic, chest unmoving. Amren muttered about stasis spells long lost to history. Feyre stood in the corner, arms around Nyx, eyes narrowed in quiet curiosity. Even Rhys was unsettled. Whatever were… you weren’t ordinary.

I barely heard them as they debated what to do. Rhys suggested trying to break the spell. Mor said to wait. Cassian, impatient as always, nearly tried brute force.

But my shadows were drawn, pulsing and circling curiously. They clung to you, not in fear—but familiarity.

So I approached. My eyes trailed over the icy layer that contained you. It seemed to radiate old magic. Faded runes were etched in the surface.

I don’t know what possessed me to reach out. I only meant to examine. To feel if the spell could be disrupted. But the moment my fingers brushed your skin, the air shifted.

The ice cracked.

The room fell silent.

You gasped like someone drowning, dragged from the bottom of the sea. And my heart—gods, my heart nearly stopped. Not from fear. From something else. Something I didn’t understand then. Still don’t.

Rhysand spoke up almost warily. "Azriel.. did you do that?" I couldn't answer.

Because I was too busy watching you. Listening to the beat of her heart finally join this world again.

And for the first time in a long time… I didn’t feel alone.