I leaned against the doorframe, gasping, before knocking softly, only to be met with silence. The seconds stretched on painfully, which was strange. Lucy always answered quickly, even when she was unwell.

My fingers shook as I twisted the knob. The door groaned in protest as it opened, and I slipped inside. “Lucy?” My voice echoed through the space. My eyes darted to the center table, where the mug I had left days ago still sat untouched. Something inside me dropped. “Lucy!” My voice cracked, louder this time. It was as if it didn't belong to me.

I found her on the floor of her room, wrapped in a blanket, trembling. “Oh, Moon Goddess…” I rushed to her side, feeling my fingers turn ice cold. She looked nothing like herself. Her lips were cracked, her cheekbones sharp, her once-warm eyes now hollow. In short, her skin was ghostly pale.

I knelt beside her quickly, lifting her head onto my lap, tears already blurring my vision. “I’m sorry, Lucy. Forgive me for not coming sooner. This is my fault. It’s always my fault.” My words broke into sobs.

“Shhh…” She managed a weak smile, though it cost her a cough. Her frail hand brushed at me faintly, making my heart tug. Panic thundered through me. What if the sharp pang of death I felt earlier… wasn’t mine? What if it had been hers instead? No, it couldn’t be. She couldn’t leave me.

“Stay with me, please,” I begged, rocking her gently against me, wiping sweat from her forehead. My tears fell faster now, I was beginning to hyperventilate.

Her lips curved faintly. “It is already too late, my Storme. My time has come.”

“No!” My voice rose, the words feeling heavy on my tongue. “How can you say that? How can you just leave me like this? You know I’ll have no one. Who will I call family now? Who will protect me?” My chest tightened with terror. Lucy wasn’t just a caretaker. She was a mother figure, the only one who had sheltered me, taught me, loved me when the world turned cruel. She was my anchor, my only safe place. Without her, what was left of me?

Her trembling fingers cupped my face. “Stop fighting it, Storme. Come here, my beautiful child.”

I leaned into her touch, sobbing. “I’ll get the healer. They can save you. Please, Lucy, don’t say goodbye yet.”

Her hand shook, but her voice was low. “No healer can stop this. Storme, you are the most precious thing the universe gave to me. Even if I did not birth you, it felt as though you were born for me.”

I broke, letting the uncontrollable sob tear through me.

“I knew you were different from the moment I pulled you from your mother,” she whispered, struggling for breath. “When I saw those white irises staring up at me, I knew no sight in this world could compare. You are more than what this world can hold, Storme.”

My lips quivered, but I could not speak, how could I? This was a nightmare, it felt so surreal to me.

Her smile widened faintly. “The truth is… your mother could not bear your strength. Even the universe struggled to hold your power. Do you know why?”

I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood, shaking my head, I couldn't even say anything else.

“Because a star had fallen to earth.” Her voice cracked, and with it, something inside me cracked too.

Her face twisted with sorrow. “I hid so much, my Storme. I even hid the truth of myself. I am half warlock. I knew what you were the day you were born. I protected you because I had to. Because fate demanded it.”

I stared at her, feeling numb. “Wh… what do you mean?”

She coughed again, weaker this time. “Storme… you are a fallen angel.”

The words lodged in my chest, my body stiffening. “A… what?” My voice was small, trembling. “That’s impossible. I don’t believe in fallen angels. Why now?

The world around me tilted. Nothing made sense anymore. I wanted to wake up, to scream until reality reset, but all I could do was hold her closer.

“Lucy…” I choked.

“There is more,” she whispered, every word labored. “Let me go in peace, Storme. My death cannot be stopped.”

“No!” My desperate grip on her tightened, “Don’t ask me to let you go. I can’t.”

Her hand squeezed mine weakly, but her gaze sharpened for the briefest moment. “Then hear me, child. Go to your mate. Stop him before it’s too late. Fate is cruel, and he is about to be bound to another. If you wait, you will lose him forever.”

Her words struck harder than any lightning bolt. My mate? Bound to another? Why is she speaking in riddles? My throat closed, my breath catching on a sob. I had a mate all this time? How?

Her lips curved one last time. “Go, Storme. Find him. Change the course of fate. That is your path.”

Her hand slipped from mine, and her body went limp in my arms.

“No! Stay with me! You can’t—” My voice broke into a sob as the truth tore me apart. “You just can’t…”

A scream ripped from me, so raw, so guttural, that the windows rattled against their frames. “Arghhhhhh!” I clutched Lucy’s lifeless form, rocking her, begging the Moon Goddess with every shred of me to undo this. My throat burned from screaming, my chest ached, but nothing came.

I held her long after her breathing stopped, rocking her as if my movement could coax life back into her. My tears wouldn’t stop, hot and endless, burning tracks down my cheeks.

“You promised,” I whispered against her cooling skin. “You promised you wouldn’t leave me alone.”

The silence pressed in. The storm outside screamed, but inside, it was only me, and the ache hollowing me out.

I felt a tug in so sudden sharp, it felt electric, as if something had awoken in me. Gasping, I clawed at my heart.

“No,” I muttered, shaking my head hard. “Not now. Not when I’ve lost her. I don’t… I don’t have a mate.”

The pull only grew stronger, dragging at me until my legs moved on their own. My body felt weak, trembling, but I stumbled to the doorway, then out into the night.

That was it, the first ignition of the soul tie, and I think it’s pulling me somewhere, maybe towards my mate.