KAIA

My shoulder slams into stone, and pain explodes through me. I gasp, the air knocked from my lungs, my hip screaming where it hit the ground. Everything is pitch black. Suffocating darkness that presses against my eyes like a physical weight.

I try to breathe, but the air feels wrong. Too thin. Too cold. It hums with something that makes my skin crawl—Fae magic, my blood recognizes it before my brain catches up.

"Talia?" My voice comes out rough, barely a whisper. "You okay?"

A groan ...