BARBIE POV

I knew it the moment the spell flared—that sick, gut-wrenching snap of magic that yanked me out of that hellish lakeside fight and threw me halfway across the cursed mountain range. The smell of blood still clung to my hair, to my skin, to the inside of my lungs. I could hear their screams in my head—Marigold shouting for me not to leave, Gregor roaring like a beast cornered by fate itself.

And gods help me… I ran.

Not because I wanted to. Because if they had both of us, ...