The sun filtered through the classroom windows, warm and slow, but Nola felt none of it.
The morning had been… weird.
She hadn't meant for that moment with Taveer to sit so loudly in her mind, but it did. Every time she closed her eyes, she could feel it, the way his hand brushed hers, the silence that had carried something more than words.
And now here she was in Practical Channeling, her instructor's voice droning on about controlled focus and current manipulation, and all she could think about was whether he remembered it too. Whether he meant it.
She glanced at him.
He didn't glance back.
Taveer was stone. Focused. Precise. His posture was perfect, his notes neat. It was like nothing had happened.
But inside him?
Chaos.
Vlad was still laughing.
"Oh, the agony," the ancient Will said dramatically. "Wounded by affection, pierced by the gaze of a girl. Will he survive this heartbreak? Stay tuned."
Taveer's hands clenched tighter around his pen.
"I will kill you."
"You can't. I'm already dead."
"You're a nuisance."
"A nuisance who watched you melt when she touched your hand."
Taveer grit his teeth and focused harder on the incantation glyph in front of him, pouring his mana into the structure.
It burst into a blue flame. Too much power.
"Too much," the instructor muttered, passing by.
Taveer swore under his breath.
"Adorable," Vlad said. "Look at you. A literal war weapon turned teenager."
Taveer barely registered the end of class. The second they were dismissed, he was up, out, not looking at Nola once, as if avoiding her would stop the way his chest pulled whenever she came close.
Nola watched him go.
Maika leaned in and whispered, "What's with him?"
Nola shook her head. "Nothing."
But she didn't believe it either.
That night, after classes and dinner and another restless training session, Nola sat alone in her dorm, curled under her blanket, her phone pressed to her chest.
Auriel had called. Again.
This time, she answered.
His face appeared, tired but real. She hadn't realized until now how much she'd missed it.
"Nola," he breathed, his voice low, full of worry and something she couldn't name. "Thank gods."
She blinked quickly, her eyes already wet. "Hi."
"I heard what happened. The reports… Caelis told me."
She didn't answer at first. Didn't know how to begin.
"I thought you might be dead," Auriel whispered.
"I thought so too," she admitted.
The silence between them wasn't heavy. Just worn.
"I didn't want this for you," he said softly. "All of this—the Wills, the rifts, the fighting… it's the world I promised to protect you from."
"You can't protect me from everything," Nola whispered. "You're not supposed to."
"I'm your brother," Auriel said, voice cracking. "It's my job."
She swallowed hard.
"I don't regret awakening," she said.
"I used to. For a while. I thought it ruined everything. But now…" She looked away. "If I can protect someone else the way you tried to protect me, then maybe it wasn't a mistake."
Auriel's shoulders slumped, but not in defeat. In grief.
"You're stronger than I ever was," he said.
"I don't feel strong."
"You are."
She let the tears fall.
He didn't rush her. Just stayed on the other side of the screen, a steady breath in her storm.
After a long while, he said, "Do you feel alone?"
Nola hesitated.
"No," she said finally. "Not all the time."
"Because of that boy?"
Her face flushed. "What boy?"
Auriel smiled. "You forget I see the reports. Taveer Ilyan?"
Nola glared. "Don't."
"He seems like he'd die before letting you fall."
She was quiet.
"I like him," Auriel said.
Nola blinked. "You've never met him."
"I don't need to."
They smiled at the same time, and something fragile inside her eased.
"You're still my little sister," he said.
"I know."
"And I'll always protect you."
The call ended minutes later, but the peace lingered.
For the first time in a while, Nola felt like she could breathe.
And maybe, just maybe, tomorrow would come without fear.
Even if the world kept spinning off its axis.
Because now, she wasn't spinning with it alone.
The garden behind the Sun Tower was lit by soft floating lanterns, their glow hovering gently like fireflies suspended in time. Nola sat on the edge of the stone fountain, arms wrapped around her knees, staring down at her reflection.
The call from Auriel still echoed in her bones.
She had expected anger. Or worry that felt like control.
But instead, she'd gotten something far more dangerous.
Care.
The kind of care that made her want to drop everything and sob into his shoulder the way she used to when she was little.
But she couldn't go back to that.
Not now.
And her heart hadn't settled.
It kept pulling her back, not to the fight, not to the fear but to the moment after. To the stillness beside the storm.
To Taveer.
She remembered the way he'd stood next to her in the hall when the monsters came, not in front of her. Beside her. The way he'd looked at her when they thought they might die, not with regret, but with conviction.
That mattered a lot.
And then, in the morning, when everything felt unreal again, he had simply nudged his toast toward her. Told her to eat. Not out of duty. But out of care.
She didn't know what they were. If they were anything at all.
But she knew how her chest tightened when he was too quiet. How her voice softened when she spoke to him. How safe she felt, even in danger, because of him.
She didn't need it to be perfect. She just needed it to be real.
And whatever this was between them, it was starting to feel very, very real.
She leaned back, eyes closed, and whispered, "Don't disappear."