lly began. He told himself it was to check on Elara's condition, a professi

latively stable night," Ramirez reported. "Still a bit groggy, but the initi

sked, the question feeling sur

of a knowing smile playing on his

amed through the window, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air. Elara was awake, propp

y in her twilight eyes. When she looked up and saw

rmured, her voice s

r. He felt a strange nervousness, a sensation he ha

und of his name on her lips send

of the monitors. Alistair didn't know what to say. He wanted to ask about

nd, her fingers tracing the intricate carvings. "This... it's been with m

p closer. "I noticed it last

t. "Did you... did you hear anything u

it. "Yes," he admitted, his voice low. "I thought

kin to recognition flashing within them. Her g

d, his mind reeling. "Wh

t feels... familiar, like a half-forgotten dream. Sometimes, when I hold the lock

air waited patiently, sensing that she w

dible. "Knights... a woman with long, dark hair... and

was beyond coincidence. This

prompted, his voice b

ining, were two tiny, intricately carved symbols. One resembled a

r fingers tracing the symbols. "But they fe

t, and this was no ordinary accident. The locket, the whispers, the strange connection h

tled deep in his bones, that their encounter in the emergency room was not a random event. It was the beginning of a story, a love