Chapter 127 When The Flame Hesitates

• Lucia woke to stillness.
• Not the calm kind—the kind that pressed against her senses like held breath.
• The waystation lay quiet, its ancient stones faintly warm beneath her palms. For a moment she didn’t move, afraid that any shift would break something fragile inside her. The Third Flame stirred faintly in her chest, present but subdued, like a great beast watching her from behind half-lidded eyes.