Chapter 55 An Impossible Ask

• *Maerilee*
• Oceanan soldiers are sprawled in unnatural shapes across churned earth and stone, their limbs slack, faces limp with unconsciousness. None of them are dead. I can feel that, somewhere in the strange bond between my magic and the land. But they are incapacitated, stunned by the burst of power that tore out of me moments ago like it had been waiting all along to be freed. No one speaks. No one moves. It feels like the world is holding its breath.
• But all I can think is that Akin is gone.