Lin Tian woke to an empty bed.
The space beside him was still warm, the thin blanket rumpled where Su Lan had slept. He sat up, the stone room of the Solitary Reflection Pavilion cold despite the lingering heat from their bodies. Early morning light, pale and weak, filtered through the high, narrow window.
He stretched, feeling the new solidity in his meridians. The Emberheart Symbiosis hummed quietly within him, a low-grade warmth that tempered the ever-present ice at his core. His body felt stronger, more integrated than it ever had. For a moment, there was just the quiet, and the simple satisfaction of a night spent not fighting for his life.
Then the Link tore open.
It wasn't a sound. It was a sensation, a jagged rip deep inside his chest that had nothing to do with his physical heart. He gasped, his hand flying to his sternum. The world didn't blur, it shattered.
Cold.
