River felt it.
She was holding Tristan's hand, when something tore through her chest so violently she screamed.
Her hand flew to her heart. Her pink eyes flared, the magic surging in response to a grief she couldn't name yet, a loss she couldn't identify yet, a severing she couldn't see but could feel in every cell of her body.
Atlas's Fae blood-sense had tied him to her the day he signed the adoption decree. The connection flowed both ways. She had felt his emotions for twelve years as any fae daughter could with her father.
It became a quiet presence in the back of her awareness, the steady, warm signal of a father who was always there even when he was miles away.
The signal went dark.
"Father." The word came out of her at a whisper. Then louder. "Father."
