Chapter 50
Ariana felt it before she understood what was happening. A sudden pressure closed around her chest without warning, tight enough to steal the air from her lungs and leave her frozen where she stood. The golden light beneath her skin flickered sharply, not fading but shifting, as something deeper moved beneath it. She froze, her breath catching painfully as the energy inside her changed in a way she did not recognize. It did not weaken or break apart. It stayed steady, but it no longer felt entirely hers, and that realization made something cold settle in her chest.
The presence above her shifted in response. It did not move closer, but its attention narrowed, and the pressure in the air grew heavier, like it had fixed on her completely. Ariana felt something inside her slip out of place, not painfully, but enough that she could not ignore it. It felt wrong in a way she could not explain, like something that had always answered her had suddenly stopped listening.
