**Chapter 23 — Nightmare and Anchor**
The nightmare came hard and fast.
Liora was back in the broken world from her vision. Silver light crackled around her like chains. The ground was ash and glass. At her feet lay Cairis, bleeding out, his golden-red eyes dimming as he looked up at her.
"You chose power," he rasped, blood bubbling at his lips. "And lost the only heart that ever burned for yours."
Liora tried to scream, but no sound came. The silver light surged, cold and merciless, swallowing everything. She reached for him, but her hands passed through his body like smoke.
Then the scene shifted.
She was standing in the center of the ruined sanctuary, but this time the altar was bleeding. The merged power inside her chest burned like molten iron. Cairis stood opposite her, but his eyes were empty — the bond had consumed him completely.
"You did this," he whispered. "You stole my heart and turned it into a curse."
