Page 26 of Too Dangerous To Die

I stand in the middle of the Ashen Wastes, but it isnot the same.

The ground beneath me isnot cracked and barren.It is slick withblood.

Shadows move at my peripheral vision,figures wrapped in ancient armor, their bodiesbroken, twisted.

They are not alive.

But they are not dead either.

They do not have faces, onlyhollow darkness where their eyes should be.But I feel them staring.

Watching.

Waiting.

A voice drifts through the air, low and distant, whispering my name.

"Nora…"

Ishudder, turning toward the sound, my pulse hammering.

But there isno one there.

Only the shifting shadows, only the figures wrapped intime-worn steel, their hands resting on the hilts of rusted swords.

They do not move.

But they do not have to.

Iknow why they are here.

They are waiting for me.

Because they think Ibelong to them.

The fire is still burning, but the night around me feelscolder.

I sit up too fast, my breath ragged, the lingering remnants of the dreamcoiling like smoke in my chest.

It feltreal.

I press my hands against my face, trying to shake the sensation, but the moment my fingers brush my skin, Ifeel it.

Something iswrong.

I scramble to my feet,unsteady, disoriented.The world tilts, but I catch myself against a nearby rock, fingers digging into the rough stone.

"Nora."

My head snaps up.

Rhaegar is already standing,his golden eyes locked onto me.

I don’t know what he sees, but his jawtightens.

"Your change is not constant, it flourishes," he murmurs.

My stomach twists.

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