AMARANTA POV
For a second I couldn’t breathe.
Not because of fear.
Not because of the cold biting my cheeks or the shock of the door opening before I could even knock.
Because the man standing in front of me looked exactly the same.
Magnus.
The years between us collapsed in an instant.
Same broad shoulders that used to carry firewood twice his size just to show off. Same dark hair that always refused to stay combed when we were kids running through the woods behind the lake. Same crooked smile that used to get us both out of trouble when we broke half the coven’s rules before we turned sixteen.
For a heartbeat we just stared at each other.
Then he said my name.
“Amaranta?”
And something inside my chest cracked open.
Relief hit me so hard my knees almost buckled.
He wasn’t angr
