Two weeks.
Two relentless, exhausting weeks of trial, error, and mounting frustration, and we were still completely stuck.
According to every single calculation, medical ledger, and runic matrix Eloise and I had poured over, the elixir should have been working. The theoretical math was flawless. The alchemy was pure. Yet every time we tried to bind my lunar magic into the liquid, the spell lattice refused to hold, slipping away after a few hours like water through cupped hands.
Which was exactly how I found myself deep in the castle’s underground training pits, drowning my anger in white-hot exertion.
A sharp crack echoed off the high stone walls as I spun on my heel, channeling a concentrated burst of raw, silver magic directly into the chest of a heavy wooden dummy. The impact blaste
