1. Everen: Without Breath

Everen narrates from confinement, recalling how, once cut off from letters, he composed apologies to Arcady in his mind. Isolation blurs reality, and he anchors himself with vivid dreams of Arcady’s nights in Vatra, from bootsteps on cobblestones to visits to a bookseller and memories of fire and fear.

These memories trigger Everen’s shame and force him to confront his desperation to embody dragon prophecies. During their months together, Arcady’s guarded nature softened into trust, but that trust nearly cost Arcady’s life. Everen accepts responsibility, believing his choices might have been necessary to protect both Lumet and the dragon realm, Vere Celene.

Everen reflects that wounds in the Veil have closed, offering only a temporary reprieve. He hopes the barrier will hold until he can discover a permanent way to save both worlds, revealing his enduring purpose despite captivity and self-loathing.

At the outset of imprisonment, Everen shared with his sister Cassia a recurring image of a dragon on scales and visions of an ending. Cassia searches the archives for guidance, yet her looming queenship and Emberclaw duty place dragonkind above family. Everen remains in darkness, missing Arcady as deeply as flight, breath, and magic.