Chapter 82

The dream isn’t a vision. I know that instantly.

This time, it feels different—more vivid, more real. I’m not just seeing it. I’m living it.

A man with silver hair stands beneath the moonlight, his arms wrapped around a woman.

They look at each other with an intensity that makes my chest ache. There’s love in their eyes, the kind that’s rare, the kind that’s eternal.

A little boy dashes around them, his laughter ringing through the night like music. I don’t know his name, but I know him.

I feel it in my bones, in the way my heart pulls toward him. The same way it pulls toward the woman.

The man watches the boy with a quiet pride, the woman’s laughter joining the child’s. They are happy. They are a family.

Then everything shifts.

The laughter is gone.

The air is thick with the stench of blood.

The woman is in the man’s arms now, her once vibrant face pale, her body broken. Blood soaks through her dress, staining his hands as he clutches her.