When Stephen returns to New York, different in ways even he doesn't fully understand, he finds himself back at that lounge. And this time, Kawin finally meets his gaze. And for the first time in a long time, Stephen isn't just listening. He's seen.
In New York, Wong was on a rare, brief holiday from Kamar-Taj when he stumbled into a quiet bookstore. A place of soft light and older stories, where the air felt heavy with the weight of forgotten knowledge. And where he met Chanon Ratanakorn. Chanon is quiet, deliberate, a man of worn pages and guarded silences. There's a gravity to him, something ancient and knowing, as though he carries secrets not even Wong could name. There was no spark, no instant connection—only shared glances across worn bookshelves and a silence that felt almost sacred. When Wong left New York, he told himself it was nothing. Just a brief moment. Just curiosity.
But sometimes, curiosity lingers. And sometimes, Wong finds reasons to open a portal back to that quiet little shop, to lose himself in old books and the presence of the man who tends them. It's nothing. Until it isn't.
But when Stephen returns, irrevocably changed, and strange powers begin to stir beneath the surface of the world, that delicate balance shatters.
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