My Sister Stole My Mate And I Let Her (Seraphina) novel Chapter 267

Chapter 267: Chapter 267 AWAKE

SERAPHINA’S POV

I couldn’t sleep.

I lay on the wide bed in the room Selene had readied for me, sheer curtains fluttering with the sea breeze, moonlight painting silver ribbons on the floor while my thoughts tumbled restlessly.

Every time I closed my eyes, I felt it again.

Depth.

Not the sharp, overwhelming surge from the ambush. Not the crushing compression of Corin’s interrogation.

This was quieter. Broader. Like standing ankle-deep at the edge of the ocean and suddenly realizing the water stretched on forever.

The Ethereal Sea...

‘You’re trembling,’ Alina noted.

I snorted softly into the pillow. ‘Can you blame me?’

She didn’t answer right away. I felt her presence instead—warm, watchful, coiled close to my core the way she’d been since I woke up after the Starlight Hallway.

‘You’re excited,’ she said finally. ‘And relieved. And—’

‘Terrified?’

‘A little,’ she admitted. ‘But what I was going to say is...awake.’

I rolled onto my back, staring up at the ceiling beams. ‘What do you think about what Corin said. About my...rank.’ I exhaled. ‘Advanced intermediate at minimum.’

Alina hummed. The sound rippled through me, a resonance aligning with my own. ‘He was being conservative.’

I sucked in a sharp breath. ‘What does that mean?’

‘It means,’ she said carefully, ‘that what you showed was instinctive. Untrained. Unanchored. And still you bent fields, projected mass suggestion, and brushed layered minds without collapse.’

My pulse quickened. ‘That should still fit advanced intermediate.’

‘No,’ Alina replied. ‘It exceeds it.’

I sat up, shoving the blankets aside. The room smelled of citrus and salt, and the scents grounded me enough to think.

‘But even Corin couldn’t see clearly.’

‘Corin sees structure,’ Alina said. ‘Ranks. Precedent. He doesn’t see what hasn’t finished forming.’

I swallowed. ‘So what are you saying?’

‘I’m saying,’ Alina said gently, ‘that you are not done waking up.’

The magnitude of her words sent a thrill skating down my spine.

‘I’m satisfied,’ I said honestly. ‘Advanced intermediate is...more than enough.’

Amusement rippled through me. ‘Too many people did it for too long, and now you too underestimate yourself.’

“Apparently,” I murmured aloud.

I swung my legs off the bed and padded across the room, the stone floor cool beneath my bare feet.

I retrieved my laptop and the nondescript thumb drive that had been inside Alois’ envelope.

I turned the tiny device over in my fingers, marveling that it contained nearly the entire heart of the Institute’s core research library.

‘Sometimes, the most unassuming vessels hold the most power,” Alina murmured.

I chuckled as I inserted the drive into my laptop. “You’ve gotten so philosophical lately.”

I could have sworn she shrugged within me.

The interface bloomed into view—clean, minimalist, deceptively simple. Categories unfolded as I scrolled, becoming more detailed as I clicked on topics and subtopics.

Psychic Theory. Combat Applications. Field Ethics. Suppression Protocols. Anchoring Case Studies.

The next few hours slipped away unnoticed.

I devoured the materials with a hunger that surprised me. Diagrams of layered resonance fields. Annotated examples of battlefield manipulation that suddenly made my instincts during the ambush make sense.

Defensive psychic lattices that could redirect hostile influence without brute force. Group cohesion techniques that explained how I’d boosted Iris’ awareness without meaning to.

Then it got a little...disturbing.

I read about psychic overreach—cases where unanchored psychics collapsed under feedback loops, their minds splintering when they tried to project too broadly without an anchoring force.

My fingers stilled.

Anchoring force.

Corin had touched briefly on that while he explained to me, but he hadn’t delved deep.

He mentioned that his anchoring force was the ocean, but I didn’t need to worry about finding mine just yet because he was part of the rare few who knew upon awakening.

‘Most don’t manifest one until Dominator level.’

I pulled up the case studies.

A Dominator anchored to volcanic pressure. Another to starfall radiation. One rare example—fragmentary, heavily redacted—anchored to lunar resonance.

My breath caught.

‘You smell like moonlight!’

‘The moon-touched girl returns.’

What had Codex said he saw around me? Moonlight-spectrum interference?

‘That doesn’t mean...’ I hesitated.

‘It doesn’t mean anything yet,’ Alina agreed. ‘Anchors choose their timing. Yours could be anything.’

I leaned back in the chair, staring out at the dark sea beyond the window. The waves reflected the moon in broken, shifting paths—never still, never the same.

Before I could sink deeper into speculation, my phone chimed.

Incoming call.

Daniel.

“Shit,” I breathed, glancing at the time. “I can’t believe I forgot.”

I accepted the call instantly.

“Mom!” Daniel’s face filled the screen, hair damp as if he’d just showered. “You promised to call once you get to Seabreeze.”

“I know, I know, baby,” I said, giving him an apologetic smile. “I got...sidetracked.”

“So? How did the trip go?”

I thought of the rogue attacks and my near abduction.

“Mom.” Daniel leaned closer to the screen, eyes narrowed. “Are you okay?”

“I am,” I assured him, smiling despite myself. “The trip went smoothly. Better than expected, actually.”

He relaxed visibly. “Yeah, you’re glowing.”

My smile widened. “I am?”

He nodded, his face brightening. “Something good happened, right?”

I hesitated, choosing my words carefully. “Yeah...I’m learning a lot about myself. Growing a lot too.”

His grin widened. “Like power-wise?”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify