Kael's pov
They say the moment you betray someone, you create a version of yourself in their eyes that never heals. I've learned it works both ways. The day I stopped asking to be understood and started doing what I thought was necessary was the day I became something else—something I never liked seeing in a mirror. And still, part of me wonders if this would have been different, if any of this would have changed, if she had lived.
My blade still dripped blood when Velka turned to me.
But that's not where the story starts.
It starts, like most curses, with love.
