Damon's gaze narrowed as he watched her wings ruffle slightly, the black feathers catching no light yet radiating a suffocating presence. This wasn't some cosmetic makeover. This was evolution. Transformation. Pain-fueled metamorphosis.
For someone who had once stood for light, to now command darkness so naturally, it wasn't just a shift in power. It was a complete redefinition of self.
And Aurora…
She hadn't crumbled under it. She had embraced it. Whatever she had sacrificed, her divinity, her faction, maybe even her faith, she had done it with terrifying conviction.
Even with her superior bloodline and gifts she was born with, she still must have gone through countless struggles and sufferings to get to this point.
And she had embraced all of the pain and the torture that came along with it willingly… all for him?
Damon exhaled slowly.
