Selene's POV
Its red glow spills through my window like liquid fire, staining the floorboards and painting my shadow against the wall. The air feels heavy, thick with the kind of silence that always comes before something breaks.
I stand by the window, staring out at the sleeping kingdom below the rebuilt walls, the glowing lanterns, the ghosts that still wander the ruins. My reflection in the glass looks foreign, silver hair spilling over my shoulders, eyes rimmed with exhaustion, and faint black veins crawling just above my gloves.
Lucien's curse still lingers, a cruel reminder that darkness doesn't fade, it only learns to hide.
I shouldn't do this. I know I shouldn't. But my heart has never listened to reason, especially when it comes to him.
I send for Kael.
Not through letters or guards, through whispers carried by the wind, through the old sigil still hidden beneath the stone near the courtyard. He'll know it's me. He always does.
