Lucian's POV.
I volunteered for a patrol shift this morning.
The forest is quiet — too quiet. The kind of silence that presses against your skin like a warning. A thick blanket of grey mist curls low around my boots, veiling the ground in soft obscurity. Moisture clings to everything — the skeletal branches above, the fallen leaves crunching beneath my steps, even the fur of the smaller animals darting through the undergrowth in search of breakfast.
I needed the space. Needed time away from everyone. Time to think... to untangle the whirlwind in my head.
The prophecy.
Those damn words.
All this time, I’ve been drowning in anger — rage at Velara. My mother. I resented her for abandoning me, hated her for walking away from me and my father like we were nothing. I could never make peace
