Alera’s POV
We got back to the castle bruised, bloodied, and exhausted.
The healers rushed to us the second we crossed the gates, their worried hands pulling and poking as they checked for wounds. I barely had the strength to protest, but Kael… Kael was a different story.
He was practically a storm.
“Be careful with her!” he barked at a poor healer who tried to inspect the gash along my shoulder. His voice cracked like a whip across the courtyard, sending the man stumbling back in fear.
I blinked up at him, half dazed.
I had never seen him like this before. Not even during the tense meetings or the heated council sessions. This was something raw, something almost... frantic.
Kael knelt beside me, his hand hovering over my arm, his face twisted in a mixture of anger and fear. "Don’t
