Serena’s POV
Later that night, when I sat on the edge of my bed with the photo clutched in my hands, staring at the face of the man who had abandoned me before I even existed, I couldn’t decide what I felt anger for what he never gave me, grief for what I would never know, or hunger for a connection that maybe was never truly there. His features looked sharp but not unkind, his eyes steady but not cold, and his mouth almost almost like mine, though I wasn’t sure if it was real or if I was forcing the similarity because I wanted it too badly.
I didn’t hear the door open, but I felt itthe shift in the air, the weight of his aura filling the room before the man himself appeared. My grip on the photograph tightened, and slowly, I lifted my gaze.
Kael.
He stood in the doorway, tall and broa
