The morning was thick with smoke, though the air smelled like rain and metal. Sirens had already begun their mournful wail when I stepped outside my apartment. Glass glittered on the pavement, and the acrid scent of burnt rubber stung my nose. My chest felt tight, as if someone had wrapped it in iron bands. Somewhere in the distance, the city kept moving, oblivious, while my world had shattered in the span of a single night.
Valen had survived. I knew that the moment I saw the shattered remnants of his car lying against the curb, the twisted metal that should have ended him. But surviving came at a cost. Others hadn’t been so lucky. The debris of bodies, broken cars, and ruined lives littered the scene. And in his eyes, when I finally found him, was something I’d never seen before. A cold
