Alaric’s POV
I stood at the palace entrance, watching as they approached, the twins, Calix and Kane, tense and quiet as usual, but it was Hazel who drew my attention. There was something about her, something different, something I couldn’t quite place.
She didn’t just look angry, though the fire in her eyes was unmistakable, there was something else. A new intensity, an undeniable radiance. She looked more beautiful than I remembered, almost ethereal.
Her skin was glowing in a way that made it hard to ignore, even under the oversized hoodie Calix had forced her into. I could tell, even with her loose clothing, that she had filled out. She wasn’t the fragile, broken woman we had left behind.
She looked stronger, fuller, as if she had come into her own. Her hair, once always a bit dis
