The morning after Kael left her alone in the chamber, Ariana woke to silence. Not the heavy, suffocating silence of the night before, but a stillness that felt like the air had shifted—something unseen moving just beyond the edges of her perception.
Her body was heavy from exhaustion, her eyes swollen, but her mind would not rest. Kael’s refusal replayed in her head over and over: Because if you knew the truth, you’d hate me more than you already do.
He had spoken like a man who carried centuries of sins, like someone already damned. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that she couldn’t trust him. Not anymore.
The bond tugged at her insistently as though mocking her resolve, reminding her with every pulse that he was hers and she was his. Yet her heart burned with betrayal.
When
