The clearing throbbed like an open wound. Under my knees, the ground shook, vibrating with a force older than pain and time. In furious spirals, the wind howled through the trees as if recalling a long-forbidden name.
Kaelen.
He was real now, not just a glimmer behind Rowan's eyes or a murmur in his mind, as he stood in front of us. Tangible. Ancient.
His body glowed with strength, sleek muscle coiling beneath sigil-inked skin that shifted like a living flame. Like twin moons, his eyes gleamed silver-blue, gazing down upon Garrick as if he were but dust in the wind.
I was unsure of how to breathe.
Neither did Jace.
With one arm protectively encircling Rowan's unconscious body, he knelt directly behind me. His steady, powerful heartbeat pounded in the air between us, but it was ti
