POV: Aria Vale
The Moon Vault remained completely dark.
Not the kind of dark where your eyes adjust. The kind where the dark itself feels like a weight. Every crystal light, every silver vein, every emergency ward — out. Like someone had blown them out in one breath.
I could hear only breathing. Mine, fast. Nora's, ragged. Kael's, controlled. Damon's, low and ready. Four Blackthorn guards trying not to make noise and failing.
Then the mysterious man's voice came again, closer this time, calm, warm, almost amused.
"Hello, daughter."
My entire body went cold. Not scared-cold. The kind of cold you get when someone says something your blood recognizes before your brain does.
Nora immediately grabbed my wrist — over the crescent — and pulled me behind her, despite her own wound.
"Don't
