The world fractured in light and shadow. One moment the courtyard had been quiet, tense with anticipation, the next it roared alive with thunderous violence. Stone split apart under unseen force, the sky itself convulsing as the Veil bled through.
Alina staggered backward, her breath caught in her throat. The mark on her skin seared hot, pulsing with a rhythm that wasn’t hers. The sensation wasn’t pain—it was invasion. Something older, darker, pressed its way through her veins as though the boundary between worlds was nothing more than parchment.
“Stay behind me!” Kael barked, his voice sharp enough to slice through the roar. His blade already gleamed in his hand, runes flashing faintly with power. He didn’t wait for her to obey; his body moved with automatic ferocity, every line of his
