Alina’s fingers trembled against the sheets. The mark on her wrist glowed like molten silver, pulsing with a rhythm she could feel in her chest, in her throat, in the hollow of her stomach. It had named her. Claimed her. She swallowed hard, eyes darting between the two men who loomed in the room, each as alive with tension as the pulsing mark.
Kael’s gaze lingered on her arm, calculating, controlled. He stepped closer, boots silent against the stone, the weight of certainty in every movement. “It has chosen you, Alina,” he said softly, deliberate. “And it will not be denied. That much is certain. Everything else… we must interpret carefully. This is not merely a threat, but a responsibility. One we cannot afford to underestimate.”
Riven, leaning against the windowsill, let his fingers tr
