The sunlight through the tall windows fell in pale, jagged slashes across the floor, but the heat in the chamber came not from the morning, but from the tension coiling between them. Alina stood at the center, her mark throbbing beneath her skin, threads of Veil energy writhing and shimmering with her awareness. She could feel Kael before she even looked at him—his presence a magnetic pull, shadowy and dominant, threading through her senses like electricity.
“You’ve grown,” Kael said quietly, his voice low and deliberate, dark like velvet sliding over steel. “The Veil responds differently now… sharper, more aware. I can feel it radiating from you.”
Alina swallowed, feeling the mark pulse violently under his scrutiny. “I… I think I can control it better now,” she admitted, threads coiling
