Chapter 56
****Elara’s POV****
Morning came gray and hollow.
The air hung heavy after the storm, as if the world itself were holding its breath. Soldiers moved about the camp with the tired rhythm of men who’d seen too much, their armor creaking, boots squelching through the mud. The banners hung limp in the damp air—symbols of victory, though none here felt victorious.
Elara stood outside her tent, watching the mist coil through the trees. Her cloak clung to her shoulders, still damp from the rain, but she barely felt it. Sleep had not come; only memories, fractured and restless. The alchemist’s words had chased her through the night like ghosts:
You share his blood.
You were harvested, not born.
She couldn’t decide what chilled her more—that Kael might share her bloodline, or tha
