The new gate was forged in silence.
No press releases. No fanfare.
Just iron, forged from Elira’s grandfather’s original blueprints—imbued with sigils no living blacksmith had seen in decades. It gleamed black under the sun, darker than night, deadlier than truth.
It bore no crest.
No crown.
Just one word: VALE.
The message was clear.
Elira wasn’t just rewriting her story. She was erasing the ones written before.
Damian didn’t question her anymore.
He moved like her shadow—silent, powerful, deadly. But for the first time, she noticed something else in his eyes.
Fear.
Not of the Founders.
Not of the war.
Of her.
It stirred something dangerous between them.
Not distance.
Desire.
Because every time Elira stepped deeper into her legacy, he remembered who she had been—the broke
