( Kael's POV )
The Hollow smelled of ash and silver.
Smoke curled like ghostly fingers across the stone floor, twining through the fissures in the walls. The air was heavy with the metallic tang of blood and the faint, sharp burn of magic. Outside, the forest creaked beneath the dying weight of the blood moon.
Kael sat on the cold stone floor, his body still streaked with blood that wasn’t all his. His chest rose and fell in uneven breaths, the adrenaline not yet ready to let him rest. But it wasn’t the fading battle that held him frozen.
It was the small bundle in Aria’s arms.
Their son.
He was quiet now, his breathing steady and sure, his tiny hands curled into fists like he’d come into the world ready to fight. A faint silver shimmer threaded beneath his skin, pulsing like moonli
