Mark’s POV
The silence after it all was almost sacred.
The hum of power that had filled the room faded to a quiet, pulsing calm. Dust drifted lazily through the moonlight, catching silver as it fell. The keep itself seemed to hold its breath—as if every stone had felt the echo of what just happened and didn’t yet know how to settle back into stillness.
Rhael stood beside me, his usual smirk gone. For once, he looked unsure, like a soldier watching the dawn after surviving a battle he couldn’t name.
“She’s really done it,” he whispered. “She’s… whole.”
I didn’t answer right away. My eyes were still on Gabriella.
She stood near the balcony now, bathed in moonlight, her hair falling over one shoulder in soft waves. Her expression wasn’t triumphant or proud—it was calm, steady. She looke
