Chapter 64: Lucien’s True Goal
The night had grown cold over Aeloria. The stars hid behind a bruised sky, and the barrier that once shimmered like moonlight now flickered faintly, like a dying breath. The storm had passed, but it left a stillness that felt wrong—a silence too heavy to be peace.
Seren stood at the edge of the encampment, her hands trembling as she washed the blood from her palms in the river. The crimson water swirled away downstream, staining the reflection of the moon. She couldn’t erase the sound of Rylan’s last breath. The betrayal, the rage in his voice—it haunted her.
She could still see Kaelen standing over his body, rain dripping from his hair, his eyes distant as though a part of him had died too.
“You can’t protect them all.”
Rylan’s last words echoed in her
