Kael's POV
The morning air bit at my skin the moment I stepped out of my chamber. Cold, sharp, crisp—like the world was trying to wake me up by force. But I was already awake long before the first crack of dawn split the sky. Sleep had abandoned me, tugged away by the restless heaviness in my chest, so I did what I always do when thoughts refused to let me rest. I went to the training ground.
The gravel crunched under my boots as I walked across the open yard. Torches still flickered around the perimeter, their flames fighting against the dying night. I rolled my shoulders, stretched my neck, let the tension bleed from my body. There was something about the solitude of mornings like this—just me, the cold, and the possibility of bruises—that grounded me.
Except this time, I wasn’t alon
