The air outside the archives was thick with the scent of rain. Storm clouds gathered above, casting eerie shadows over the towering palace walls. Lily barely noticed.
Her heart pounded, adrenaline still coursing through her veins as she and Kyra moved swiftly through the stone corridors. Every step away from Raphael felt like another layer of chains snapping free—but also like a fresh wound reopening.
Kyra’s voice cut through the tense silence. “Are you okay?”
Lily forced a nod. “I will be.”
Kyra didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t push. Instead, she glanced back toward the archives. “That was… unexpected. I thought he’d fight us. Instead, he—”
“Kneeled,” Lily finished, the word tasting foreign on her tongue.
The Alpha King, the man who had unknowingly broken her, had fallen to his
