Leah Carter’s Point of View
The doors slammed shut behind Kael.
The echo rolled through the dark hall like thunder trapped in stone. I stumbled forward, the weight of his name on my lips. “Kael!”
But he didn’t turn. Seraya’s fortress was vast, carved from black rock and lit only by cold fire that burned blue in metal braziers. The light made her seem less like a woman and more like a statue of moonlight and blood, her silver eyes glowed with quiet triumph.
Kael stood between us, breathing hard, his shoulders squared despite the wounds. Blood ran down his arm, thick and dark, splattering the stone floor. His presence filled the hall, power and fury, battered but unbroken.
“You want me,” he said, his voice rough, low. “You have me.”
Seraya smiled, the kind that never reached her eyes.
