~ Seraphina’s POV ~
The forest stretched out before me like a void, silent and cold. The crunch of snow beneath my boots was the only sound that broke the stillness, my breaths harsh and ragged as they escaped in clouds of mist.
Leo’s blood still clung to my palm, a reminder of the fire I had conjured — the flames that had consumed him, and yet, they had done nothing to me. Even after I stabbed Leo's corpse multiple times… even after extracting his heart from the chest cavity, my anger didn't cool down.
My skin was untouched, but my soul? It burned. The fire had been as much a release as it was a curse, and now the heat of it lingered, searing through my veins like poison.
I hadn’t expected Alaric to find me.
And yet, there he was.
A shadow among shadows, his form emerging from the
