The night air was damp with mist, clinging to Kael’s torn cloak as he staggered out of the shattered courtyard. The ground still smoked from the battle, the cobblestones cracked where his blood had spilled.
Aelira walked at his side, one hand pressed to her ribs, her silver hair matted with sweat and ash.
Neither spoke at first. The silence stretched, broken only by the groan of distant walls collapsing behind them.
Kael clenched his fists, his breathing ragged. “Another leash,” he muttered, his voice low but edged with fury. “I cut the chains of gods, and still, something crawls out of the dark to bind me again.”
Aelira slowed, her luminous eyes searching his profile. “You should not speak so carelessly. That… thing is not a man. You saw it. You felt it.”
Kael’s jaw flexed, but befo
