Kael´s POV
Breathing hurt.
Moving hurt.
Existing hurt.
My wrists bled from the ill-fitted shackles.
My ribs cracked with every jolt of the cart that dragged me away from everything—light, freedom, her.
But I didn’t scream.
Didn’t beg.
Didn’t break.
Because Selene still lived inside me.
Every blow, every boot to my stomach, every guard’s spit shoved me closer to death…
and yet, she was the invisible thread holding me above the abyss.
Irina’s betrayal hurt more than any wound.
Not just because she deceived me—
but because I had believed in her pain.
I had wanted to believe.
Wanted to think that something inside her was broken too, and seeking redemption.
What a fool I’d been.
The cart rumbled down roads that stank of rust and rot.
The air reeked of silver, and I already fe
