POV: Riley
I felt it before the scream.
A cold, invasive pressure slid through my chest like ice threading my veins. The bond I shared with my son—my beautiful, impossibly powerful child—flared in agony.
I bolted upright in bed.
“Damieon.”
The name tore from my throat as a piercing cry echoed from the nursery down the hall. The sound wasn’t just fear.
It was power—raw and uncontrolled.
Mason was already moving, shifting mid-stride as he tore through the doorway. I didn’t wait. I ran barefoot through stone corridors, skirts tangled in my fists, magic crackling beneath my skin.
The nursery doors were blown inward.
Guards lay scattered across the floor, unconscious but breathing. The protective wards Elara had layered for days flickered like dying stars along the walls.
And in the c
