The moment he dropped to his knees, the whole world stopped pretending that anything was normal.
It didn’t collapse in on itself. There was no crashing, no sudden fade to black. Reality just stopped acting right, like it was tired of holding itself together.
The storm above stuttered, thunder growing unsure of itself. The rain kept coming, but it no longer felt random. It felt like it was watching. Like it hadn’t just happened by, but had settled in to wait and listen.
Nyra stared at him—down on his knees, sunk in mud, rain running down his shoulders, right at her feet.
This was the strongest presence she’d ever met in her life. The man who made entire armies bend, who tamed monsters out of nightmares with a glance—he was bowing to her.
Her brain just rejected it. Nope. No way.
This
