Shadows died screaming beneath Christian's touch.
Frost spiraled from his fingertips in lethal precision, catching three shadow-forms as they attempted to breach the eastern perimeter. The creatures writhed, their substance crystallizing as winter itself invaded their corrupted essence. A flick of his wrist shattered them to glittering dust that dissolved before touching the ground.
Three thousand years of existence had taught Christian patience. He had watched empires rise and fall, had counseled kings and emperors, had witnessed humanity's endless cycle of creation and destruction. He had learned to wait, to observe, to strike only when necessary.
But patience abandoned him now as shadows pressed against his wards, seeking entry to the mansion that housed everything he had sworn to pr
