Elara’s POV
I didn’t feel the same when we left the council chamber.
Something had shifted inside me.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
But deeply.
The kind of shift that doesn’t go away.
The kind that settles into your bones and rewrites something without asking permission.
I walked beside Kael in silence, the echo of the elders’ words still circling in my mind. Not survive. The ritual. The way they spoke about me like I was something to be handled instead of understood.
I should have been afraid.
But I wasn’t.
That was the part that unsettled me most.
Because fear had always come easily before.
Now…
There was something else.
Something steadier.
Something that refused to break.
The bond between us felt different too.
Stronger.
Quieter.
Not chaotic like before.
It felt… aw
