The chamber was quiet save for the soft sound of Seraphine’s breathing. Each breath was shallow, fragile—a whisper in a hurricane.
Valen sat beside her, eyes burning from the night he hadn't slept. He hadn’t left her side. Not even once. His hand stayed laced with hers, as if letting go would mean letting everything go.
But she was still fading. Slower now, thanks to the physician’s elixirs, but fading all the same.
And Valen couldn’t breathe through the fear anymore.
He rose quietly, brushing a kiss to her temple. “I’ll come back,” he whispered. “With a way to end this. I swear it, Seraphine.”
Then he vanished into shadow.
---
The ruined throne room of Seraphine’s old kingdom was hollow now, the great stained glass shattered, vines curling around its broken pillars. Her parents—st
