KAEL'S POV
Darkness poured into me like poison.
It slithered through my veins, twisted through my bones, sank its teeth into my thoughts. For a moment—I didn't even feel like me.
The abyss whispered with my own voice. Why fight? Why burn for wolves who will never be enough?
It showed me blood. My brother's broken body on the throne steps. My father's eyes are cold and cruel. Every death, every betrayal, every scream I'd caused and survived. And then it showed me more—me standing alone in a kingdom of ashes, crown heavy on my skull, Ayla's body broken at my feet.
I staggered, almost fell. Because the worst part wasn't the vision. The worst part was that some dark part of me—my wolf—snarled in hunger.
"Yes," I growled. "I've always been destroyed."
The abyss surged, greedy, triumphant.
But then—light.
Not fire. Not violence. Light. It tore through the dark like claws ripping open a carcass. And in it, her voice.
"Kael, look at me!"
