AYLA'S POV
The earth still trembled. The fissure pulsed with light — a heartbeat beneath the soil, ancient and wrong.
I couldn't look at it. I couldn't look at him.
Kael stood rigid, shadowed by the dying sun. His golden eyes flickered, not with fury — but something worse. Restraint. The kind that could break a man's bones from the inside.
The Seer's words still hung in the air:
"If you would claim her future, King, you must destroy her past."
Rylan's voice echoed faintly from the rift. Not words — just a cry, distant and raw, the sound of something unraveling.
"Don't listen to her," Kael said, finally. His tone was calm — too calm. "It's manipulation. The Seer feeds on fear."
I turned to him, throat tight. "Then why does my bond tremble every time his name is spoken?"
He didn't answer. His jaw worked, his hands flexed, claws threatening to break through his skin.
