KAEL'S POV
The world didn't end with thunder. It ended with silence.
Snow drifted down over the ruins of the temple, turning the stone to ash. My men were gone—evacuated or lost. The mountain itself breathed shallowly beneath my boots, as though the land had witnessed something it could not name.
And in the center of the hollowed floor… light.
A sphere no larger than my chest, pulsing once, twice—then fading.
"Ayla?" My voice cracked against the quiet. I took a step forward, the taste of iron sharp in my mouth. "Ayla!"
Nothing answered. Only the whisper of falling snow and the faint scent of her—wild honey and silver smoke—threading through the cold.
I dropped to my knees beside the light. My fingers hovered, afraid to touch. The magic thrummed beneath my skin like a heartbeat that wasn't mine.
Then, faintly, hers.
Kael…
The bond. Faint, fractured, but there.
I closed my eyes. "I'm here. I'm—"
