Author's POV ~
Silence crashed over them like a tidal wave.
It wasn't the kind of silence that settled softly or allowed breath to return—it was the kind that suffocated. That crushed ribs and stole air and made hearts forget how to beat.
No one moved or spoke. Not even Lucian dared to groan beneath the dagger pressed into his chest. Because the words she had just unleashed were not something that could be brushed off. They weren't rage-fueled accusations or delusions born of pain.
They were the truth.
And that truth now hung in the room like a ghost, staring each of them down, refusing to be unseen.
She wasn't his daughter.
She wasn't Eirik Moonveil's child.
She was his victim.
Kael staggered back, his breath hitching so violently it almost sounded like a choke. Luca stared at her like he had never seen her before, like she had become a stranger in the span of seconds, and not because she had changed—but because they had never truly known her to begin with.
