Se connecterDamon POVThe room around us was barely recognizable now. The mirror - gone. The walls fractured, veins of silver light burned into stone where her power had struck. The air still hummed faintly, like the echo of something that didnât belong here had left its fingerprints behind.But it was gone. For now. I knew it the same way I knew the rhythm of her heartbeat - something like that - something that could learn - didnât retreat without remembering the way out or in.âSheâs still out there,â my wolf said quietly.âI know.âRayna shifted slightly in my arms. I felt it before I saw it - the moment she gathered herself, pushing past exhaustion the way she always did. - Stubborn. Unbreakable. Dangerous.She lifted her head just enough to look at me. Her eyes were still threaded with silver, softer now, but not gone.âYou felt that too,â she murmured. It wasnât a question.âYes.â I confirmed.Her gaze dropped briefly - to my chest, to the place where the bond pulsed between us - and then l
Damon POVSomething else was wrong. Not only outside the walls. Not only in the forest. Not only in the figures standing too still at the edge of the world like they were waiting for permission to breathe.Inside.I felt it through the bond. Sharp sting of something... wrong. Too close.My head snapped toward the palace before the thought fully formed.âDamon?â Garrick said.I was already moving. âLock the gates,â I barked. âNo one in. No one out.âHe didnât argue. That alone told me he felt it too. âWhat is it?â he called after me.âInside.âThat was enough. I didnât wait for him. Didnât wait for guards. Didnât wait for anything.I ran.The corridors blurred. Stone. Lamps. Shadows stretching too long against the walls. My wolf was fully awake now. Deadly quiet. Focused in a way I hadnât felt since the night everything burned.âSheâs in danger.ââI know.ââYou left her.ââI know.âThe bond pulsed again. Harder. Like something pressing against it from the other side. Not breaking it. T
Rayna POVThe room felt different the moment he left. Damon didnât leave silence and hollow behind - he left presence. It lingered in the air, in the sheets, in the way my body still remembered his hands like heat pressed into skin.I exhaled slowly and pressed my palm flat against my chest. Rythm of my heart was steady. Alive.Fine. I was fine. âJust nerves,â I murmured to myself. The words sounded thin even in my own ears.I moved away from the balcony, letting the material slip tighter around me as I crossed the room. The floor was cool beneath my bare feet, grounding. Real.Everything was real. The war was over. The city was standing. He was alive. I was-A flicker showed up. Sharp. But in instant it was gone.I froze.I didn't felt pain. Not exactly. More like⊠something brushing against the edge of my awareness. Testing it. Like a thought that didnât belong to me.My breath slowed. Careful now. I told myself. I reached inward. Toward the bond. Toward the place where the Goddes
Damon POVI didnât believe her. Not for a second.âI think it passed.âNothing like that just passes. Not when it hits through the bond like a blade between ribs. But I didnât push. Not yet.She was watching me too closely. Measuring. Waiting to see if I would turn this into a command instead of a conversation.Smart. Annoying. Woman."Mine." My wolf joined the conversation.I exhaled slowly, forcing my shoulders to loosen. âAlright,â I said.Her brow lifted slightly. She didnât buy it either. Good. At least we were both honest about the lie.The silence stretched for a moment - not tense, not quite easy either. Something in between. Unfinished. My gaze dropped briefly to her mouth. Still slightly parted. Still remembering my lips.Bad timing. Very bad timing.But apparently, neither of us had learned anything from almost dying.I stepped closer again. âJust nerves?â I repeated quietly.She nodded, though there was a flicker of hesitation. âProbably.âI hummed low in my throat. âRight
Rayna POVThe city didnât sleep. Even hours after the coronation, the streets below still shimmered with candlelight - soft, flickering gold against stone still scarred from battle. No shouting. No chaos. Just⊠breath. Relief settling into bones that had been braced too long.I stood at the balcony, wrapped in Damonâs cloak. It was too big, too heavy - and it smelled like him. Smoke. Steel. Something darker underneath. Something that was mine. Perfect.Cold air brushed my skin, but I barely felt it. For the first time since the war began everything was quiet.Too quiet. I couldn't get out the feeling that something was hanging above us. I just couldn't catch it yet.The doors behind me opened. âYouâre supposed to be resting.âHis voice was lower now. Roughened by everything weâd survived today.I didnât turn. âYouâre supposed to be ruling,â I replied with a smirk.A pause. Then his steps crossed the room - slow, deliberate, grounding. I felt them before I heard them. Always did.His h
Rayna POVThe silence inside the ruined council chamber didnât last. It never does after scene like that. Outside, the city kept chanting. It wasnât chaos anymore. It had shape now. Rhythm. Intent. A living tide pressing against the palace walls.Damonâs hand was still wrapped around mine. Warm. Steady. Anchoring in a way that made my ribs finally remember they were supposed to breathe.He hadnât said anything since the servant spoke. That alone told me everything.Kings usually donât need time to process being named. They pretend they expected it. Damon didnât pretend. He just⊠listened. Like he was hearing something far louder than the city outside. Something older.He finally exhaled. âRayna,â he said quietly.I looked up at him. His eyes were different now. Not softer, as I expected. Strangely sharper.Focused inward and outward at the same time, like he was standing on the edge of a decision that would change the shape of everything after it.âTheyâre wrong,â he said.I raised a
Raynaâs POVThe week bled past in a blur.The palace no longer echoed with emptiness; guards now stood posted at every door and hall, their armor catching the light like quiet stars. The courtyards were alive with movement - servants carrying crates, scribes settling into their offices, warriors sh
Rayna POV âAnd this curseâŠâ My voice wavered. âI thought I broke it.âWendrahâs gaze softened, almost motherly. For the first time since I had known her, she looked tired. âNo, child. It only changed the form.âBefore I could reach for her, before I could demand moreâher glow faltered all at once,
Raynaâs POVThe palace corridors felt longer in the dark, each step back toward our chambers heavier than the last. My mind was a storm - Wendrahâs fading face, Liraâs merciless truth, the echo of words I wasnât ready to carry.By the time I pushed the chamber door open, the fire had burned low, sh
Raynaâs POVSleep never came.I lay beside Damon, listening to his steady breathing, feeling the warmth of him pressed against my back, and still my mind wouldnât still. Wendrahâs words clawed through me, each one a splinter under skin. It only changed the form.When his arm loosened in sleep, I sl







