AMARA When the explosion hit, the world folded in on itself. A single scream—hers, maybe—drowned beneath the thunder of collapsing walls. The blast threw her backward through flame and glass, pain blooming across her ribs like broken wings. Then, silence. The kind that doesn’t last, only lingers. Smoke curled around her as she pulled herself upright, coughing blood into her palm. The villa burned—her kingdom, her legacy—devoured by fire. Her first thought wasn’t the empire. It wasn’t even the Veil. It was Luca. “Luca!” she screamed, stumbling over shattered marble, her vision blurring from dust and smoke. She pushed through the wreckage, boots crunching over glass and ruin. The air reeked of fuel and death. Shadows moved in the corner of her eye—soldiers, survivors, ghosts. She didn’t know. Then she saw him. Pinned beneath a collapsed beam, his shirt torn, blood streaking down his face. “Amara,” he rasped when she reached him. Her hands were already on the bea
Last Updated : 2025-10-27 Read more