The chains had barely finished tightening around the Shadow Alpha when the sky split open. At first, I thought it was thunder. The clouds above the courtyard trembled. The air shifted, the pressure dropping so suddenly that everyone stilled, heads snapping upward in instinct. Then it came. A blinding beam of white-golden light shot from the heavens, striking the center of the courtyard with a force that cracked stone and sent wind spiraling outward in violent waves. I staggered back, shielding my eyes. Gasps and shouts erupted around me. Warriors who had just been roaring in battle now stumbled in confusion. Even the vampire king hissed sharply, retreating a step as the light intensified. It wasn’t shadow. It wasn’t spring. It was something else entirely. The beam condensed slowly, narrowing, and shaping. And then I saw him. A figure descended within the brilliance, suspended as though carried by the light itself. His body lowered with controlled grace, boots tou
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