~ELARA’S POV~I stood in the middle of the Shadow House with my arms folded tight across my chest. My legs felt heavy, like someone had tied stones to them, and my skin buzzed with a faint fever that crawled under my bones. I knew that feeling well. It was the cost of the power I’d pulled from the dark.“You’re vibrating,” Kael said.He didn’t even glance at me. He was busy studying the thick iron frame of the old door like it might bite him.“The shadows are feeding on your exhaustion, Elara. You need to pull them back before they start looking for more than just your energy.”“I have it under control,” I said.A lie. And a weak one. Even I could hear it.Kael straightened slowly and wiped the black dust from the ruins onto his dark leather pants. Then he walked over to me. His icy blue eyes moved across my face, sharp and quiet, like he was reading something written on my skin.The hair on my arms lifted.Kairos’s stare had always felt different. His eyes usually held something hea
Last Updated : 2026-03-11 Read more