The silence after the battle was cruel.

The chamber smelled of scorched stone and charred bone, every breath scraping my throat with the taste of ash. My body trembled, not from fear this time, but from the hollow ache left behind after the firestorm I had unleashed.

Kael’s arms were still around me, steady despite the bruises swelling across his throat. Blood trickled down his neck in a thin, defiant line. His chest rose and fell in ragged bursts, as though every breath was borrowed.

I ...